British and Irish Lions Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

ssaye

conf101 wrote: »

If BOD weren't to be selected as captain does anyone see Robshaw being a surprise selection? Assuming that Gatland doesn't go with Warburton, who at this stage might not even make the tour.

Would'nt be much of a surprise he is one of the favourites in fairness.
I think the experience of BOD and the respect he has from fellow players will see him travel, test and captain if Ireland win 6N, and travel otherwise.

rchendz92

Robshaw would do a good job. Strong leader, plays a good game, albeit not really in a traditional 7's manner. If Gatland picks Warburton as captain in his current form then he needs to take a long, hard look at himself in the mirror.

English Lurker

I've heard worse ideas than Robshaw as captain.

I'm fairly sure it will be O'Driscoll if he has a good tournament, which I'm fairly sure it will, and I'm reasonably certain it would be an excellent idea. But if things don't come to pass, Robshaw's clearly a very well thought of leader and on current form, probably worth a place in the test team.

One thing he does have in his favour which might appeal to Gatland is you could play him at 6 just as easily as at 7, which gives him a bit of wriggle room as to test XV without dropping the captain. Any flanker whose game works well with space could gel with him very nicely - Ferris, Tipuric, Rennie, O'Brien, Warburton, so on so on. About the only guy it wouldn't work with is Lydiate, you've have the strongest fringe defence in world rugby and not a lot else.

edit: I feel it has to be one of the two. Warburton would need a dramatic turn-around to be in rightful contention and Gatland is, I hope and believe, easily ruthless enough to sacrifice Warburton on the altar of unity. Brown's not enough of a leader, Kellock not good enough. Heaslip would not be as inspirational a choice as BOD. It comes down to one of these two imo, and events next Sunday will go an awfully long way to deciding who.

davidpfitz

For Paws wrote: »

Anyone see The Telegraph rugby correspondent Mick Cleary has picked his Lions starting 15.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/picturegalleries/9722323/British-Lions-XV-Mick-Cleary-picks-his-team.html

You'd have to love the guy. Must have the Eng v NZ game on continuous loop.

For a journalist, his command of the English language isn't great. I see this all over the place ... "The Ireland No 10 is a shoe-in for the Lions". Shoo-in ! Not shoe-in!

Fireball07

When POC comes back from injury and inspires Munster to HC glory, we all know who'll be captain?

Swiwi

Deleted User wrote: »

No idea where the Robshaw love comes from.

Not even in the same league as Tipuric and SOB, nor even Warburton running at 80%.

Solid, bruising player, but not subtle or clever enough for me.

Maybe wait until post the weekend...he's started to grow on me a bit, but SOB will be an excellent test of his game. In saying that, he passed the Richie McCaw test a little too easily for my liking

RugbyMan10

Why does nobody consider SOB at 8? I think he's a better 8 than Heaslip.
And an injury free Ferris has to ,in my opinion, start at 6. His performance against Aus in the WC should definitely be considered!
Then at 7 at the moment it's between Robshaw & Tipuric. Warburton shouldn't even tour the way he's playing at the moment!

6. Ferris
7. Tipuric
8. SOB

Ferris and SOB together will dominate the AUS back row just like they did in WC. Yet nobody on here seems to have them together?

Fishooks13

RugbyMan10 wrote: »

Why does nobody consider SOB at 8? I think he's a better 8 than Heaslip.
And an injury free Ferris has to ,in my opinion, start at 6. He's miles ahead of everyone else when he's injury free.
Then at 7 at the moment it's between Robshaw & Tipuric. Warburton shouldn't even tour the way he's playing at the moment!

6. Ferris
7. Tipuric
8. SOB

Based on what game?

RugbyMan10

Fishooks13 wrote: »

Based on what game?

I just think that Ferris has to be in the team, so that rules SOB out playing 6. And then against Pocock I feel we need a specialist 7.
And I just think Heaslip is a tad overrated in general(and this from a Leinster fan!) Playing SOB at 8 will allow him to carry the ball more which is the best part of his game.
My opinion isn't based on any match in particular!

Deano7788

RugbyMan10 wrote: »

Why does nobody consider SOB at 8? I think he's a better 8 than Heaslip.
And an injury free Ferris has to ,in my opinion, start at 6. His performance against Aus in the WC should definitely be considered!
Then at 7 at the moment it's between Robshaw & Tipuric. Warburton shouldn't even tour the way he's playing at the moment!

6. Ferris
7. Tipuric
8. SOB

Ferris and SOB together will dominate the AUS back row just like they did in WC. Yet nobody on here seems to have them together?

1. He hasn't played there much in ages.
2. I disagree he's better than Heaslip. Better ball carrier, yes. Better No 8., no. Schmidt and Kidney to agree with me.
3. The chances of an injury free Ferris are unfortunately very slim.

thebaz

RugbyMan10 wrote: »

Warburton shouldn't even tour the way he's playing at the moment!

but ...

if he found his WC form , would love to see him play with SOB

Deano7788

RugbyMan10 wrote: »

I just think that Ferris has to be in the team, so that rules SOB out playing 6. And then against Pocock I feel we need a specialist 7.
And I just think Heaslip is a tad overrated in general(and this from a Leinster fan!) Playing SOB at 8 will allow him to carry the ball more which is the best part of his game.
My opinion isn't based on any match in particular!

If you were going to have a back row whose main job was to neutralize Pocock I'd go for

6. SOB
7. Tipuric
8. Heaslip.

All 3 are very good on the ground.

Podge_irl

RugbyMan10 wrote: »

I just think that Ferris has to be in the team, so that rules SOB out playing 6. And then against Pocock I feel we need a specialist 7.

SOB is a specialist 7.

He is a better carrier than Heaslip, but seeing as he does a fair bit anyway there is nothing to be gained by moving him.

P.Walnuts

Podge_irl wrote: »

SOB is a specialist 7.

He is a better carrier than Heaslip, but seeing as he does a fair bit anyway there is nothing to be gained by moving him.

I just don't think you can call him a specialist 7 since he can play both 6 and 8, with many people thinking he best position is still 6.

Swiwi

P.Walnuts wrote: »

I just don't think you can call him a specialist 7 since he can play both 6 and 8, with many people thinking he best position is still 6.

If he plas for the lions at 7 AND pocock plays for australia,and he gets the better of pocock, than yes he will be an out and out 7

Deano7788

P.Walnuts wrote: »

I just don't think you can call him a specialist 7 since he can play both 6 and 8, with many people thinking he best position is still 6.

McCaw can play 6 and 8 as well. He's still a specialist 7.

Podge_irl

P.Walnuts wrote: »

I just don't think you can call him a specialist 7 since he can play both 6 and 8, with many people thinking he best position is still 6.

Well those many people don't appear to include Jo Schmidt or Declan Kidney (or myself for that matter). SOB plays probably 90% of his rugby at 7 these days and is very, very good at it. He does pretty much everything you expect of a "traditional 7" in terms of groundhog work. The only thing you don't really see him doing is linking play, but that's because he's a primary carrier.

P.Walnuts

Swiwi wrote: »

If he plas for the lions at 7 AND pocock plays for australia,and he gets the better of pocock, than yes he will be an out and out 7

Suppose we will have to wait and see!

Although currently I can't see how Tupuric would not make the test team at 7.

Podge_irl

Swiwi wrote: »

If he plas for the lions at 7 AND pocock plays for australia,and he gets the better of pocock, than yes he will be an out and out 7

He made a pretty good stab at playing 7 in NZ last year don't you think (ignoring the 60-0 horror show anyway).

Swiwi

Podge_irl wrote: »

He made a pretty good stab at playing 7 in NZ last year don't you think (ignoring the 60-0 horror show anyway).

Yep, but mccaw was only just back from his foot injury and progressively improved as the season continued

P.Walnuts

Podge_irl wrote: »

Well those many people don't appear to include Jo Schmidt or Declan Kidney (or myself for that matter). SOB plays probably 90% of his rugby at 7 these days and is very, very good at it. He does pretty much everything you expect of a "traditional 7" in terms of groundhog work. The only thing you don't really see him doing is linking play, but that's because he's a primary carrier.

Except he was picked at 6 in two of the biggest games of the season at home to Clermont and Edinburgh (he was listed at 6 but pulled out through sickness).

Swiwi

Deano7788 wrote: »

McCaw can play 6 and 8 as well. He's still a specialist 7.

less & less so, he's just class so can play all 3, but i dont consider him a pure 7 anymore. That would be pocock.

Deano7788

Swiwi wrote: »

less & less so, he's just class so can play all 3, but i dont consider him a pure 7 anymore. That would be pocock.

Yeah he's probably evolved from that role. He's pretty much an all in one backrower these days.

Tox56

Swiwi wrote: »

less & less so, he's just class so can play all 3, but i dont consider him a pure 7 anymore. That would be pocock.

That's pretty much what I think SOB is. He's not a "pure" 7 like Pocock, but he can carry hard, make a ridiculous number of tackles and still get through a lot of work at the breakdown

Podge_irl

P.Walnuts wrote: »

Except he was picked at 6 in two of the biggest games of the season at home to Clermont and Edinburgh (he was listed at 6 but pulled out through sickness).

I assume you mean Scarlets. He was only picked at 6 for those games because McLaughlin was out. He's talented enough and has the physique to play all 3, but that doesn't mean he's not a real 7.

P.Walnuts

Tox56 wrote: »

That's pretty much what I think SOB is. He's not a "pure" 7 like Pocock, but he can carry hard, make a ridiculous number of tackles and still get through a lot of work at the breakdown

This would be my thinking too

Swiwi

Tox56 wrote: »

That's pretty much what I think SOB is. He's not a "pure" 7 like Pocock, but he can carry hard, make a ridiculous number of tackles and still get through a lot of work at the breakdown

I agree, but is he the right 7 to nullify pocock, even mccaw has struggled with this at times? It's a big call for gatland to make

Podge_irl

I think SOB may well end up at 6 simply because Ferris won't make it and Tipuric and himself are too good to leave out as things stand.

Deano7788

Swiwi wrote: »

I agree, but is he the right 7 to nullify pocock, even mccaw has struggled with this at times? It's a big call for gatland to make

In fairness, if Pocock's on top form, I don't think any of our 7s would be able to nullify him.

Swiwi

Podge_irl wrote: »

I think SOB may well end up at 6 simply because Ferris won't make it and Tipuric and himself are too good to leave out as things stand.

yeah ferris & tom croft might struggle with their injuries. tom wood might be in the mix too.