British and Irish Lions Team Talk/Gossip/Rumours Thread

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny

Felexicon wrote: »

Halfpenny will not be used on the wing. He and Rob Kearney are better fullbacks than Goode

Kearney has been woeful, not an attacking option and all he does is catch and kick away the ball goode is as good a fielder, great kicker, excellent ball player, think he is by far the best 15 there at the moment, halfpenny is best goalkicker and defender but not as skilful on the ball as goode

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny

FellasFellas wrote: »

I think Tuilagi at 12 and O'Driscoll at 13 could reap incredible dividends, Patty McCabe is a good defender as is AAC, but imagine 17 stone of Samoan bulk coming at you time after time, with a genius outside him. Could be hard to contend with.

JOC dealt with SBW at 12 last yr, don't think he'd fear Manu should he be 12

Hype710

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny wrote: »

Kearney has been woeful, not an attacking option and all he does is catch and kick away the ball goode is as good a fielder, great kicker, excellent ball player, think he is by far the best 15 there at the moment, halfpenny is best goalkicker and defender but not as skilful on the ball as goode

No, he hasn't. Rob is bizarrely underrated by Irish fans. Easily one of our most important players; you only realise how important he is when he's out injured. In the wet conditions yesterday some of his fielding and tactical kicking was top drawer. People get a little over excited by Hogg because he's light years ahead of most current Scottish backs, but for me, give me a Kearney or Halfpenny any day.

English Lurker

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny wrote: »

Kearney has been woeful, not an attacking option and all he does is catch and kick away the ball goode is as good a fielder, great kicker, excellent ball player, think he is by far the best 15 there at the moment, halfpenny is best goalkicker and defender but not as skilful on the ball as goode

Funny - lot of the England fans I know, including me, want Goode booted out of the team asap. He missed plenty of high balls today. He's slow, dithers on the counter-attack, hasn't made a useful impact entering the attacking line since the Fiji game, worryingly insecure on the one on one tackle and probably our third best full-back. I'm no Kearney fan currently, but I'd happily swap.

Hype710

thomond2006 wrote: »

David Pocock's absence for the series is a terrible shame.

Massive shame for him personally but Hooper has been sensational and will light up the series if he stays injury free. I haven't seen much of Gill but he's very highly rated. Then there's George Smith who's returned to the Brumbies and if there's another injury or two he could have a fitting comeback and finale to his Wallabies career. It's a far cry from RWC 2011 where Pocock was the sole openside in the squad.

P.Walnuts

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny wrote: »

Kearney has been woeful, not an attacking option and all he does is catch and kick away the ball goode is as good a fielder, great kicker, excellent ball player, think he is by far the best 15 there at the moment, halfpenny is best goalkicker and defender but not as skilful on the ball as goode

Either you are actually Andy Goode's agent or you have no idea what your talking about.

How you can say Goode is a better ball player than 1/2p beggars belief.

Dublin Red Devil

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny

P.Walnuts wrote: »

Either you are actually Andy Goode's agent or you have no idea what your talking about.

How you can say Goode is a better ball player than 1/2p beggars belief.

Well for one he's a flyhalf playing 15, grew up as a 10. Played england 20s as a 10, played 10 for Sarries, Halfpenny runs as fast as he can and simetimes chamges direction while Goode is always shifting the point of contact. Think it'd make more sense for a former 10 to be a better ballplayer than a 15

its_phil

Kearneys defensive work has been excellent, but he hasn't hit the same heights this year with his attacking. He'll still travel on the Lions with Halfpenny as FB and Hogg as the utility cover that Earls filled in 2009.

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny

Hype710 wrote: »

No, he hasn't. Rob is bizarrely underrated by Irish fans. Easily one of our most important players; you only realise how important he is when he's out injured. In the wet conditions yesterday some of his fielding and tactical kicking was top drawer. People get a little over excited by Hogg because he's light years ahead of most current Scottish backs, but for me, give me a Kearney or Halfpenny any day.

Zebo would outplay him at the moment, miles off what he was

the baby bull elephant

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny wrote: »

JOC dealt with SBW at 12 last yr, don't think he'd fear Manu should he be 12

In what match exactly was that? JOC was injured last year and Deans loves McCabe at 12.

nathan99

This is what i think Warren Gatland will choose.
9. Danny Care/Mike Phillips - Cant really decide but they are better then any other scrumhalves we have.
10. Sexton - I think sexton will start and Farrell will be on the bench for the first test.
11.George North
12. Tuallagi - Tuallagi will start - Barett will be his backup
13. BOD - I think he will start the first test and Jonathan Davies will be his backup
14. Bowe - Im not sure is he out for the lions tour? if he is then i would got with Cuthbert or someone else
15. Kearney - Some lad was saying a few posts back that Kearney was crap and Goode is the best fullback.... I think he was just trolling, But obviously halfpenny as Backup

This is what i think Warren Gatland will choose as the starting backline, but if i were choose a pack there is so much quality choice so ill leave that to some one else.
I really think we should take bets on the starting team haha because its such a good topic to talk about!

Fits Morris

its_phil wrote: »

Kearneys defensive work has been excellent, but he hasn't hit the same heights with his attacking. He'll still travel on the Lions with Halfpenny as FB and Hogg as the utility cover that Earls filled in 2009.

He telegraphs his line of running with that stupid hop, skip and jump he does. Abysmal technique and it means he can be tackled by a barely mobile prop. You'd wonder why it's never been coached out of him at Leinster.

Kiwi_knock

Disappointing to see Pocock will be out, Hooper will be an able replacement but Pocock's absence takes something away from the tour. It is also hard to know what condition Genia or Beale will be in, with their lack of gametime. I hope it is a strong Australian side we face, rather than an injury hit makeshift side.

Still hard to predict the make up of the Lions side. Can see a good few English forwards travelling, and Scotland might have a few backs travelling. Of the Irish players, Kearney can really have no complaints if he does not travel. He is secure under the high ball, but I doubt Australia will be kicking much ball. So his attacking game needs to be strong, which at the moment it is not. He runs very predictable lines. I can see it being Halfpenny and Hogg going as the fullbacks.

P.Walnuts

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny wrote: »

Well for one he's a flyhalf playing 15, grew up as a 10. Played england 20s as a 10, played 10 for Sarries, Halfpenny runs as fast as he can and simetimes chamges direction while Goode is always shifting the point of contact. Think it'd make more sense for a former 10 to be a better ballplayer than a 15

Why wasn't he kept on at 10 so? He's got a pretty good kicking game....

He is not in the same class as 1/2p in terms of counter attacking, pace, step.....while 1/2 can match Goode's kicking game.

Goode is a solid fullback who will catch and kick and not much else, certainly not what you want on the dry ground in Oz.

1/2p has 20 tries in 70 app for Blues

Goode has 7 in 85 for Saracens

Chabals Beard

Jamie Roberts has been very poor this year .. No.8 is up in the air, if Morgan had been playing all along he would be my choice but his injury was a blow.. Philips is incredibly slow now, Youngs and Murray have been the best 9s so far.. Robshaw to captain.

English Lurker

P.Walnuts wrote: »

Why wasn't he kept on at 10 so? He's got a pretty good kicking game....

Came through Sarries as a 15 with the intention of moving him to 10; the move came about, had a couple of games, got injured. They parachuted Farrell in and by the time Goode got back, Farrell was going rather well and all their other 15s were dead so back to full-back it was - and nothing ever changed afterwards. He is a very good club 15 in fairness, so little surprise there.

schools rugby

Listen if you think Kearney and Halfpenny wont travel you lack common sense. Both will travel as they have the experience from 09 and Kearney was one of the players of the match in the second test in 09. Hogg/Earls will travel as a utility back

irishbucsfan

Not Playing Tiddlywinks Vinny wrote: »

Well for one he's a flyhalf playing 15, grew up as a 10. Played england 20s as a 10, played 10 for Sarries, Halfpenny runs as fast as he can and simetimes chamges direction while Goode is always shifting the point of contact. Think it'd make more sense for a former 10 to be a better ballplayer than a 15

He's not a 10 playing 15 any more. He is a 15. He says that himeslf.

Goode is good but he's not as good defensively or under the high ball as Kearney or Halfpenny. He's not as strong a ball carrier as Kearney and he's not as elusive as Halfpenny. He's just an extra distributor, if we need it.

schools rugby

irishbucsfan wrote: »

He's not a 10 playing 15 any more. He is a 15. He says that himeslf.

Goode is good but he's not as good defensively or under the high ball as Kearney or Halfpenny. He's not as strong a ball carrier as Kearney and he's not as elusive as Halfpenny. He's just an extra distributor, if we need it.

One thing is sure, Goode will only travel if Gatland has the intention of playing Farrell at 10. He is an extra playmaker for England because Farrell is very poor attack wise . I really dont think Farrell is good at all , very overrated, id have Mike Brown at 15 for England any day

Swiwi

And the Australian view for round 4 of the 6N

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/streetwise-warburton-stakes-his-claim-20130311-2fvxo.html

sydthebeat

Swiwi wrote: »

And the Australian view for round 4 of the 6N

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-news/streetwise-warburton-stakes-his-claim-20130311-2fvxo.html

Very interesting to se pj in there

Webbs

Chabals Beard wrote: »

Jamie Roberts has been very poor this year .. No.8 is up in the air, if Morgan had been playing all along he would be my choice but his injury was a blow.. Philips is incredibly slow now, Youngs and Murray have been the best 9s so far.. Robshaw to captain.

Robshaw has been poor as a Captain, he is a solid workhorse of a player but his decision making has in past tests been very suspect and yesterday when England need someone to step up and get them to dig themselves out of a hole he was conspicuous by his absence.

Am surprised by how few people have not had Faletau in at 8, he for me has been the most consistent performer at 8 this year, his tackling stats are right up there, he is a good ball carrier, not in the explosive style of O'Brien but he makes the yards and on the harder grounds of Australia it will suit him, and at breakdown time he is a real nuisance

irishbucsfan

I would have Faletau or Heaslip. Not sure which until I see them playing for the Lions and see who it suits more. I'd be surprised if it isn't one of them. If it is anyone else I guess it'd have to be Beattie?

pickarooney

It's a pity Morgan got injured against Scotland. He looked like one of the few really dynamic players in that England squad.

bilston

sydthebeat wrote: »

Very interesting to se pj in there

The standard of 10s in Britain and Ireland outside of Sexton and Farrell isn't great so yeah he was arguably the best of an average bunch at the weekend.

sydthebeat

bilston wrote: »

The standard of 10s in Britain and Ireland outside of Sexton and Farrell isn't great so yeah he was arguably the best of an average bunch at the weekend.

A good game next weekend could see him possibly being 'on call'. How many 10's will he bring?

sting60

Based on what i have seen so far,but the big game for Lions test places is next week in Cardiff.1 Jenkins,2 Youngs,3 Jones,4 Launchbury,5 Parling,6 Robshaw [cpt],7 Warburton,8 Wood,9 Laidlaw,10 Farrell,11 North,12 Barrett,13 Tualangi,14 Halfpenny,15 Hogg.

bilston

sydthebeat wrote: »

A good game next weekend could see him possibly being 'on call'. How many 10's will he bring?

Three probably. Assuming Sexton and Farrell are nailed on that leaves one space. Farrell can also cover centre so the third player could be an out and out 10. I think it will either be Flood (can also play 12) or Biggar. Of course there is always Jonny Wilkinson who is probably still a better option than either Flood or Biggar IMO.

Feck I can almost see why Conor George felt ROG had a chance of making the Lions squad earlier in the season!

Kiwi_knock

Danny Cipriani, has the experience of playing in Australia and can cover a few positions across the backline. He played alongside and against the Australian players, so will know their strengths and weaknesses. Will also know about their tactics and how they like to play. Very good friends with a lot of the Australian team, so will know about their mental toughness. His style of play is suited to the way Australia will play, he will thrive in the open field.

Not only should he tour, he should also be in contention for a starting spot.