British and Irish Lions vs Barbarian FC, Sat 1 June 12:30pm; Sky Sports 1

OldRio

It looks like some on here have started picking the Lions test team v Australia after that one match. (Some started penciling in names and writing other players off who were not even playing after 40 minutes )
Baabaas were bloody awful. Not interested and I fear for the future of that particular team.
The Lions beat what was in front of them. Much more difficult games to come.
HSBC got the game they wanted. After all he who pays the piper calls the tune.

trouttrout

Bogota wrote: »

Well, in fairness people are only saying that Earls wasn't ready for the Lions when he toured and was nowhere near being in contention to start. I don't think that means people have a vendetta against him as you and mathama seem to be implying.

Just to be clear, do you think that Earls was in fact ready and that he was actually in contention for a starting position?

still waiting for a link to that article btw where Earls said he was had a nightmare. PM it to me if you want, not going to ruin the thread by discussing Earls considering it's entirely off topic

leakyboots

You do know it's a Lions tradition to select a bolter? Earls was on fire that season

Risteard

Bogota wrote: »

Well, in fairness people are only saying that Earls wasn't ready for the Lions when he toured and was nowhere near being in contention to start. I don't think that means people have a vendetta against him as you and mathama seem to be implying.

Just to be clear, do you think that Earls was in fact ready and that he was actually in contention for a starting position?

No, people are saying that he had a poor first game but that his entire tour wasn't a disaster as you initially stated. Nobody here mentioned him with regard to the starting team. Just because he didn't make the test team doesn't mean he had a nightmare tour.

awec

OldRio wrote: »

It looks like some on here have started picking the Lions test team v Australia after that one match. (Some started penciling in names and writing other players off who were not even playing after 40 minutes )
Baabaas were bloody awful. Not interested and I fear for the future of that particular team.
The Lions beat what was in front of them. Much more difficult games to come.
HSBC got the game they wanted. After all he who pays the piper calls the tune.

Not too much can be taken from that game today. Are we any wiser than we were this time yesterday?

Bridge93

leakyboots wrote: »

Yeah Murray can't do what Philips does? Had a part in both tries since he came on

Phillips man of the match? Murray doing it against clearly exhausted and disinterested opposition? I'll take Phillips thanks

twinytwo

awec wrote: »

Not too much can be taken from that game today. Are we any wiser than we were this time yesterday?

i think im glad i missed the game now...

TBF whoever decided it was a good idea to play a game in hong kong with 2 makeshift teams in 40 degree heat needs their heads examined

Bogota

trouttrout wrote: »

still waiting for a link to that article btw where Earls said he was had a nightmare. PM it to me if you want, not going to ruin the thread by discussing Earls considering it's entirely off topic

There's an interview where he said he didn't feel ready and his confidence took a dip. I can't find the exact interview but its referenced to here http://newstalk.ie/Keith-Earls--Im-just-starting-to-believe-in-myself-now and here

but for a player who has admitted to issues with self-confidence

http://whiffofcordite.com/2013/05/07/what-next-for-keith-earls/

Theres an article (that maybe other posters might know where to find) where he talks about his self-confidence issues stemming from the Lions tour that he didn't feel he was ready for.

OldRio

awec wrote: »

Not too much can be taken from that game today. Are we any wiser than we were this time yesterday?

Exactly.
Only winner was the sponsors.

danthefan

OldRio wrote: »

Exactly.
Only winner was the sponsors.

Well that's just not correct, Gatland is happy for some of his players to have a game under their belt, no matter the result.

Flincher

awec wrote: »

Not too much can be taken from that game today. Are we any wiser than we were this time yesterday?

Definitely an indication of the style the Lions are going to employ. Fairly extensive use of the narrow side to open up space for the bigger runners and for the scrumhalfs to exploit.

There are early signs that the set piece is going to be solid.

There's a potential leadership issue on the horizon. If Warburton misses the first couple of games, and Tipuric can maintain the standard he set today, can Gatland parachute his captain into a test team? Especially considering that with O'Connell and O'Driscoll around, as well as a pile of experienced players, there's hardly a leadership void in the team.

Confirmation that Cuthbert is missing the top couple of inches. Not looking for an offload when Roberts (I think) made a break, and a woeful attempt at cutting the Baabaa's attack in the lead-up to the Baabaa's try. Once Bowe can put one foot in front of the other he should be starting ahead of him.

shuffol

Bogota wrote: »

I don't think its possible to have a worse tour than Earls did. I may be wrong here but I think Earls was much younger than Farrell when he toured and a lot less experienced. He was completely out of his depth and it showed. In Farrell's instance, hes young but hes not that young and hes much more experienced than Earls. He was poor today but he's definitely not out of his depth in the way Earls was. I genuinely just think he had an off game. Hes already played in huge games for Saracens and England so I can't imagine nerves being too much of a factor.

I think Farrell is genuinely getting a hard time. Lots of comments on social media predicting that Farrell will go on to have a tour like Keith Earls did in 09. This all after one game, in incredibly humid conditions.

Earls was 22 in 09, older than Farrell now, had a rotten first half against the Royal XV but looked dangerous in rest of the games, certainly wasnt out of his depth, I remember the following year before the 2010 6N Sunday Times had a panel interview with Geech, S.Jones, Barnes, Wood and a few others. Geech nominated Earls as the player to watch for that years 6N, Jones asked him did he think he was the real deal and he said he was, obviously did something to impress on the tour so.

danthefan

Flincher wrote: »

If Warburton misses the first couple of games,

Thought he wasn't too badly injured? Gatland said any player who would be missing a few of the early games would be replaced didn't he?

ed7890

Bridge93 wrote: »

Phillips man of the match? Murray doing it against clearly exhausted and disinterested opposition? I'll take Phillips thanks

Taking Philips ahead of him is grand. He's a top player himself. Murray was good though wasn't he? Developing into a world class scrumhalf.

OldRio

danthefan wrote: »

Well that's just not correct, Gatland is happy for some of his players to have a game under their belt, no matter the result.

I was thinking more about how bad the opposition was and the conditions but you are right a win is a win.

danthefan

OldRio wrote: »

I was thinking more about how bad the opposition was and the conditions but you are right a win is a win.

What? That's not even remotely what I said. Guys like Gray, POC, Lydiate don't have much rugby under their belts this season. The squad has to gel in a very short period of time and every bit of live gametime helps. For those reasons the game is valuable for the Lions, not the result.

Flincher

danthefan wrote: »

Thought he wasn't too badly injured? Gatland said any player who would be missing a few of the early games would be replaced didn't he?

He did, but there's a difference between replacing the likes of, say Ian Evans, and sending home your captain. And in fairness Kearney and O'Brien are being kept on despite carrying knocks.

From reading this article
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/international/british-and-irish-lions-2013-sam-warburton-knee-injury-is-worse-than-first-thought-8638714.html

it looks like he's going to miss at least the next five day's training, which would rule him out for Wednesday and possibly the following weekend. That's 3 games down already, with just 3 to go before the tests.

I think its a potential issue. If you have Tipuric in flying form, your captain with just a game or 2 under his belt, and plenty of leaders on the field, then arguably the sensible call is to not play your captain.

danthefan

Flincher wrote: »

He did, but there's a difference between replacing the likes of, say Ian Evans, and sending home your captain. And in fairness Kearney and O'Brien are being kept on despite carrying knocks.

From reading this article
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-union/international/british-and-irish-lions-2013-sam-warburton-knee-injury-is-worse-than-first-thought-8638714.html

it looks like he's going to miss at least the next five day's training, which would rule him out for Wednesday and possibly the following weekend. That's 3 games down already, with just 3 to go before the tests.

I think its a potential issue. If you have Tipuric in flying form, your captain with just a game or 2 under his belt, and plenty of leaders on the field, then arguably the sensible call is to not play your captain.

Yep, you're not wrong. Didn't realise Warburton was missing so much. I think he was the wrong call for captain anyway because the backrow is so competitive and he'd arguably been outplayed by Tipuric in the 6N.

trouttrout

The sensible call would have been to have picked someone other than Warburton as captain

Blut2

neilmulvey wrote: »

Today was basicallly a waste of time. I think the Lions need to seriously consider playing a game in the home nations on a rotational basis before each tour even if its a Lions Barbarians selection from Rabo/Aviva leagues, guys who missed selection but who might want to make a final impression in case of injury/suspension. Might provide more of a spectacle too.

I'd love to see them introducing an extra 'home' game for future Lions tours. Start off the series with a game in the home nations against one of Argentina/France/Italy before they head off. Would give a lot more fans here a chance to see them live and would provide more of a challenge than the Barbarians game (which I think they should still do, just in addition to a game against a proper team).

OldRio

danthefan wrote: »

What? That's not even remotely what I said. Guys like Gray, POC, Lydiate don't have much rugby under their belts this season. The squad has to gel in a very short period of time and every bit of live gametime helps. For those reasons the game is valuable for the Lions, not the result.

I didn't agree with the game or the opposition.
Could have played a better team under better conditions but the sponsors thought different. That is the point I was trying to make.
Understand what you are saying but things should have been organised better for the team and Gatland.

Teferi

Sexton will be sick with himself for leaving those kicks behind but he was good otherwise. Murray the same, enjoyed his cameo. Roberts and Philips the stand out players for me, others like Maitland can hold their head high. POC also had a very good game.

danthefan

Teferi wrote: »

Sexton will be sick with himself for leaving those kicks behind but he was good otherwise. Murray the same, enjoyed his cameo. Roberts and Philips the stand out players for me, others like Maitland can hold their head high. POC also had a very good game.

One thing I'd say about POC is that he basically never released the player after making a tackle, in a real game that's going to attract penalties. Other than that he had a good game.

Chabals Beard

I could only catch the game on the radio,.but there is a lot of mixed reports about Maitland.. some say he was good, others don't??? His name was barely mentioned after the first 20 mins .

bilston

Players in credit after today
Adam Jones
Paul O'Connell
Mike Phillips
Jamie Roberts
Jonathan Davies

Of the rest Vunipola went pretty well and the Welsh back row we're pretty solid if not spectacular.. AWJ and Murray both had good cameos.

The big thing here is vital gane time for the Welsh and Scottish guys who haven't played in a while, no injuries and a sense that a specific gameplan is being implemented and executed as well as can be expected at this stage.

Wednesday will be a big step up though as the opposition while not as talented will be much better drilled and conditioned than the Baabaas.

trouttrout

Maitland was very quiet, didn't get a lot of ball to be fair but he really should have scored that try and put in a poor forward pass in the first half

Cuthbert was outstanding. Only needs a sniff of the try line

bilston

Chabals Beard wrote: »

I could only catch the game on the radio,.but there is a lot of mixed reports about Maitland.. some say he was good, others don't??? His name was barely mentioned after the first 20 mins .

He was outshone by Cuthbert on the day who was very good. The ball didnt really go his way in the second half. For example all of Sextons conversions were on the right hand side. Not sure that's Maitlands fault.

Intetesting North came on in the centre. Has he ever played there before?

trouttrout

North in the center could be Gatland's way of seeing if he could slot into the 23 shirt

Swiwi

Chabals Beard wrote: »

I could only catch the game on the radio,.but there is a lot of mixed reports about Maitland.. some say he was good, others don't??? His name was barely mentioned after the first 20 mins .

His work-rate was good, but he made a couple of handling errors, and one average pass. He made a great run to put him in place for a try, but got a bit of a wicked bounce and knocked on. He would have scored if Farrell had passed him the ball (instead he passed it into the path of a BaaBaas player). I thought he looked slightly over-awed. Given that Cuthbert in particular had a good game, he's now in catch-up mode. Probably has 1, max 2 more games to show his wares. I'll be honest, I was a bit disappointed.

clsmooth

trouttrout wrote: »

I could be wide of the mark, but I think he might have been making a joke there chief

FYP

So who's unavailable for the game on Wedsnesday? Just Warburton? Think it'll be an Irish and English dominated team for that game seeing as a lot of the Welsh players got a runout today.

Bridge93

I think maitland was very unlucky, if you look at the try opportunity yachvilli gets a boot to it just as he's trying to gather it.

ouncer

would like to see folks like madigan, zebo, toh playing on the baba's . they play fun and original rugby. would be good to see

Dave_The_Sheep

Really really poor game. Baabaas performance was one of the worst team performances I've seen in a long time. Lions scored ****loads without ever really clicking, or playing well. Still, it was a nothing game, in such humid and hot conditions, I'm not going to read much into it for any of the players.

Buer

Dave_The_Sheep wrote: »

Really really poor game. Baabaas performance was one of the worst team performances I've seen in a long time. Lions scored ****loads without ever really clicking, or playing well. Still, it was a nothing game, in such humid and hot conditions, I'm not going to read much into it for any of the players.

Yup. Game meant nothing to the Barbarians. All but 4 or 5 were not bothered. Lions will be happy to have had a run out, worked on match fitness, some moves and tested their set piece. Nothing much to be read into individual performances though, really. Individual players will take a lot of confidence and have momentum behind them after today, though.

Leslie91

Really poor game, Baa Baas not too interested. James the #1 dire. For me Adam Jones nailed down the #3 shirt but if he goes down they are in trouble cos yer man Stevens is a total chancer. Looks fat and outta shape and scrums too high. Bring in Mike Ross or Euan Murray. The Stevens selection was a disgrace.

Phillips started poorly but ended up showing his class. Maitland for me is out of his depth. The other wingers are a long way ahead. Farrell not up to it either, Jonny will be there within a week.

Roberts looks bang in form, thought Faletau looked strong as did POC = no surprise. Liked the look of Healy and Murray when they came on too, all action

GiftofGab

Lions by 1-10

Leslie91 wrote: »

Really poor game, Baa Baas not too interested. James the #1 dire. For me Adam Jones nailed down the #3 shirt but if he goes down they are in trouble cos yer man Stevens is a total chancer. Looks fat and outta shape and scrums too high. Bring in Mike Ross or Euan Murray. The Stevens selection was a disgrace.

Phillips started poorly but ended up showing his class. Maitland for me is out of his depth. The other wingers are a long way ahead. Farrell not up to it either, Jonny will be there within a week.

Roberts looks bang in form, thought Faletau looked strong as did POC = no surprise. Liked the look of Healy and Murray when they came on too, all action

Maitland is not out of his depth. He just had a quiet day. He was top try scorer in the Super XV last year playing for the Crusaders. He well deserves to be on this Lions tour.

Mike Ross wont offer anything this Lions tour and every rugby pundit knows that.

What you see is what you get will Farrell. He wont offer anything spectacular and is only there because of lack of quality out halfs.

Lads its a nothing game. Baa Baas are only there for an extra bit of cash and a piss up. The coaches are told to go easy on the players and most of the training consists off non contact walk throughs. Ive heard some players before (cant remember who) say they have a few beers all week after each training session. Its a run out for the Lions. The real performance will be against the Brumbies and Reds.

Lelantos

Brits gets a 3 week ban to begin next season.

thomond2006

Lelantos wrote: »

Brits gets a 3 week ban to begin next season.

Yet Calum Clark's ban ran through the summer. Some terrible inconsistency.

conneem-TT

They reduced it to 3 weeks due to "compelling mitigating factors". Any ideas on what they mean by this?

Lelantos

conneem-TT wrote: »

They reduced it to 3 weeks due to "compelling mitigating factors". Any ideas on what they mean by this?

Farrell started it? Having said that, he too should have been cited, shocking inconsistency here

Tox56

Lelantos wrote: »

Farrell started it? Having said that, he too should have been cited, shocking inconsistency here

He should have been cited for holding someone?

totallegend

Barbarians by 1-10

Tox56 wrote: »

He should have been cited for holding someone?

He gave Brits a bit of a b*tch slap after the punch, not much but it was still striking.

Anywho, what did people think of Faletau? Stephen Jones is creaming himself in the ST today but I didn't think he was a stand out performer.

trouttrout

totallegend wrote: »

He gave Brits a bit of a b*tch slap after the punch, not much but it was still striking.

Anywho, what did people think of Faletau? Stephen Jones is creaming himself in the ST today but I didn't think he was a stand out performer.

I thought he was ok. Heaslip looked a lot more effective when he came on

danthefan

Ahhh ffs, there's no way Farrell should have been cited.

bilston

totallegend wrote: »

He gave Brits a bit of a b*tch slap after the punch, not much but it was still striking.

Anywho, what did people think of Faletau? Stephen Jones is creaming himself in the ST today but I didn't think he was a stand out performer.

Standout...no but decent...yes

The battle for the 8 shirt will be a very tight one.

trouttrout

Difference for me is the workrate of the two. Toby F doesn't even come close to Heaslip. Heaslip is also a better lineout option and there really isn't much in there carrying

irishbucsfan

I expected a lot more of Faletau. If he plays at that level the rest of the tour Heaslip will have no problem winning a starting place.

I hope there's more to come from Faletau though. The first time Heaslip has really been competing with someone decent for a starting place since...

Mahatma Geansai

trouttrout wrote: »

Difference for me is the workrate of the two. Toby F doesn't even come close to Heaslip. Heaslip is also a better lineout option and there really isn't much in there carrying

Faletau is probably better at returning the ball from dropoffs and the like; he was brilliant in this regard yesterday. Heaslip is a much more complete player who is coming into some great form though. It should be interesting to see how both fare during the tour.

I wonder if Heaslip will get the honour of captaining any of the midweek sides. It would be a massive honour for him.

Mahatma Geansai

irishbucsfan wrote: »

I expected a lot more of Faletau. If he plays at that level the rest of the tour Heaslip will have no problem winning a starting place.

I hope there's more to come from Faletau though. The first time Heaslip has really been competing with someone decent for a starting place since...

...since Andy Powell in 09? :pac:

Hottowel

I think Heaslip is going to have to be streets ahead of faletau to get selected. At the moment there isn't much in it. Heaslip is playing ok (not outstanding) and Faletau is a decent international. Neither of them are anywhere near the form of a Scott Quinnell in 2001 tour.

I'd love to see Sean O'Brein get a run at number 8. I think he might get a start on the Saturday game if he gets the all clear. Possibly Heaslip to start on weds then half a game between faletau and O'Brein on Saturday.