Brumbies vs Lions, Match Thread

Clegg

Stupid stuff from Murray near the end. Never should have went for contact with 5 defenders in front if him and then he took the awful decision to kick possession away with only 3 minutes left.

I think he might still get the bench spot for the tests because Ben Youngs was terrible during his 60 minutes on the pitch today.

Swan Curry

Twelvetrees,Barrett,Williams may as well have not been there,they hadn't a clue what to do.

Lelantos

Artful_Badger wrote: »

Stellar argument !

Deserved argument to rubbish post

Artful_Badger

Chabals Beard wrote: »

He did make a difference. Guilty of trying to create too much on his own. Youngs was woeful though.

He had better ball to work with though. Youngs had no lineout ball, scrum under pressure and no backline to give it to. Key thing for me is that when it came to crunch time Murray with all those things threw away possession.

WorldRugby99

Swan Curry wrote: »

Twelvetrees,Barrett,Williams may as well have not been there,they hadn't a clue what to do.

backline looked nervy,hesitant and didnt really know what to do-which wasnt suprising really.
got to look at forwards though-they must take the majority of the flack-gave backs no platform whatsoever.

Artful_Badger

Lelantos wrote: »

Deserved argument to rubbish post

Another stellar contribution ! Your on fire tonight !

shuffol

Well done Brumbies, happy to see Barnes made look a bit silly writing Brumbies off with 10 mins left when they were leading.

Webbs

Lelantos wrote: »

Rubbish

On small margins are selections made and Murrays composure/decision making near the end of the game wasnt great

Buer

WorldRugby99 wrote: »

been a bit generous to kearney and o brien there(and tipuric who was anonymous virtually)- kearney was average,for all the hype o brien hardly stood out .

Thought Kearney didn't do anything spectacular but, generally, was very solid and composed. Kicked well from hand, chased well, was very safe at the back when the Brumbies tried to play territory. Game was not suited for any back three player to run given the 10,12 and 13.

Lelantos

Artful_Badger wrote: »

Another stellar contribution ! Your on fire tonight !

So are you sweetie

Chabals Beard

Tbf to Murray, himself Cole, Parling, Lydiate, Farrell and Kearney were a 6 man team at the end.

matTNT

trouttrout wrote: »

Ratings

R Kearney 7/10
Wade 5/10
Barrit 4/10
36 4/10
Hogg 5/10
Youngs 5/10
Toby F 8/10
Tipuric 6/10
SOB 7/10
Gray 2/10
Evans 4/10
Stevens 2/10
Best 2/10
Grant 2/10

That's incredibly unfair to Gray and Grant, Gray stole two line outs and was hitting rucks all day long. 6/10 at least. Grant was solid did nothing to deserve a two bar the awful peno he gave away 5/10. Youngs was solid, if not disappointing from the boot. 7/10.

The rest seem fairly accurate from a game where the front five offered little in terms of a set piece platform and the centres could not create space to save their lives.

Buer

Clegg wrote: »

Stupid stuff from Murray near the end. Never should have went for contact with 5 defenders in front if him and then he took the awful decision to kick possession away with only 3 minutes left.

Thought he was generally very good when he came on. The last two moments though where he got isolated and turned and kicked the ball away though might leave an impression on the coaching team.

Kiwi_knock

Neither scrum halfs were good, Youngs was very slow while Murray lacked composure.

Artful_Badger

trouttrout wrote: »

He was brilliant when he came on? Ran without support once and kicked away a silly ball but he was much better than Youngs

What game were you watching?

Ran without support and kicked away a couple silly balls, poor box kicking. All 2 points down at the end of a game. Making him brilliant ? ok...........

irishbucsfan

Chabals Beard wrote: »

He did make a difference. Guilty of trying to create too much on his own. Youngs was woeful though.

Youngs was not woeful. He was good considering the atrocious ball he was getting.

If you switched their places people would be saying Murray was woeful and Youngs was excellent. There's no point comparing the two.

Artful_Badger

Lelantos wrote: »

So are you sweetie

I say we nominate you for poster of the year. You're a dab hand at this discussion stuff.

19543261

Best is great at speakin. Could see him on the RTE panel at some point...

WorldRugby99

Buer wrote: »

Thought Kearney didn't do anything spectacular but, generally, was very solid and composed. Kicked well from hand, chased well, was very safe at the back when the Brumbies tried to play territory. Game was not suited for any back three player to run given the 10,12 and 13.

He went ok-a 6-but like you say none of the backline really got much ball and when they did it was bad ball most of the time.When did backline get many real chances? kearney,wade,williams got virtually no ball to attack with

trouttrout

matTNT wrote: »

That's incredibly unfair to Gray and Grant, Gray stole two line outs and was hitting rucks all day long. 6/10 at least..

Sorry what?! If by hitting you mean floundering on top of opposition players like a fish on the deck of a ship then maybe I'd agree

He was abysmal

Lelantos

Artful_Badger wrote: »

I say we nominate you for poster of the year. You're a dab hand at this discussion stuff.

Talent always wins out dontcha know

irishbucsfan

matTNT wrote: »

That's incredibly unfair to Gray and Grant, Gray stole two line outs and was hitting rucks all day long. 6/10 at least. Grant was solid did nothing to deserve a two bar the awful peno he gave away 5/10. Youngs was solid, if not disappointing from the boot. 7/10.

The rest seem fairly accurate from a game where the front five offered little in terms of a set piece platform and the centres could not create space to save their lives.

Richie Gray gave perhaps the weakest performance of anyone on tour. 2/10 is generous. The amount of penalties and possession conceded due to him were astonishing, not to mention just the poor quality ball in general.

Grant was good though. I thought he played well, probably the only player in the starting tight 5 who did. Evans was decent enough.

monkeybutter

They waited too long to bring on the bench to be honest if they were serious about winning. When the clock is ticking down pressure goes up and the opposition can just hang onto possession and kick for position. Got what they deserved considering they didn't create one decent chance the whole game. And starting without a proper fly half was an insult really. Anyway, along with the Lion out (joke), control at the back of a dominant scrum has been sloppy at best from both number 8's so far. Barnes is some knobjockey, Professor Richard Hibbard, what a clown

A2LUE42

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Richie Gray gave perhaps the weakest performance of anyone on tour. 2/10 is generous. The amount of penalties and possession conceded due to him were astonishing, not to mention just the poor quality ball in general.

Grant was good though. I thought he played well, probably the only player in the starting tight 5 who did. Evans was decent enough.

The phrase Ruck Inspector is perfect for a performance like Gray today.

Buer

I'm going to take a staple gun to SQ's lips.

"Shoouulderrr to shouuuullderrr, it's the Breetish and Ireeesh Lioyans!"

Say something tangible, dammit.

monkeybutter

awec wrote: »

Didn't see the game, but gutted for Rory Best. Hope he just forgets about this whole tour.

He'd have been better of not picking up that call from Gatland and taking a break. He even took of the scrum cap today, it didn't work.

Chabals Beard

Just thinking Strauss and Sherry are two happy boys today.

Tox56

Buer wrote: »

I'm going to take a staple gun to SQ's lips.

"Shoouulderrr to shouuuullderrr, it's the Breetish and Ireeesh Lioyans!"

Say something tangible, dammit.

He was literally tripping over himself with cliches at one point

.ak

White is actually quite sound!

petebricquette

monkeybutter wrote: »

He'd have been better of not picking up that call from Gatland and taking a break. He even took of the scrum cap today, it didn't work.

It's like when golfers get the yips. He's trying and trying but the more he tries the worse it seems to get. Really feel for the guy. Maybe Flannery giving him a coaching session or two would sort him? And a good psychologist.

irishbucsfan

Good man White.

I'd like to see him coaching a 6 Nations side if he doesn't get the Aussie job

irishbucsfan

.ak wrote: »

White is actually quite sound!

It's a front, there's no such thing as a sound South African!

Grandpa Hassan

OK, I had planned to steer clear of the interweb, so I could watch the game 'as live' this evening. But accidentally saw the result. So only catching up now. Half of me is glad, as it has prepared me for the disappointment I was sure to experience this evening. I'll probably fast forward through it if it is a bad as is suggested here.

How did the back row perform? SOB in particular, given that the likely test backrow has been the source of most of the argument on here

Lelantos

Chabals Beard wrote: »

Just thinking Strauss and Sherry are two happy boys today.

It's probably true. Rory has to get some help asap, his throwing will have to be corrected.

Gambas

Lelantos wrote: »

It's probably true. Rory has to get some help asap, his throwing will have to be corrected.

He's like a golfer with the yips - it'll be sorted out. Tee to green he's still the best Irish hooker.

Chabals Beard

Chabals Beard wrote: »

Just thinking Strauss and Sherry are two happy boys today.

only just had a Lineout nightmare himself!

OnTheCouch

Feel sorry for Best, seems like a decent bloke, but after that shocker today would be seriously surprised to see him on a pitch again for the rest of the tour.

It's not been the best of tours for Scotland either, the three original representatives have been mediocre at best, Grant a little better after he was called up. Some of their non-selected players, ie Hamilton, Visser, might be looking on with some regret.

irishbucsfan

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

OK, I had planned to steer clear of the interweb, so I could watch the game 'as live' this evening. But accidentally saw the result. So only catching up now. Half of me is glad, as it has prepared me for the disappointment I was sure to experience this evening. I'll probably fast forward through it if it is a bad as is suggested here.

How did the back row perform? SOB in particular, given that the likely test backrow has been the source of most of the argument on here

Forwards were so poor and unbalanced in the first half that's its hard to compliment many of them, but SOB had moments of excellence throughout. At others times I thought he was a little exposed but I thought that was down to him being so exposed by so many dreadful performances in the rest of the pack.

Faletau was good. Tipuric was shown up too many times when the Lions were in possession and I don't think Gatland will be too fond of him given how he likes to play. Lydiate played well when he came on.

I think the back row will be Croft, Warburton Heaslip and Sean O'Brien. Not sure who of those will start. Maybe Lydiate has an outside chance if being involved.

I don't think any of those forwards really demanded selection tonight.

shuffol

Grandpa Hassan wrote: »

OK, I had planned to steer clear of the interweb, so I could watch the game 'as live' this evening. But accidentally saw the result. So only catching up now. Half of me is glad, as it has prepared me for the disappointment I was sure to experience this evening. I'll probably fast forward through it if it is a bad as is suggested here.

How did the back row perform? SOB in particular, given that the likely test backrow has been the source of most of the argument on here

Solid, didnt get any frontfoot ball to carry but showed his class with some nice hands and very good breakdown work, pick of the pack when on IMO, Faletau became prominent later on but the rest of the pack made it easy for him.

.ak

Well, always thought we'd lose this one when Gatland was saying he was willing to sacrifice a game in order to save the tests. He's dead right. Wade, Williams, Barritt and 12x3s won't be seeing a red jersey again on tour. They were literally there to make up numbers.

Some players showed up well though, particularly the Irish who'll probably bench; Murray, Kearney and SOB. Tipuric had an awesome opening 15 minutes but then realized his pack was crumbling infront of him and seemed to go missing. Faletau had a great game and I'd have no issue with him replacing Heaslip if he gets injured. Farrell also showed up well coming off the bench, had the backline playing tighter, more penetrating rugby.

Think the Lions learned a lot from this, and now have blood in their mouth.

P.Walnuts

This pundits line up is going to be annoying.....

petebricquette

Sky still talking about Faletau being involved. Also saying that Lydiate will start if it rains? Madness. No way in hell is Faletau going to start now after playing a full 80.

HigginsJ

A few guys with bench aspirations really did themselves no good at all today. Best was obviously terrible, thought Youngs passing was awful.

Gray was disappointing, Barritt was completely anonymous, Twelvetrees & Wade were out of there depth.

SOB & Tipuric were solid as was Kearney. Murray & Zebo did well off the bench.

Hunterbiker

The replacement front row didn't do themselves any harm either.

Chabals Beard

My test team
Mako
Hibbard
Jones
AWJ
POC
Croft
Tipuric
Heaslip
Philips
Sexton
North /Zebo
Davies
BOD
Cuthburt
Halfpenny

irishbucsfan

I thought the pundits had it pretty right.

I don't think Faletau should start and I would be very surprised if he does after 80 minutes tonight?

.ak

Think they went too Welsh heavy on the 50/50 calls, i.e Faletau, Hibbard etc. Don't know if North will be fit imo.

preddy

Anyone else have a feeling Bowe might make Saturday if no North?

HigginsJ

What I expect test team to be

1. Vunipola
2. Hibbard
3. Jones
4. AWJ
5. POC
6. Croft
7. Warburton
8. Heaslip
9. Phillips
10. Sexton
11. Halfpenny (Doubt North be fit)
12. Davies
13. BOD
14. Maitland (i'd have him no-where neat test team, Zebo is much better)
15. Kearney

Bench
2 props
Tom Youngs
Parling
SOB
Murray
Farrell
Zebo

HigginsJ

preddy wrote: »

Anyone else have a feeling Bowe might make Saturday if no North?

I'd be shocked tbh. Think he could make 3rd test if needed