Lions tour to Oz

Article in the SMH got me thinking, how much are we assuming we'll do well? What caugt my eye was their selection of a British Lions team and an Aussie one just based on the last round of games:

Jenkins, Youngs, Jones, Gray, Hamilton, Wood Robshaw, Faletau, Phillips, Biggar, Halfpenny, Barritt, Tuilagi, Cuthbert, Goode

and to take them on:

Alexander, Moore, Slipper, Fardy, Simmons, Quirk, Gill, Mowen, White, Toomua, Ioane, Lealiifano, Tapuai, Shipperley, Mogg

Now just for a moment ignore the makeup of the Lions team, and consider how much you know about the Aussie team. I wonder for instance how many will know if I've put the Aussie names in the right order?


PS. Should soon get the anouncement that Aussie test players will be removed early from the S15 series to prepare for the Lions

the poor irish .

i know only 7 out of the 15 aussie guys

Interesting team but pretty unlikely.
I thought it'd be
Ben Robinson, Steven Moore, Ben Alexander, Horwill, Timani, Higganbothom, Palu, Pocock, Guinea, Beale (could be quade cooper who knows), Ioane, Fainga'a, O'Connor, Cummins, Ashley Cooper

Your selections of Phillips and Biggar made me throw up in my mouth a little...

seanand wrote:the poor irish .

i know only 7 out of the 15 aussie guys

It's odd that. Frankly the Irish battered the Scots, and there aren't many Irish players who didn't give the passes they should have or coughed up daft penalties. Okay ROGs Mum wouldn't pick him after that cameo, but for the rest including Scots over Irish based solely on the last round is to focus too much on result not performance.

hikky999 wrote:Your selections of Phillips and Biggar made me throw up in my mouth a little...

I'm a big Mike Phillips fan actually. Though those aren't my selections, they are as per an article in the SMH. And I posted them as I thought it could illustrate we know very little about Aussie rugby yet seem to be assuming we'll just win.

Also - http://www.espnscrum.com/lions-tour-2013/rugby/story/177887.html

Confirms Aussie players will be rested ahead of the Lions series, and will very likely not be released to play the midweek games. So what a waste of time they'll likely prove. Given I think the Lions should be scrapped I should be happy as this I feel advances my cause, but actually if they're going to do it then it should be done right, and I find I'm annoyed.

I will let you know how the lions look ahead of the tour. I just recived two corprate box tickets for the Lions vs the Barbars in Hong Kong. business class flights, full complitentry service the lot. anyone hate me now?!

I do. I may just have to ban you from here and suspend you on BR....

its going to be epic!

I'm not getting the people touting Warburton for captain. He opted (apparently declined it) not to be captain against England. And that's fair enough, not everyone wants that responsibility, but surely that should be a huge mark against even considering him for captaining the lions tour. He may well refuse it if offered anyway!

When's the squad announcement?

Sometime at the end of April I think

Did Warburton opt for such, or did the coaches ask him and he agreed?

Given the dependency players have on the coaches to be picked a great many of these statements to the press from the coaches they've reached accords with the players I take with a big old pinch of salt. As really it's often very hard for the player not to agree.

Given the vogue to pick now based on form for matches that will not commence for months one could say he looks more assured of starting than a good few candidates.

Madigan and Wade just made large statements to Gatland I reckon.

Could be bolters, everyone knows I think Wade is the real deal!

Heard people talking at the rec yesterday and they seemed to think Gatland was there. Anyone think he may have been taking a look at Eastmond? If Eastmond was the reason he can't have done his chances any harm.

The only other reason, realistically, that he would have been there is to see Paul James but I would have thought he should know enough about James already.

I think he might have issues with Eastmond not defending his channel

Though I can't see Gats picking him at 12, wing or nowt. Still wonder if they can possibly get him playing at 9, big ask for the lad, but he keeps stepping up

I like Kyle, would be interesting to see him in a team that is more often than not on the front foot.

he was at the stoop today thats all i know

not picking tipuric in the backrow is criminal right now - for goodness' sake play him if you got him, that guy is immense!

He's in contention. Couldn't say not picking him would be criminal, though he might only now have Warbs ahead of him for the openside role.

hes THE form player - not of wales, not of britain, not of the six nations - but the entire northern hemisphere!

and your right, the only person who is rivalling him atm is warburton - and id pick the pair of them.

Anyone see the Ospreys Vs Glasgow game the other night?

I mention as we're coming up fast on the announcement of the Lions tour party, and there are a lot of message boards full of Welsh names. The Ospreys pack is very nearly the Wales pack, and they got man shamed by Glasgow, and then some

Going to name 2 teams, one along the lines of what Gats will pick, the other the feck it lets go and play XV

Healey
Hibbard
Jones
Evans
POC
Lydiate
Warburton
Faletau
Phillips
Sexton
North
Roberts
Tuilagi
Cuthbert
Halfpenny

and

Jenkins
Youngs
Cole
Launchbury
Gray
Croft
Tipuric
Morgan
Care
Sexton
Zebo
Hook
Tuilagi
Halfpenny
Hogg

Fullbacks: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales, Cardiff Blues), Stuart Hogg (Scotland, Glasgow Warriors), Rob Kearney (Ireland, Leinster)

Wings: Tommy Bowe (Ireland, Ulster), Alex Cuthbert (Wales, Cardiff Blues), Sean Maitland (Scotland, Glasgow Warriors), George North (Wales, Scarlets)

Centres: Jonathan Davies (Wales, Scarlets), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland, Leinster), Jamie Roberts (Wales, Cardiff Blues), Manusamoa Tuilagi (England, Leicester Tigers)

Outside halves: Owen Farrell (England, Saracens), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland, Leinster)

Scrum halves: Conor Murray (Ireland, Munster), Mike Phillips (Wales, Bayonne), Ben Youngs (England, Leicester Tigers)

Props: Dan Cole (England, Leicester Tigers), Cian Healy (Ireland, Leinster), Gethin Jenkins (Wales, Toulon), Adam Jones (Wales, Ospreys), Matt Stevens (England, Saracens), Mako Vunipola (England, Saracens)

Hookers: Dylan Hartley (England, Northampton Saints), Richard Hibbard (Wales, Ospreys), Tom Youngs (England, Leicester Tigers)

Second rows: Ian Evans (Wales, Ospreys), Richie Gray (Scotland, Sale Sharks), Alun Wyn Jones (Wales, Ospreys), Paul O'Connell (Ireland, Munster), Geoff Parling (England, Leicester Tigers)

Back rows: Tom Croft (England, Leicester Tigers), Toby Faletau (Wales, Newport Gwent Dragons), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland, Leinster), Dan Lydiate (Wales, Newport Gwent Dragons), Sean O'Brien (Ireland, Leinster), Justin Tipuric (Wales, Ospreys), Sam Warburton (Wales, Cardiff Blues)