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Just reading on BBC Sport Paul O'Connell has been named as the Lions captain.

First of his kind to captain the lions anyway i'm sure...

There have been many Irish captains in the past. Do you mean he is the first person who wasn't posh or English to be made leader of the Lions

I'd have brought cipriani and hook as back up to jones. actually i'd be seriously considering wilkinson.

ROG does a fine job for munster but falls short mentally at international level. we've all seen fantastic club players that just can't make the transition to county football. he folded like a cheap tent in a gale on the last lions tour.

Yeah he must of became the top score in Six Nations history by falling short and not being able to make the transition.

Feckin Jonny Wilkinson is up there too and he's only played about 4/5 Six Nations campaigns! I would go with Jones and I am worried that we don't have any real alternative at Fly Half.

The only alternative outhalf in the squad I think woould beo'Leary as they haven't brought Henson either or Catt or Patterson who I  would have brought for his goal kicking or verstatility.

Very disapointed that Rory Best didn't make it.  A good scrummager, which is what you need against SA

I think they brought the better props instead and the better hookers. A front row of Vickery Flannery and Jenkins would be a lot more effective than Horan Best and Hayes, ie 2 scrummaging props and a lineout throwing hooker is better than 2 lineout lifting props and a scrummaging hooker.

O'Leary?

Yes that is correct. The guy is a winner and all rounder and a possible Lions test 15 starter at scrum half. They have left some of the best scrum halves behind. Care is better than Ellis, peel is better than Phillips. The 2 Scots Cussiter and Blair were left behind and it was a Scot picking the team not Kidney or McGahan or me. O'leary is well up to it. The gammy box kicking you saw in the 6 nations was Kidneys game plan not O'Learys.

Tony, nothing poor about my taste as you well know.  Anybody seen 'Knowing' yet?  Seems a good idea.  I bet you are looking forward to the A-Team and Macgyver movies Tony!

Knowing is an upgrade on "The day the Earth Stood Still". It is really quite similar. It is worth going to see but is nothing spectacular.

God whiskey nose does look shook on the telly interview after the match. There was a eerie worried croak in his voice.

I wonder if he is shocked at how poorly United have been playing lately. They look like they are very tierd, the world club championships may prove to be a trip too far. The win on sunday was very lucky to say the lease and 2 games in just over 48 hours was a bit much for them I think, they looked out on their feet against Villa on saturday and the game in hand they have in the league is not really to their advantage.

Just to add to the debate earlier today about whether Jones missed on purpose or whatever, I genuinely dont believe that to be the case. People said that he took the kick quickly, Jones has a pretty quick routine as it is and the last kick was no different to his other kicks really. Then there was the way he charged/threw himself at O'Gara's drop goal at the end suggests that he desperately wanted to win the game. The kick at the end brought together a mixture of pressure and tiredness and both these factors were a massive influence in missing the kick. 80 minutes of heavy tackling is bound to take its toll on any player. The similar kick in the first half that he scored was done with very little pressure attached to it at that time with half time in 2 minutes.

As someone said out earlier though, some people are never happy!

He did not miss that kick on purpose, that is an absolutely ridiculous assertion. The other thing is if I was to attempt such a thing I would put it wide or drop ot well short, it actually dropped about a yard short. What sort of a man do you think Stephen Jones is that he would try such a thing.

Good Men PJ and PJ:

"A total of six people, including a baby, were taken to Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda for treatment for minor injuries following the accident.

Gardaí say it was a miracle that nobody was injured."

I think they were referring to the hospital rather than the pile up when they said "it was a miracle that nobody was injured"

Its always funny to see the Draft in New York, always a gang of Jets fans there who boo their 1st round pick, almost every year it seems.

in fairness they have dropped a few clangers at the draft in the past

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZxNeFLuY98

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RaYgGSHJ5hM

A bit early to be picking a lions team before a squad has been picked and the form of players at the time of the tour can be seen but here goes.

Kearney
Williams
O'Driscoll
Darcy
Sackey
Hook
Peel
Jenkins
Flannery
Vickery
O'Callaghan
O'Connell
Wallace
Williams
Heaslip

Play a left and right flanker like the French do rather than openside and blindside. That is 8 Irish players, that is 8 Irish, 5 welsh and 2 English players based on the form of the tournament

[The foot came out]

I thought the ref was a bit of a lottery and had way too much influence on the game. A penalty ratio of 17-4 seems highly unusual too. Though I did think it was justice that O'Gara missed the first one - looked like a dive to me. I didn't see any contact. But when I mentioned it in the pub last night I was shouted down. "The foot came out", I was told. I didn't see it. What do people think? (Looking for ammo to resume the debate tonight).

It did but on such a great day for Irish Rugby and Sport how did you end up debating that ??

p.s hope u do your grand national thing again this year.

No the Welsh player obviously obstructed him, they were at it all day and got pulled up for it once. He may or may not have dived obstruction is still a penalty though.

Having just watched the final penalty decision again, I am still not sure that what the ref did was right. From what I could see it should have been a penalty the other way for holding on. Wallace did not come in from the side he was a part of the ruck and moved towards the side to try and pick up the ball, maybe the ref had already said hands away its a ruck but I didn't hear that. I can't see the start of the play on the replay I have so it may not have been a ruck when Wallace first put hands on the ball. I thought the ref gave a couple of other dogy penalty decisions to Wales as well.

[Wallace not on long enough to be rated]

he came on into the white heat of battle, but he may claim the Irish number 2 jersey off Flannery in the near future.
Wallace not on long enough to be rated.
Court not on long enough to be rated

On wards and upwards lads, I can't wait for the next world cup, with the exception of Hayes, Dave Wallace and injuries they will all be there again. This is just the beginning ,Kidney is already a legend the real deal as a coach unlike EOS and it is going to be so good for Ireland to have someone like him in the "most important position on the team"

Would disagree.. For someone only on the field a couple of minutes, he managed to score himself a fat zero in my book for that act of stupidity....
All in all though fantastic achievement with O Drisc and O Connell immense, yet again.
Well done lads!

i missed that are you implying that he gave away the last penalty, please expand on that.

Murphy - 7
Had a good clearance to touch and was the last man to touch the ball.
Stringer - 6
Got to the pace of the game straight away and started making mistakes, like everybody else on the team. Got runover by Phillips and got up to redeem himself and drag phillips down but the damage was done and Jones dropped a goal.

Are you serious??? All Murphy did was drop a simple pass when there wasn't a Welshman within 50 yards of him, the resilt of which was that it ended up costing three points. Phillips did not flatten Stringer, Stringer went to ground as that's the only way he could have brought him down and prevented a try after Phillips had already broken several tackles. O'Connell even said in the interview afterwards that he was the one who missed the original tackle on Phillips. Stringer also made another fantastic tackle (on Williams I think) and expertly controlled the forwards to set up O'Gara's drop goal.

That dropped pass was an over cooked pass by Stringer. Stringer missed a tackle on Phillips and then got up and tackled  him 10 yards closer to the Irish goal line, hardly the best example of Stringers passing ability. I saw that replayed a few times. Like I said I had no help from the tv people or the people in tomorrows papers, stick up your own player ratings so we can have a laugh at them too.

Sensational. What a great way to win a grand slam. It was better than a 50 point victory to win it that way. I did not think it was a penalty to Wales at the end so justice was done, anyone disagree with that. I though the game itself though was very scrappy and will make an attempt to do some player ratings. I watched in a noisy pub so they are my own opinions and might not correspond with what Hook and Guscott had to say.

15 Kearney - 6.5
Had a bad knock on before being subbed but was solid enough.
14 Bowe - 8
He has to get a good mark for the game clinching try. How sweet was that moment, after going in at half time thinking same old story and then to come out in the first 6 minutes of the second half and score 2 trys, the second under the posts. I was over the moon at that point, think Ray Houghton scoring against England in Stuttgart or against Italy in New York for an equivalent moment of great sporting importance.
13 O'Driscoll - 8
He began the turn around in the second half, the guy is immense and will be the Lions Captain again imho.
12 Darcy - 7.5
Gordon darcy is back from the dead, making breaks, making the gain line on most of his carries and has been under estimated over the years.
11 Fitzgerald - 7.5
Had a great break on the counter attack returning a Welsh kick that might have lead to an Irish score and solid in the rest of his play.
10 O'Gara - 8.5
For the drop goal and the kick that set up Tommy Bowes try, they were game changing moments. Had some hairy moments during the game but delivered when it mattered most.
9 O'Leary - 7
an erratic performance from O'Leary but that mirrored the game where a lot of players made a lot of mistakes, his kicking was a mixed bag, but you can see the importance of his strength and tackling when he went off Stringer got run over by Phillips to help set up the Welsh drop goal.
8 Heaslip - 7
Not his best game of the championship but a decent enough performance from someone who has become one of Irelands players strongest performers on a consistent basis.
7 Wallace - 7
Not the greatest of games from Wallace who slipped on a couple of occasions(as did O'Leary, Stringer and a number of others) but this guy deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as O'Driscoll, O'Connell and Wood. The David O'Leary of Irish rugby, the best back row player for Ireland of this golden era. It is not surprising that we win a grand slam when the coach who thought he wasn't up to it for so long is replaced by Kidney. I think if Kidney had been in charge since 2005 we would probably have had 2 grand slams and Wales 1. Anyway on with the ratings
6 Ferris - not on long enough to be rated
Great championship and this player has arrived and is here to stay, at last a big powerful ulster player on the team to give Ireland a bit of a physical edge that they may have at times lacked(think of Simon Easterby), as good as easterby was Ferris is a big upgrade in this position.
5 O'Connell - 10
To the best of my recollection, he destroyed the Welsh lineout and won the game for us single handedly. Little more needs to be said.
4 - O'Callaghan - 6.5
Must learn not to push Welsh scrum halves, could have cost us a grand slam but we will forgive him
3 Hayes - 7
The scrum did ok today and he even got involved in the loose play passing and running the ball
2 - Flannery - 7.5
The line out held up very well today considering all the other mistakes that were made during the course of the game, and was the basis for this victory
1 - Horan - 7
The Clare man srummaged solidly and was involved in a turnover or 2 in general play

Subs
Leamy - 7.5
Came in after about 10 minutes for ferris and didn't let the side down after coming back from a serious injury and getting injured against the Scots he grabbed this opportunity with both hands and will be hard to keep off the team in future.
Murphy - 7
Had a good clearance to touch and was the last man to touch the ball.
Stringer - 6
Got to the pace of the game straight away and started making mistakes, like everybody else on the team. Got runover by Phillips and got up to redeem himself and drag phillips down but the damage was done and Jones dropped a goal.
Best - Like  Stringer found it difficult when he came on into the white heat of battle, but he may claim the Irish number 2 jersey off Flannery in the near future.
Wallace not on long enough to be rated.
Court not on long enough to be rated

On wards and upwards lads, I can't wait for the next world cup, with the exception of Hayes, Dave Wallace and injuries they will all be there again. This is just the beginning ,Kidney is already a legend the real deal as a coach unlike EOS and it is going to be so good for Ireland to have someone like him in the "most important position on the team"