Lions 2009 thread

[thebandit]

Fantastic show, Johnson was awesome (much as I hate to say it)

[Hoof Hearted]

http://irishtimeslions.fantasyleague.com/

anybody any interest in doing this, a fantasy game for the Lions tour.

[ludermor]

Id say it would be a bit of a lottery, does it value equal points for the midweek games as the full tests?

[Hoof Hearted]

dont know havent had time to read the rules.

[Donnellys Hollow]

British & Irish Lions v Royal XV
15. Lee Byrne (Ospreys/Wales)
14. Tommy Bowe (Ospreys/Wales)
13. Keith Earls (Munster/Ireland)
12. Jamie Roberts (Cardiff Blues/Wales)
11. Shane Williams (Ospreys/Wales)
10. Ronan O'Gara (Munster/Ireland)
9. Mike Blair (Edinburgh/Scotland)
8. Andy Powell (Cardiff Blues/Wales)
7. Martyn Williams (Cardiff Blues/Wales)
6. Joe Worsley (London Wasps/England)
5. Paul O'Connell (Munster/Ireland) captain
4. Simon Shaw (London Wasps/England)
3. Adam Jones (Ospreys/Wales)
2. Matthew Rees (Scarlets/Wales)
1. Andrew Sheridan (Sales Sharks/England)

Replacements
16. Lee Mears (Bath/England)
17. Phil Vickery (London Wasps/England)
18. Alun-Wyn Jones (Ospreys/Wales)
19. Stephen Ferris (Ulster/Ireland)
20. Mike Phillips (Ospreys/Wales)
21. Stephen Jones (Scarlets/Wales)
22. Riki Flutey (London Wasps/England)


Never knew Tommy Bowe was Welsh! The Royal XV doesn't look too strong:
Russell Jeacocks (Leopards); Egon Seconds (Griquas), Deon van Rensburg (Leopards), Hanno Coetzee (Griquas), Bjorn Basson (Griquas); Naas Olivier (Griquas), Sarel Pretorius (Griquas); Albertus Buckle (Griquas), Rayno Barnes (Griquas), Bees Roux (Griquas), Rudi Mathee (Leopards), Jacques Lombard (Griquas), Wilhelm Koch (Leopards, capt), Devon Raubenheimer (Griquas), Jonathan Makoena (Griquas).
Replacements: Pellow van der Westhuizen (Leopards), Stef Roberts (Griquas), Rynard Landman (Leopards), RW Kember (Leopards), Jacques Coetzee (Pumas), Riaan Viljoen (Griquas), Jovan Bowles (Bulldogs).

Would expect the Lions to win by at least 20.

Living with Lions is on Sky Sports 1 @ 10.00 PM tonight and tomorrow. A good watch for anyone bored with TV tonight.

That's a cracking documentary. ESPN Classic often run it over a week. It's easily the best of these fly-on-the-wall programmes that I've seen. Some of the dressing footage before the test matches and the forward meetings with Jim Telfer make for amazing television.

[The GAA]

Thats a strong lions team. possible test back 3.

ROG will be under pressure from the start.

[Capt Pat]

Lions 37 Royal Highveld XV 25

A very poor performance from the Lions, Earls had 4 knock ons in a 10 minute spell early in the game that gave the initiaive to the South Africans. They were 18-3 up at one stage in the first half. Dave Wallace played as an emergency number 8 and was poor at that position given that the Lions scrum was on top. Very poor cohesion from the Lions. The only upside being that they won in the end helped by a great individual try from Lee Byrne similar in a way to the one O'Driscoll got against Wasps at the RDS before Christmas. Byrne, O'Connell and O'Gara (the big names) and the scrum were pretty good but there is obviously a lot of work to be done.

[Tommy Tight Lips]

would have to agree,a very poor performance from the lions.admittedly the opposition is likely to have been the poorest of the teams they will play but then again its maybe been a few weeks since some of the lions players have had a game.earls had an absolute nitemare early on but did improve a fair bit as the game went on but still only a shadow of the player you see with munster.bowe looked comfortable enough as did williams and byrne in the back line,roberts had a decent game too.in the forwards the back row was pretty average although id far rather see david wallace at 7 rather than 8.
at least the got the victory,would have been a very big blow to morale to lose today,i expect a much improved performance on wednesday with the likes of odriscoll,ocallaghan,heislip likely to get a start.

[tyroneboi]

Thought the only good performances today were Byrne, Roberts, Bowe, O'Connell and O'Gara was decent at time as well. Blair was awful at scrum half particularly in the first 20/30mins.

The Bulls are putting on a bit of a show at the minute in the Super 14 final with a lot of the big South Africa players playing extremely well.

[Capt Pat]

Thought the only good performances today were Byrne, Roberts, Bowe, O'Connell and O'Gara was decent at time as well. Blair was awful at scrum half particularly in the first 20/30mins.

The Bulls are putting on a bit of a show at the minute in the Super 14 final with a lot of the big South Africa players playing extremely well.

That is a bit of a farce having the game in the home stadium of the Bulls and it has made it a very one sided final. They could at least have moved it to a neutral stadium within South Africa. I suppose they do not name a venue in ad vance as if they decided to have it in South Africa and 2 New Zealand teams qualified, nobody would go. However todays spectacle should make them take a look at the way they are doing things.

[magickingdom]

was there anyone at the lions game today? the place looked empty

[stephenite]

Thought the only good performances today were Byrne, Roberts, Bowe, O'Connell and O'Gara was decent at time as well. Blair was awful at scrum half particularly in the first 20/30mins.

The Bulls are putting on a bit of a show at the minute in the Super 14 final with a lot of the big South Africa players playing extremely well.

That is a bit of a farce having the game in the home stadium of the Bulls and it has made it a very one sided final. They could at least have moved it to a neutral stadium within South Africa. I suppose they do not name a venue in ad vance as if they decided to have it in South Africa and 2 New Zealand teams qualified, nobody would go. However todays spectacle should make them take a look at the way they are doing things.

You have to qualify for a home final in the super 14 - one of the main motivations for teams that make the finals.

[ceol agus peil]

Gordon D'arcy has just been called up to the Lions!!

[ludermor]

Source?

[ceol agus peil]

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