Lions Tour

[Syferus]

He a poor mans Jonny Wilkinson, take his goal kicking out, the man has no play making ability at all

Rubbish - I personally don't like him but he is the main man for both England and Saracens and they have been fairly successful in past few years. Respected rugby commentators who claim he is world class cannot all be wrong !!

Bit like the commentators that never point out Devin Toner is stone useless, ya?

[Frank_The_Tank]

Team for first Test named tomorrow night at 8pm Irish Time.  Eould be great to see O'Mahony skipper the side.  Hard to see anything other than a NZ win..havent lost to anyone at Eden park since 1994...just hope they are competitive at least

[Capt Pat]

Well the Lions have hardly scored any tries on this tour with the backs apart from today with the b team against a weakened Chiefs team. They will find it very hard to beat the all blacks without the backs making a decent contribution. Unless the lions pack can completely dominate the all blacks up front and Halfpenny gets all his kicks. I will tip the all blacks to win the first test.

[gawa316]

Team for 1st test...

Backs: 15 Liam Williams (Wales); 14 Anthony Watson (England), 13 Jonathan Davies (Wales), 12 Ben Te'o (England), 11 Elliot Daly (England); 10 Owen Farrell (England), 9 Conor Murray (Ireland);

Forwards: 1 Mako Vunipola (England), 2 Jamie George (England), 3 Tadhg Furlong (Ireland); 4 Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), 5 George Kruis (England); 6 Peter O'Mahony - captain (Ireland), 7 Sean O'Brien (Ireland), 8 Taulupe Faletau (Wales).

Replacements: 16 Ken Owens (Wales), 17 Jack McGrath (Ireland), 18 Kyle Sinckler (England), 19 Maro Itoje (England), 20 Sam Warburton (Wales), 21 Rhys Webb (Wales), 22 Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), 23 Leigh Halfpenny (Wales).

[Wildweasel74]

what the hell has Maro Itoje done not to start ridiculous,  plus world class farrell in for Sexton, though that change about 20mins into the game if the Lions pack are not on top and the flyhalf on the back foot.

[gawa316]

Some turn around for O'Mahoney who probably wouldn't even have been there only for Heaslip getting injured before the England game...and the rest is history

[Walter Cronc]

Delighted for POM. Surely next Irish captain.

Gutsy selection by Gatland with that back 3. Warburton and Halfpenny offer little from the bench

[galwayman]

Halfpenny on the bench?
Farrell is the kicker and Sexton on the bench already.
Strange one.

[square_ball]

Yeah strange call regarding Halfpenny on the bench he's probably the one back in the squad that would offer little impact. I think I'd have gone with North for the bench as despite being out of form is still very capable of coming on and making a big impact.

Some honour for POM surely he'll lead Ireland into the next World Cup.

[gallsman]

Have to say, a few brave calls from Gatland that I didn't expect. Dropping Halfpenny, North and Warburton all big for him

[tonto1888]

Delighted for PoM. Good to see Furlong and SoB in there too. Murray was a given

[CiKe]

Would have thought stander to cover 6 and 8. Halfpenny seems daft alright.

[Syferus]

He lost this match the moment he chose Farrell at 10.

[stephenite]

He lost this match the moment he chose Farrell at 10.

I'm not sure the Lions can win a test against the All Blacks regardless of who he picks

[5 Sams]

I've said it before...I know sweet fcuk all about rugby but I watch it avidly and O'Mahony is one of the toughest men and greatest leaders in Irish sport I've seen in the last 20+ years. Good luck on Saturday Peter.