Lions 2009 thread

[The GAA]

indeed they are.

as for the englishmen, i believe shaw will partner POC in the second row.

[Goats Do Shave]

indeed they are.

as for the englishmen, i believe shaw will partner POC in the second row.

Wyn Jones is a cert!

[The GAA]

We'll see. Shaw is a giant and the s african second row is massive.

[The GAA]

Lions squad lacks stardust, says Stuart Barnes

What are your first impressions of this squad?

I am disappointed because I feel it is a much too defensive selection. The decision to leave Tom Croft out has left me absolutely stunned and I just feel the inclusion of Stephen Ferris, Alan Quinlan and Joe Worsley is too conservative.

I thought Ferris would go as the defender to Croft's attacking strength at 6. But the line-out balance looks very strange and with Worsley there and Quinlan this looks to me like a back row that is picked to defend. It looks a bit like the 1997 back row, where Tim Rodber and Lawrence Dallaglio went toe-to-toe with the Boks.

My major worry is that lightning doesn't strike twice and I hope we don't think we can just defend our way to a series win, because I don't think it will happen this time around.

Related Links
O'Connell to lead Lions but Borthwick and Jones miss out
Croft omission is a startling decision
Lions squad to have strong Irish flavour
Is Paul O'Connell the right choice as captain?

I would have liked to see Brian O'Driscoll captain the side. Paul is an outstanding player but I think it is a statement of intent about how you are going to play the game. I would have gone with O'Driscoll because he plays that bit wider and from there he has the ability to see the game slightly better than anyone in the pack. On top of that Ireland have done the Grand Slam for the first time in 61 years and I just felt that Brian deserved the chance to lead this team.

Does the squad lack the kind of flair you had been hoping to see?

Yes it does. I am pleased that Leigh Halfpenny and Keith Earls are in there because those two can go on to become anything they want to be. But the absence of guys like James Hook, Danny Cipriani or even Jonny Wilkinson leaves the Lions a little short on stardust. It's almost as if we are showing our hand because I am not sure we will be able to take the sort of gamble that might just turn a Test series with something completely different.

I would have liked to have seen Delon Armitage go as I thought he had a good Six Nations and can do something different. A lot of the onus will fall on the shoulders of Brian O'Driscoll to make things happen out wide. What is clear is that squad has been chosen on form and the guys who haven't done it this season aren't on the plane.

Are you worried that the Lions could be a little one-dimensional and happy to simply take South Africa on up front?

I think the Lions are wily enough to know they can't win this Test series by playing ten-man rugby. I would expect them to switch the point of attack and try to play a lot of short stuff around the fringes. It looks to me that Mike Phillips is nailed on to start at 9 and he will look to bring Shane Williams and Lee Byrne through around the base of the breakdown to try and get at the Boks there.

Can you see who will make the Test team out of this squad?

No I can't, but I don't know if that's a good or a bad thing. I would expect it to be based around the Munster model, they have eight players in this squad, which is an incredible achievement. They have matched England in terms of numbers.

They have got the best team in Europe, but the squad is a reflection not only of the kind of game you want to play, but also the mentality that might be needed to win games. Since the last Lions tour, Munster have won two out of three European Cups and they believe they are on course for another one. These guys are winners.

As far as the Test team goes, I think you can probably predict around 50 per cent with half the places up for grabs, which is a good thing. You need to give everyone an incentive, the belief that they can make the Test team if they perform midweek. That was the problem with Clive Woodward's squad. He revealed his Test side early on and that left some of the squad demoralised.

Gethin Jenkins and Jerry Flannery will start in the front row, Paul O'Connell is obviously a certainty. I would expect David Wallace and Martyn Williams to both play in the back row, but I am not sure who will play as 6. Phillips will start at scrum half with Stephen Jones and Ronan O'Gara battling it out to start at 10.

I would expect Riki Flutey and O'Driscoll to start in the centre with Lee Byrne at full back. The wings are probably up for grabs, but I am happy to see Shane Williams included. He might not have had the best of seasons, but if the Lions can get him back to his best he has the ability to frighten the Boks with his pace.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article6141624.ece

[The GAA]

Tom Croft omission is a startling decision

David Hands
The dominance of Ireland players is no great surprise in the 2009 Lions party but the number of close calls can be counted on the fingers of more than one hand. What more, for example, could Delon Armitage have done in his first season of international rugby with England, or Tom Croft in his second, or the Wales lock, Ian Gough, but it is these areas that the Lions will stand or fall.

It is not the automatic selections that make a successful tour but the back-up players who, as Lions history shows, come to the fore in the most unexpected way. No-one picked Tom Smith or Paul Wallace to be the test props on the 1997 trek to South Africa but they stepped up to play a major role in the winning of the series.

So Leigh Halfpenny's late charge with a successful Cardiff Blues side has carried him all the way to selection, possibly at the expense of Armitage. Both are back-three players, both can kick goals, though neither does so regularly for his club. Equally it will be a surprise if, in the event of injury in that area of the team, Armitage does not find his way south.

Perhaps the most fortunate players are the two who take Ireland's representation to 14, a greater number than ever before. Alan Quinlan, the 34-year-old flanker, and Keith Earls, the 21-year-old utility back, have ridden the Munster charger with wonderful success and convinced the selectors to take their side. With Quinlan they know what they will be getting, an abrasive individual who never takes a backward step but that he should have ousted Tom Croft from a place is a startling decision.

Related Links
Dallaglio: prepare for the most brutal test
'Team spirit' is vital component for Lions
Being thrown to the Lions is their just reward
Croft, the England blind-side flanker capable of playing lock, appeared to have turned himself into a certainty but not in the eyes of the Lions selectors. You could make an argument for Ugo Monye ahead of Mark Cueto - it may be that Monye's covering tackle on Thom Evans during the Calcutta Cup match last month tipped the scales in his favour - but Earls at this level is an unknown quantity.

He played against Canada in November and scored a try with his first touch of the ball but played no part in this year's RBS Six Nations Championship which ended, of course, with Ireland's first grand slam for 61 years. He and Quinlan both travelled with the squad but it is the Heineken Cup which has paved their way and Earls's ability to play centre, wing or full back together with his pace have been enough.

As expected, only two specialist fly halves travel and national captains have had a thin time of it: Paul O'Connell will lead the party in preference to Brian O'Driscoll (though Ireland's leader is an automatic midfield choice) but Steve Borthwick (England), Ryan Jones (Wales) and Mike Blair (Scotland) are resolutely out of favour.

Jones has made the biggest fall from grace. When he led Wales to the 2008 grand slam, his star was in the ascendant, particularly after the impact he made on the 2005 Lions tour in New Zealand. But both Wales and the Ospreys have lost their way this season and Jones, moved by Warren Gatland, his coach, from No 8 to blind-side flanker during the autumn internationals so that Andy Powell could be included, now finds himself left at home and Powell on the plane.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/rugby_union/article6141400.ece

[Declan]

My First Lions Tour Diary, by Keith Earls Today joined a team called De Lyons. Haven't seen any tea yet. They wear Red though so must be OK.There are some fellas from outside Munster here who are not from New Zealand or wherever Mafi comes from.
POC and Quinnie told me not to speak to the Leinster boys, as they were a bad lot who might 'give me ideas' and that I might '; Get above myself'. Spent the rest of the day trying to stay under myself. This is not easy.
PLayed the first game against a team called Saffers. The ground was harder than in Thomond, and we played under something called the sun.
Scored three tries in the first half. Gerry Flannery warned me 'I was not bigger than the team' and that I had almost missed a tackle.
Concentrated on my defensive play in the second half so only got two tries. After the game Paulie called me a good lad and ruffled my hair and gave me a strawberry cream chupa chup. My favourite!



My Tour Diary by Alan Quinlan
Played first test. Managed to successfully goad the South Africans to attack me en masse. 6 sent off. Afterwards gave Schalk Berger back his jock-strap. Pilfering it in a ruck was what kicked it all off. What larks! He too it in good spirit, really, and it only took fourteen security guards to hold him back. Roll on next week, when I hope to bring home someone's ear as a nice souvenir of my time here.

[screenexile]

My First Lions Tour Diary, by Keith Earls Today joined a team called De Lyons. Haven't seen any tea yet. They wear Red though so must be OK.There are some fellas from outside Munster here who are not from New Zealand or wherever Mafi comes from.
POC and Quinnie told me not to speak to the Leinster boys, as they were a bad lot who might 'give me ideas' and that I might '; Get above myself'. Spent the rest of the day trying to stay under myself. This is not easy.
PLayed the first game against a team called Saffers. The ground was harder than in Thomond, and we played under something called the sun.
Scored three tries in the first half. Gerry Flannery warned me 'I was not bigger than the team' and that I had almost missed a tackle.
Concentrated on my defensive play in the second half so only got two tries. After the game Paulie called me a good lad and ruffled my hair and gave me a strawberry cream chupa chup. My favourite!



My Tour Diary by Alan Quinlan
Played first test. Managed to successfully goad the South Africans to attack me en masse. 6 sent off. Afterwards gave Schalk Berger back his jock-strap. Pilfering it in a ruck was what kicked it all off. What larks! He too it in good spirit, really, and it only took fourteen security guards to hold him back. Roll on next week, when I hope to bring home someone's ear as a nice souvenir of my time here.

:DGreat stuff Declan!

[The GAA]

varition on the "theo goes to the world cup" diaries in 2006

[Bogball XV]

varition on the "theo goes to the world cup" diaries in 2006

was thinking the same, twas sol who was dishing out the ice creams back then

[pearseog]

has to be alan wyn jones in the second row with POC.
the partnership looks immense on paper, lets see how the do against argubly the best second row in the world.

[ludermor]

Anyone thinking about going out there? Surprisingly there are some very decent flights still to be had ( £450 return) although as usual the package deals are a complete joke.

[magickingdom]

Shocked Ferris aims to do Ulster proud
By Tom Nelson

IRELAND flanker Stephen Ferris says it is an awesome feeling to be selected to travel with the British and Irish Lions to South Africa in the summer.

The 23-year-old flanker from Craigavon is the only Ulster representative on the 37-man squad, and will be one of a record 14 Irishmen to travel across the equator for the three Test series.

"It's now just a wonderful feeling. It's the highest honour in the game, the pinnacle of rugby to be on a Lions tour, an awesome feeling. To get the opportunity to get into the Test side is a great fillip, and I will be trying very hard to do that".




am i the only one who doesnt get the big deal about the lions? 4 pages of the examiner devoted to it today. Is Ferris serious? getting selected for the lions beats a grand slam or winning the 6 nations?

[GalwayBayBoy]

Shocked Ferris aims to do Ulster proud
By Tom Nelson

IRELAND flanker Stephen Ferris says it is an awesome feeling to be selected to travel with the British and Irish Lions to South Africa in the summer.

The 23-year-old flanker from Craigavon is the only Ulster representative on the 37-man squad, and will be one of a record 14 Irishmen to travel across the equator for the three Test series.

"It's now just a wonderful feeling. It's the highest honour in the game, the pinnacle of rugby to be on a Lions tour, an awesome feeling. To get the opportunity to get into the Test side is a great fillip, and I will be trying very hard to do that".




am i the only one who doesnt get the big deal about the lions? 4 pages of the examiner devoted to it today. Is Ferris serious? getting selected for the lions beats a grand slam or winning the 6 nations?

I think O'Connell was a bit more circumspect in the press conference yesterday. He said while it was a big honour to be captain he hadn't grown up dreaming about playing for the Lions. His dreams were mostly about playing for his club Young Munster, his province Munster and then Ireland. The Lions never really featured for him really until he was selected for the last tour.

[The Pundit]

The fact that Riki Flutey is going on a lions tour as a possible starter in the test side tells you the large gulf in standard at the minute between the northern and southern hemisphere. Actually he is the 1st guy to play against and for the lions (presuming he does!)as he came on for the wellington lions on the NZ tour in 05.
SA to win 2-1 and thats being kind.

[screenexile]

Shocked Ferris aims to do Ulster proud
By Tom Nelson

IRELAND flanker Stephen Ferris says it is an awesome feeling to be selected to travel with the British and Irish Lions to South Africa in the summer.

The 23-year-old flanker from Craigavon is the only Ulster representative on the 37-man squad, and will be one of a record 14 Irishmen to travel across the equator for the three Test series.

"It's now just a wonderful feeling. It's the highest honour in the game, the pinnacle of rugby to be on a Lions tour, an awesome feeling. To get the opportunity to get into the Test side is a great fillip, and I will be trying very hard to do that".




am i the only one who doesnt get the big deal about the lions? 4 pages of the examiner devoted to it today. Is Ferris serious? getting selected for the lions beats a grand slam or winning the 6 nations?

Have you seen "Living with Lions" yet mk? I would have followed the last couple of Tours but until I had watched the behind the scenes stuff of the '97 Tour I never really understood the whole hoopla about it.

It's kind of hard to describe but it is a massive task to assemble a group of lads from 4 different Teams/Countries to go and take on either of the 3 best teams in the world in the space of a couple of months. Because of the fact it used to be done by amateurs for so many years means that it is steeped in tradition and the fact that the professional game is still in relative infancy means that the tradition is not lost on a lot of people. Over the years as Rugby gets more and more popular and the people who did play as amateurs begin to disappear the Lions and its tradition may also but I for one am still looking forward to the Tour and it would be good to put one over on the World Champions.