Lions 2009 thread

[gallsman]

Certainly one that got away. Disastrous penalties from Vickery, misses by Jones, drops by Monye. Could have, should have etc.

[Schkite]

Encouraging recovery for the Lions and hope for next week, but SA had took the foot off the gas and some players off. Still, they know what to expect and will be better prepared for the next game. Only for BOD and Roberts we'd have been fcuked!

[gallsman]

The feed I watched on Justin.tv was from South African TV and in its analysis of the Monye chances, they pointed out that on both occasions he was carrying the ball in the "wrong" arm, effectively making it easier for the tackler to reach the ball. Get Fitzy in next week!

[whiskeysteve]

Monye strikes me as the kind of player who looks good when its put on a plate for him, but he looked limited under pressure, especially when he found himself infield. Surely fitzgerald offers way more invention?

[Schkite]

Both Kearney and Fitz have a good shout for selection next week. Even ROG has a shout after Jones missing a few kicks but the left wing is certainly up for grabs after Monye missed his chances.

[Capt Pat]

Did Botha not knock the ball out of Phillips hand meaning that a try should have been awarded, and was it not the same for the second Monye failure to ground the ball.

Also when the Springboks were rolling the maul in the build up to the mauled try. Shouldn't the Lions simply have stopped contesting the maul and force the South Africans to play? You are not allowed to bring the maul down any more but haven't they gone back to the previous rules where you don't have to contest it or have they gone back  to a more ancient version of the rules?

[Capt Pat]

A good game but I am not sure where that leaves the Lions now. Tony Ward was saying that if they didn't win today they could forget about it, but I am not so  sure. I don't think the scrum will be as bad the next day and we seem to have much more attacking threat out wide, there is still some hope even though the games are at altitude.

Is Lee Byrne finished?

[gallsman]

One last thing. Croft's two tries were presented to him on a plate by BOD, and disguised an otherwise poor performance. The foul tackle on du Preez was criminal- he had no need to use the shoulder, plenty of time to wrap the arms.

[GBXII]

Monye strikes me as the kind of player who looks good when its put on a plate for him, but he looked limited under pressure, especially when he found himself infield. Surely fitzgerald offers way more invention?

Have to agree there, Fitzgerald for me is an unreal finisher and I'd say he'd thrive on the big game pressure..runs good lines inside too. Hope he starts next week. Good second half performance though.

[Bord na Mona man]

At least the Paddies are off the hook when it comes to inevitable blame game over the defeat. 

[Capt Pat]

Don't kid yourself, just wait to see Stephen Jones writing in the Times tomorrow. O 'Connell as Captain will ship a lot of the blame in the British press tomorrow.

I suppose the thing about Croft and his 2 tries is that he was in the right place at the right time, however he may have been more needed inside doing the donkey work during the course of the game rather than hanging out in midfield with the Lions 2 best players to benefit from their good play all he had to do was little more than fall over the line really. He wasn't able to help the Lions dominate at the line out. The throwing in wasn't all that it could have been. 

[Gnevin]

Jasus Vickery was shocking , should of been off after 20 minutes. Game lost in the scrum in the first half.

[Capt Pat]

Watching the replay on justin tv. Did Croft ground the ball for his first try, I am not so sure.

Also the time Lee Byrne was pulled up for obstruction/ offside when he made the dummy run and O'Driscoll made a break that would have lead to a try. The ref geve a penalty to the South Africans. I thought that was very harsh to say the least. Byrne ran into a gap and the 2 South African players moved towards where he ran and tried to tackle him, he did not get in their way or stop them from tackling O'Driscoll, they bought the dummy comletely and the Lions should have been allowed to play on, not a penalty in my opinion.

[tyroneboi]

Not being wise after the event or anything but I thought that the relatively straightforward penalty that Jones missed at 10-0 may come back to haunt us and it did. If he had got it, then that last penalty we got could have won it. Plenty of positives to take from it mainly get the ball to Roberts and O'Driscoll as much as possible in the 2nd test.

The two run in tries for Tom Croft really covered up for an average enough performance from him and here is a sneak peak of what the Sunday papers will be like tomorrow when talking about his performance. This is from BBC Sport website.

Tom Croft - 8: How could he have been left out of the original squad. A superb performance. Often the first Lions player to the breakdown, great work-rate and took his chances very well. World class..

[richardt]

I cant't agree with those criticising Croft's performance. The only two stand out performers were BOD and Roberts whilst Croft was certainly not 'average' as has been suggested, I feel that his partners in the back row were much less impressive (even if you take away the two tries) and Wallace especially will face a battle to keep his place. 

I'm not usually a great fan of ROG's but I think Jones' miss for the second kick was inexcusable and as such I'd give ROG a chance next week. I was a bit disappointed with Lee Byrne while he was on and Kearney certainly did himself no harm in the time he was on so that will be a tight one next week if Byrne is fit.