British and Irish Lions Tour 2013

[CorkMan]

Plenty of luck, but plenty of silly mistakes & a Ref who gave them f**k all, room for improvement and with Roberts, Bowe & Kearney to come in they will come on for it.

Can't see Kearney replacing Halfpenny. Halfpenny has a kicking success rate of 92% and is in much better form than Kearney atm.

[Syferus]

Plenty of luck, but plenty of silly mistakes & a Ref who gave them f**k all, room for improvement and with Roberts, Bowe & Kearney to come in they will come on for it.

Can't see Kearney replacing Halfpenny. Halfpenny has a kicking success rate of 92% and is in much better form than Kearney atm.

Doing nothing from play at the moment, but maybe that's by design. My God if his kicking isn't in one hell of a grove right now, he's striking the ball as sweetly as I've ever seen. Just let him kick the Aussies to death.

[Mikhail Prokhorov]

Irishmen playing for the british 

[lickthem]

What part of British AND Irish lions to you not understand? Dumbass!

[Minder]

Paul O'Connell getting sent home with broken bone in his hand

Edit - He is staying on tour by the looks of it

[screenexile]

Tom Court? Jaysus!!!!

[Geoff Tipps]

Tom Court? Jaysus!!!!

Indeed!

[Wildweasel74]

Times are tough lol!!

[comethekingdom]

Lions must be in bad shape for front row cover if Tom Court is getting called out to Australia!!

[tyroneboi]

Apparently it was more of a convenience thing - court was already in Australia on holiday so easier to call him in to sit on the bench on Tuesday rather than fly someone from the UK to the other side of the world. If he is anywhere near the test teams in the next few weeks then they may call it a day now.

[muppet]

Apparently it was more of a convenience thing - court was already in Australia on holiday so easier to call him in to sit on the bench on Tuesday rather than fly someone from the UK to the other side of the world. If he is anywhere near the test teams in the next few weeks then they may call it a day now.

Jaysus, Stephenite and Aerlik better start some training.

[bennydorano]

Good article in Sunday Times by David Walsh on the evolution of wings (&yesterday's impact of GN & Folau)

[bennydorano]

Giant wingers the new game-changers | The Australian

The extent to which they are changing the game was perfectly obvious on Saturday because North and Folau scored the kind of tries reminiscent of Jonah Lomu in his pomp but the difference was that Lomu was considered a physical freak, a once-in-a-lifetime player. On Saturday we saw three variations on the Lomu model and all three are considered world class.

North's try was so good it first got you out of your seat willing him to go all the way, then needing to sit back down and have someone pour you a cup of tea. It wasn't that he scored a try from a ball caught 5m inside his own half with the entire Australia team in front of him. No, what was startling was the ease with which he shredded the Wallabies' defence.

Berrick Barnes' clearance wasn't that bad as he hung the ball high in the air to give his chasers a chance to arrive close to the man making the catch. The Wallaby fullback could never have known that man would be North because no right thinking player would offer the Welsh winger any opportunity, however slim.

North made the catch, saw the isolated Pat McCabe approach and thought, "I can easily take him." McCabe is in the Aussie squad solely because of his great work in defence. He doesn't miss tackles. North surged past as if poor McCabe was a lamp post. James O'Connor came next and he threw himself at North's feet, more in adoration than with any belief he could bring down the Welshman.

Now North had his eyes on Barnes who had surged across field and stood like a sentry in his path. Recovering quickly from a stumble caused by O'Connor's limp attempt at a hand trip, North decided he would take Barnes on the outside and to ensure he would do so without losing momentum, he switched the ball from his right to left hand, leaving the right free to fend off Barnes.

First, the Australian had to get close enough for North to be able to fend him off. You almost heard the Welshman ask, "How can I fend you off from this far away?" Barnes fell by the wayside, and then there was just the Lions winger and the covering Will Genia. It was a tough one for Genia but the angle did suit him and in your mind's eye you saw him make a terrific tackle, like the one George Gregan made on Jeff Wilson way back in 1994.

Genia never even got close and North was so comfortable he pointed his finger at the Australia halfback, as if in admonishment.

"Really Will, you've got to do an awful lot better than that." But this is the extent of the advantage enjoyed by men with North's size and speed. It wasn't that much different nine minutes after that try when Folau got the ball almost 45m from the Lions line. He had Jonathan Sexton in front of him, waiting to cut him down, Alex Corbisiero running across to cover off the step inside, and Leigh Halfpenny waiting behind them in case Folau found a way through.

Folau first ran with the ball in both hands, not giving any clue as to whether he would go outside or inside Sexton. Against such a big and fast opponent, the Irish five-eighth knew he had to get his body position right and at the last second he crouched, ready to tackle Folau into touch. At the last half second, Folau stepped inside, and though Corbisiero sprinted, he was like a bus against a Ferrari.

But in this new game, the Ferrari is the size of the bus and Corbisiero only got to suck in the fumes. Halfpenny is normally one of the best one-on-one tacklers in the game but Folau is not normal.

Playing in his first rugby union Test, this convert from league danced past poor Leigh with a hauteur that said, "really Halfpenny, how could you imagine you had any chance?"

These men are different and when Cuthbert got his one opportunity in the second half, he breezed through as comfortably as his colleagues in the Giants' Club had done earlier in the game.

The brilliance of North, Folau and Cuthbert will cause the game to evolve. For starters, those nines and 10s looking for somewhere to kick the ball must make sure they don't kick it anywhere near them.

And you can bet your last dollar that no sooner had Saturday's game ended than rugby coaches everywhere were out searching for the next one. Taller, faster, stronger; that's the way the game is gone and the march is inexorable

[Mikhail Prokhorov]

What part of British AND Irish lions to you not understand? Dumbass!

its the british lions, always has been 

[Hoof Hearted]

Apparently it was more of a convenience thing - court was already in Australia on holiday so easier to call him in to sit on the bench on Tuesday rather than fly someone from the UK to the other side of the world. If he is anywhere near the test teams in the next few weeks then they may call it a day now.

Jaysus, Stephenite and Aerlik better start some training.

surely there is a differrence between desperate and clean mad !!