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I thought that I'd start a thread so that I can collate all my moans in one place.

Feel free to join me.

Do you feel the lions are going for size over style?

MereMoan?

Yup, that works.

Gatland is very much a proponent of that type of rugby.

They just look very uncoordinated at the moment.
Certainly not impressed by the half-backs but I guess that has little impact on the Test team as Sexton is nailed on to start.
Fingers crossed for no injuries.

I wonder if Fotuali'l has a British grandparent.

Another win for the Lions; another very disjointed performance.

I really can't see any shape or pattern to the Lions at present.
There were some individual flashes and the scrum, helped by the appointment of a French referee, looked dominant.

Reds played well but I'm not sure what we're going for as a style yet. It's almost as though Gatland will pick his best 15 players and then decide on tactics.

When did they become the ...and Irish Lions?  They have always been a rugby team from the British Isles and completely apolitical.

I thought the Lions looked tired and purposeless and I have not sen anything to make me worry that my bet on Australia for the series is in danger. Making Warburton captain is looking increasingly dim as they look like they need Heaslip and Tipuric playing to give the team a style.

2001

Try dropping the term "British Isles" into conversation in Dublin and you'll find out how apolitical it is.

The point was that in rugby terms Ireland was united and the Irish team and the British Lions with Irish in it played throughout the troubles without any apparent controversy, so it seems a bit odd to have changed the name when peace had broken out.

Anyway I obviously missed it happening so it shows how much attention I pay to rugby.

Have we picked a team with no fly halves on either the pitch or the bench?

Stuart Hogg played fly-half today.

Combined Country XV 0 - Lions 64

Not sure if anything can be gained from the match but at least no more serious injuries.

Aussie tactics not to give us a game?

Have you ever played on the wing? Keep your 'phone on.

Once but I'm not quite the player I was.
Strangely the older I get, the better I was.

Shane Williams and Christian Wade play on Tuesday (which I guess is what you were referring to).

Lions team: Rob Kearney, Christian Wade, Brad Barritt, Billy Twelvetrees, Shane Williams, Stuart Hogg, Ben Youngs; Ryan Grant, Rory Best (capt), Matt Stevens, Ian Evans, Richie Gray, Sean O'Brien, Justin Tipuric, Toby Faletau

Replacements: Richard Hibbard, Alex Corbisiero, Dan Cole, Geoff Parling, Dan Lydiate, Conor Murray, Owen Farrell, Simon Zebo

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/22922831

I would say that makes Faletau (and Tipuric) unlikely starters for the first test.

There's normally one player who starts the last midweek match and plays the first test. Ugo Monye did it four years ago, albeit because Shane Williams was ill on the morning of the match.

British & Irish Lions starting XV: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales), Alex Cuthbert (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland), Jonathan Davies (Wales), George North (Wales), Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), Mike Phillips (Wales); Alex Corbisiero (England), Tom Youngs (England), Adam Jones (Wales), Alun Wyn Jones (Wales), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Tom Croft (England), Sam Warburton (Wales, capt), Jamie Heaslip (Ireland).

Replacements: Richard Hibbard (Wales), Mako Vunipola (England), Dan Cole (England), Geoff Parling (England), Dan Lydiate (Wales), Ben Youngs (England), Owen Farrell (England), Sean Maitland (Scotland).

Australia starting XV: Berrick Barnes (NSW Waratahs); Israel Folau (NSW), Adam Ashley-Cooper (NSW), Christian Leali'ifano (ACT Brumbies), Digby Ioane (Queensland Reds); James O'Connor (Melbourne Rebels), Will Genia (Reds); Benn Robinson (NSW), Stephen Moore (ACT), Ben Alexander (ACT), James Horwill (Reds - capt), Kane Douglas (NSW), Ben Mowen (ACT), Michael Hooper (NSW), Wycliff Palu (NSW).

Replacements: Saia Fainga'a (Reds), James Slipper (Reds), S Kepu (NSW), Rob Simmons (Reds), Liam Gill (Reds) Nick Phipps (Rebels), Pat McCabe (ACT), Kurtley Beale (Rebels).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/22977651

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2BSA4I6ePs

England Cricket Team's Message to The Lions

Feels a bit wrong but have taken some of the 10/1 on an Australia 3-0 series win.  Just seems like patriotic money has pushed the Lions prices in too far when both teams seems are pretty evenly matched.  Let's see them prove me wrong in the morning.

Brilliant player

Ha. Did one of those Tough Mudder things recently where you had to carry a log for a bit of it - there certainly wasn't much running going on in that section cos it's bloody tough!

(http://i.minus.com/iWWmtLw0IuF7l.gif)

 ;D

Ha!

Is he allowed to do that?

Bet the other lad was a bit miffed by it.

Superb.

Lions selection for the third test:

British and Irish Lions: Leigh Halfpenny (Wales); Tommy Bowe (Ireland), Jonathan Davies (Wales), Jamie Roberts (Wales), George North (Wales); Jonathan Sexton (Ireland), Mike Phillips (Wales); Alex Corbisiero (England), Richard Hibbard (Wales), Adam Jones (Wales), Alun Wyn Jones (captain, Wales), Geoff Parling (England), Dan Lydiate (Wales), Sean O'Brien (Ireland), Toby Faletau (Wales).

Replacements: Tom Youngs (England), Mako Vunipola (England), Dan Cole (England), Richie Gray (Scotland), Justin Tipuric (Wales), Conor Murray (Ireland), Owen Farrell (England), Manu Tuilagi (England).

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/23141552

Did O'Driscoll shoot Gatland's dog or something?

from TfT

In the second test match last weekend

The Lions made not one clean break past the Aussie defence

Ball won in open play Aus 100, Lions 53

Ball won in Opponents 22 Aus 28 Lions 5

Offloads when in possession Aus 9 Lions 3

Passes made Aus 150 Lions 70


Basically the Lions were lucky to only lose by a point, and this is the background to the third test selection which means the Lions need to attack to win, and free up creative players

The Team features 10 Welshmen and 6 changes from Melbourne including the very suprising dropping of Brian O'Driscoll

This is the first time in the 15 years since O'Driscoll was selected for International rugby that has been dropped when fit, and signals the beginning of the end for a talismanic and iconic figure, probably the best Northern Hemisphere rugby player of his generation

It is a huge call by Gatland, one that will define this tour either way.

The Team selected is full of ball carriers, designed to eradicate the flaws of last weekend with the likes of Falatau over Heaslip, Jamie Roberts returning etc picked to get over the gain line, create go forward and give momentum in attack, of which there was none last time

What it appears to lack is any sort of guile whatsoever

Alun Wyn Jones has been selected as Captain and this is another big one. O'Driscoll was the obvious candidate and if you look through the Lions 15 it is short of leaders, talkers on the field etc. Huge call for AWJ to galvanise this team as captain with three days notice

The Australians will not be worried. They will reckon they can tackle Lion battering rams all day and as we have seen in both games so far just have that bit more flair when it matters

Both of these teams would lose by 20-30 points to the All Blacks, by the way

Its going to be close, and in the last 48 hours the Aussies, underdogs in both the first two tests and priced as a pick em after the second test have gone marginal odds on favourites. I think this is probably correct

Basically when coaches get wary, they revert to what they trust

10 Welshmen, Jamie Roberts etc

the recent history fo teams dominated from one country, 2001, 2005 etc...not good

#justiceforBOD is trending on twitter lol!
 

Can't get my head around it, tbh. Tell BOD he only has 50 minutes and that he should go flat out to create something special, leaving Roberts to come in and do the dirty work afterwards would have made more sense to me.

Looks all grunt and no gusto to me.

having watched the last two matches am i missing something but i thought o'driscoll looked a bit passed by in game?

rarely watch Rugby but judged on those two games and those only not a massive surprise to me

In attack yes a bit bypassed but much of this comes from style of play. Sexton lies quite deep at fly half which gives defences change to align

go flat, quick ball, create space etc, BOD is used more effectively

BOD has had to play more like a flanker really, he has 23 defensive tackles at Melblourne, made them all

Its controversial because BOD is much loved and a proven big game player

It can't be argued that he is half a step short of the player he used to be

good points

is a surprise heard somebody on the radio yesterday saying he was a cert for captain.

This is a good one

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Deg1bQt1rzQ

the no scots in the team still was very good

(http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02561/Bill_2561804b.jpg)

(https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/p480x480/935296_496723177049695_1900078895_n.jpg)

Proper nervous this morning. Come on, lads!

Corbisieroooooooooooo!!!

hibbard needs to man up a bit

wow

Smith coming back on inside 5 minutes is just insane. A footballer would be out for six weeks!

These scrums are amazing. Huge power going through that front row

Lions 1.30 Australia 6.00 already.

Some glimmer of hope for the Aussies.

Yes, huge for the Aussies and the neutrals. Don't see the Wallabies playing that badly in the second half and you'd have to imagine the lions can't keep hitting that hard for another 40. Tuilagi to come on is a huge weapon with the game opening up. Would have liked Youngs as a back-up 9 for the same reason.

Aus can now kick their pens and capitalise on the space near the end. We need the next score

Absolute different

(http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/food/ic/food_16x9_608/foods/g/gravy_16x9.jpg)

Watching game on a stream with Aussie commentators so I don't have to hear about BOD every two minutes. Don't think Davies and Roberts have been that good tonight but defensively they've done well. Halfpenny been awesome. His positioning is always spot on and made a couple of decisive half breaks which have led to trys. Scrum was solid with Hibbard prominent. Really pleased Gatland has been proven right.

Fantastic justification for Gatland.
Well done that man.

What a top performance that was. Didn't know they had it in them

Scrum was immense

Halfpenny fantastic

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BOfj9DzCIAEv2TG.jpg:large)