No Brian O'Driscoll for the Lions vs Australia 3rd Test!...

[Frank Dux]

No problem with the selection here. I woudl have brought in Evans for Parling & completely own the scrums with even more ballast. I would have picked BoD for Davies & reunite with Roberts. let's also remember rugby is a 23 man game these days & when Youngs, Tuialagi, Vunipola, Gray etc come from the bench there is a lot of dynamism there. Davies now back in his natural position as well.

The 1st 60 mins have not been an issue really for Wales & the Lions - it is closing out games where we have struggled & so in that respect the subs are virtually as important. Half backs definitley need to step up, only Murray has looked good in tests & Sexton in patches.

I love it, this is the one event where most people support the team, but nobody can quite lose their national biases. Fair play to Gatland I say, he has cojones the sixe of the South Island for the BoD call. I think the 2nd test was an error as we lost the dominance in the scrum which he has tried to rectify here.

 

[sydney]

shit or bust saturday arvo boys.........!! LIONS ..by a whisker.

 

[Baron Pepperpot]

Complete generalisation on my part, clearly should have said 'some welsh fans'.

I'd have no issue with there being 15 welsh in the team (apart from the implication that the England was really bad), if they were the players that could produce the best rugby, but I don't think that's the case even with the ten.... As others have mentioned, the baffling thing is that he clearly hasn't got a clue what his best team is. It's also not the Lions way, the Lions aren't just about winning.....

have you ever known 15 Welshman to beat a southern hemisphere team in the last few years....

 

[Seagulls Downunder]

Didn't take long did it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Deg1bQt1rzQ

 

[nwgull]

I'll still be supporting the Lions as much as ever, but it does feel a bit like this. Wales are admittedly the best nation out of the 4 right now, but not to the extent that 10 of their players make up the best side. Even in the years when England were dominating the 5/6 nations, the Lions test team still had only 7-8 English players (from memory).

 

[chimneys]

I don't feel confident but they might have a good chance this time round - the referee is French. I am fed up with the southern hemisphere interpretation of the breakdown and it has always gone the way of the Aussies on this tour because the refs have both been southern hemisphere refs so far.

Pretty unfair! The second ref from SA was superb and by then BOD etc knew exactly what to expect at the breakdown!

 

[chimneys]

Some of it. They had an excellent last match - but they were no world beaters in the previous games were they ?

(at home, against the old enemy)

Agreed! Makes me wonder what Gatland would have done had the 6 Nations decider been at Twickenham and we had won (which would have been a lot more likely)? No different most likely!

 

[Pavilionaire]

I though that BOD played poorly last week. Although it's still a brave call to have 10 taffs in the starting 15; the press will slaughter him if it doesn't come off.

The stats say in the first 2 tests BOD made 23 tackles with none missed. He's the only Lions player with 100% record. Defensively he's sound as a pound, and was bound to give it an extra 5% in his final test. If that Halfpenny kick had gone over in extra time would people be saying BOD had a bad game? Not many I'm guessing.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Fair play to Gatland I say, he has cojones the sixe of the South Island for the BoD call. I think the 2nd test was an error as we lost the dominance in the scrum which he has tried to rectify here.

A lot of that was down to Corbisiero being injured.

I'm with you on pairing Roberts and BOD and dropping Jonathan Davies. If he can drop Cuthbert after his 1st Test heroics he can surely drop Davies.

 

[Fitzcarraldo]

I just think it is right that the British Lions, in a period when no home nation is particularly dominant, should be made up of a mix of the home nations. 10 players from a nation that is marginally better than the rest just doesn't seem right. You want ALL the nations involved to have at least one player in the starting line up to get behind, even if that does mean a Scot getting in on quota. You want people to get excited about watching the lions, not outraged that their national captain has been dropped for the spurious reason of the head coach wanting his pet monster to come back in to bore everyone to death from inside centre.

I hope the Lions get thumped, with the tries coming from a masterclass in running rugby from the Australian back division, and Gatland and his neanderthals go back to Valleys crying into their protein shakes.

 

[keaton]

Marginally better?
They've won back-to-back championships with a World Cup semi in between.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Gatland is falling back on the players he knows, which sort of defeats the object a bit.

I think the tour needs to be longer in order to forge that unity of the 4 home nations. The legendary '74 Lions played 22 matches over a 2 and a half month period, with four tests. This squad will play only 10 matches in total, and that includes the Hong Kong Barbarians cakewalk. The 1997 Lions played 13 matches, and this seems about right.

 

[Fitzcarraldo]

Marginally better?
They've won back-to-back championships with a World Cup semi in between.

With an 8 test losing streak, including losses to the like the likes of Samoa and Argentina AT HOME, sandwiched in the middle. Also in that period did they actually beat many southern hemisphere teams? I'm not saying they haven't been marginally better, or a little more successful, they just haven't been successful enough to warrant the disunity created by picking 10 Welsh players.

I just think it is a terrible decision and can't bring myself to support the Lions with such a bias to one nationality, not when that nationality isn't English.

 

[Questions]

I just think it is a terrible decision and can't bring myself to support the Lions with such a bias to one nationality, not when that nationality isn't English.

My problem is picking a foreign coach. I'd just prefer if we had a GB or Irish coaching set up from top to bottom. Maybe I just haven't forgiven Henry for the last Aussie tour.

 

[One Love]

I hope the Lions get thumped, with the tries coming from a masterclass in running rugby from the Australian back division, and Gatland and his neanderthals go back to Valleys crying into their protein shakes.

So as an Englishman, you are going to support an Australian team rather than a British team (that has 7 Englishman in the 23) because of your hatred of the Welsh!

 

[Fitzcarraldo]

So as an Englishman, you are going to support an Australian team rather than a British team (that has 7 Englishman in the 23) because of your hatred of the Welsh!

My problem is the brand of ugly, muscle bound, rugby they peddle rather that the Welsh themselves. If they played running rugby, were willing to chuck the ball around take a couple of risks - as opposed to just kick, chase, tackle and wait for the turnover - I am sure I could feel an affinity to this Lions team. But as it is, with players like Brian O'Driscoll and Tom Youngs who at least offers some entertainment, being replaced by one-dimensional gainline Orcs, like Jamie Roberts and Richard Hebbard, I just have no interest in seeing the Lions win and would prefer to see the Aussie team, who at least offer something beyond the ability to run straight at and over someone, turn us over.

Having said that - if I was actually in Australia, or probably even come the time of the match, I would/will be supporting the Lions.

 

[LamieRobertson]

Didn't take long did it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Deg1bQt1rzQ

I'd just been watching that...good to have a laugh rather than all the serious debating

 

[Lower West Stander]

The great 74 lions team had only 6 Welshmen in it - despite Wales being easily the best home nation. Everyone contributed in that team because management recognised certain players for certain positions. Uttley and Milliken did just as much as Edwards and Bennett.

It just doesn't sit right with me to have so many Welshmen in the team...

 

[keaton]

My problem is the brand of ugly, muscle bound, rugby they peddle rather that the Welsh themselves. If they played running rugby, were willing to chuck the ball around take a couple of risks - as opposed to just kick, chase, tackle and wait for the turnover - I am sure I could feel an affinity to this Lions team. But as it is, with players like Brian O'Driscoll and Tom Youngs who at least offers some entertainment, being replaced by one-dimensional gainline Orcs, like Jamie Roberts and Richard Hebbard, I just have no interest in seeing the Lions win and would prefer to see the Aussie team, who at least offer something beyond the ability to run straight at and over someone, turn us over.

Having said that - if I was actually in Australia, or probably even come the time of the match, I would/will be supporting the Lions.

Can I ask who in the Northern hemisphere plays this beautiful running rugby. In the 6 Nations , Italy did against France and that was about it. Ireland didn't and were bloody awful. England only scored one try after the first game and played the same rugby style as Wales but less well.

Toulon won Heineken Cup playing 'worse' rugby.
In the Premiership Gloucester and Exeter were the only clubs who played with some panache, and neither made the play-offs

 

[keaton]

The great 74 lions team had only 6 Welshmen in it - despite Wales being easily the best home nation. Everyone contributed in that team because management recognised certain players for certain positions. Uttley and Milliken did just as much as Edwards and Bennett.

It just doesn't sit right with me to have so many Welshmen in the team...

There were 11 Enlgishmen against New Zealand 20 years ago. If they 10 Englishmen no-one would have a problem