Official Lions selection, moaning and bitching thread

[SaintK]

Hill hit at least 3 rucks from the side that didn't get pinged by the ref. He does this all the time.

Yup.

I'm sorry but you are all wrong about Hill according to this highly respected rugby journalist

Re Lock, the biggest and hardest is Jonny Hill and I think people are under estimating him.

His scrummaging is massive on all accounts. As long as he maintains open play intensity.

You can't really play Beirne at lock if Maro is playing- they're both left hand locks- you need a big tough tight head lock and that's one of Beard, Hill or Hendo.

Hard boy is Jonny- laid Genge out when he got a bit mouthy one night......

Alright, it was Jake on PR so counts for nothing

[Kawazaki]

Hill hit at least 3 rucks from the side that didn't get pinged by the ref. He does this all the time.

Yup.

I'm sorry but you are all wrong about Hill according to this highly respected rugby journalist

Re Lock, the biggest and hardest is Jonny Hill and I think people are under estimating him.

His scrummaging is massive on all accounts. As long as he maintains open play intensity.

You can't really play Beirne at lock if Maro is playing- they're both left hand locks- you need a big tough tight head lock and that's one of Beard, Hill or Hendo.

Hard boy is Jonny- laid Genge out when he got a bit mouthy one night......

Alright, it was Jake on PR so counts for nothing

I don't doubt for a second that Hill is as strong as an Ox and as tough as granite. The trouble is he has the IQ of an Ox as well.

And I also suspect knocking Genge out is a fairly unremarkable and common sight in training.

[dpedin]

Yup.

I'm sorry but you are all wrong about Hill according to this highly respected rugby journalist

Re Lock, the biggest and hardest is Jonny Hill and I think people are under estimating him.

His scrummaging is massive on all accounts. As long as he maintains open play intensity.

You can't really play Beirne at lock if Maro is playing- they're both left hand locks- you need a big tough tight head lock and that's one of Beard, Hill or Hendo.

Hard boy is Jonny- laid Genge out when he got a bit mouthy one night......

Alright, it was Jake on PR so counts for nothing

I don't doubt for a second that Hill is as strong as an Ox and as tough as granite. The trouble is he has the IQ of an Ox as well.

And I also suspect knocking Genge out is a fairly unremarkable and common sight in training.

[JM2K6]

Johnny Hill's such a massive scrummager that Harry Williams is the most penalised tighthead this season.

[SaintK]

I'm sorry but you are all wrong about Hill according to this highly respected rugby journalist

Alright, it was Jake on PR so counts for nothing

I don't doubt for a second that Hill is as strong as an Ox and as tough as granite. The trouble is he has the IQ of an Ox as well.

And I also suspect knocking Genge out is a fairly unremarkable and common sight in training.

[Margin__Walker]

More Covid trouble

[Raggs]

Itoje has played tighthead lock plenty of times anyway, he's plenty powerful enough to do it.

Hill is a penalty liability, I don't like him starting for England, I really don't want him starting for the lions.

[Slick]

Can anyone post the team for tomorrow?

[JM2K6]

Can anyone post the team for tomorrow?

15. Liam Williams (Scarlets, Wales)
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, England)
13. Elliot Daly (Saracens, England)
12. Bundee Aki (Connacht Rugby, Ireland)
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Worcester Warriors, Scotland)
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, Wales)
9. Gareth Davies (Scarlets, Wales)
1. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England)
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, England)
3. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland)
4. Iain Henderson – Captain (Ulster Rugby, Ireland)
5. Adam Beard (Ospreys, Wales)
6. Josh Navidi (Cardiff Rugby, Wales)
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, England)
8. Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, England)


Replacements:
16. Ken Owens (Scarlets, Wales)
17. Rory Sutherland (Worcester Warriors, Scotland)
18. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster Rugby, Ireland)
19. Tadhg Beirne (Munster Rugby, Ireland)
20. Jack Conan (Leinster Rugby, Ireland)
21. Conor Murray (Munster Rugby, Ireland)
22. Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs, Scotland)
23. Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby, Scotland)

Was in the thread for the game.

[Biffer]

Itoje has played tighthead lock plenty of times anyway, he's plenty powerful enough to do it.

Hill is a penalty liability, I don't like him starting for England, I really don't want him starting for the lions.

I think the penalty count is something Gatland is paying huge attention to. You do not want to give the boks the opportunity to kick for the corner and maul with any regularity. I think a number of close calls for the squad went in favour of players who weren't penalised often. That might be the case for the 23 as well.

[Raggs]

Itoje has played tighthead lock plenty of times anyway, he's plenty powerful enough to do it.

Hill is a penalty liability, I don't like him starting for England, I really don't want him starting for the lions.

I think the penalty count is something Gatland is paying huge attention to. You do not want to give the boks the opportunity to kick for the corner and maul with any regularity. I think a number of close calls for the squad went in favour of players who weren't penalised often. That might be the case for the 23 as well.

I expect so. Itoje is good enough to offset his penalty count (though still could do with improving it), but Hill isn't. It was depressing to see virtually every penalty in the last game was an English player.

[Biffer]

Itoje has played tighthead lock plenty of times anyway, he's plenty powerful enough to do it.

Hill is a penalty liability, I don't like him starting for England, I really don't want him starting for the lions.

I think the penalty count is something Gatland is paying huge attention to. You do not want to give the boks the opportunity to kick for the corner and maul with any regularity. I think a number of close calls for the squad went in favour of players who weren't penalised often. That might be the case for the 23 as well.

I expect so. Itoje is good enough to offset his penalty count (though still could do with improving it), but Hill isn't. It was depressing to see virtually every penalty in the last game was an English player.

It's why I think Sutherland will start at LH. Hardly ever pinged in the scrum, great body position .

[JM2K6]

Itoje has played tighthead lock plenty of times anyway, he's plenty powerful enough to do it.

Hill is a penalty liability, I don't like him starting for England, I really don't want him starting for the lions.

I think the penalty count is something Gatland is paying huge attention to. You do not want to give the boks the opportunity to kick for the corner and maul with any regularity. I think a number of close calls for the squad went in favour of players who weren't penalised often. That might be the case for the 23 as well.

I don't think that's true at all. Mako, Itoje, Hill - all players who are regularly penalised. And Gatland made a point of praising Hill after the last match.

[SaintK]

Itoje has played tighthead lock plenty of times anyway, he's plenty powerful enough to do it.

Hill is a penalty liability, I don't like him starting for England, I really don't want him starting for the lions.

I think the penalty count is something Gatland is paying huge attention to. You do not want to give the boks the opportunity to kick for the corner and maul with any regularity. I think a number of close calls for the squad went in favour of players who weren't penalised often. That might be the case for the 23 as well.

I don't think that's true at all. Mako, Itoje, Hill - all players who are regularly penalised. And Gatland made a point of praising Hill after the last match.

It's nonsense, and for all the grief that Itoje gets about penalties, he didn't get penalised once last Saturday.

[Raggs]

Itoje has played tighthead lock plenty of times anyway, he's plenty powerful enough to do it.

Hill is a penalty liability, I don't like him starting for England, I really don't want him starting for the lions.

I think the penalty count is something Gatland is paying huge attention to. You do not want to give the boks the opportunity to kick for the corner and maul with any regularity. I think a number of close calls for the squad went in favour of players who weren't penalised often. That might be the case for the 23 as well.

I don't think that's true at all. Mako, Itoje, Hill - all players who are regularly penalised. And Gatland made a point of praising Hill after the last match.

Mako tends to build his penalties through the scrum though. He's not a weak scrummager, but he's not strong either. His open play is fantastic. Itoje (OK, he wasn't penalised last game) plays right on the edge, and can generate penalties, he needs to learn to reign it in, when the ref is on him, but again, they come from exceptional workrate etc. Hill's penalties are so often just straight up dumb. Flopping over a ruck, hitting it from 90 degree's, bad decisions at mauls etc.

[Slick]

Thanks JM

[SaintK]

Steve Tandy took the Lions update press conference today
Henshaw on the mend and Hoog an injury concern

“Robbie is tracking really well. He was doing a little bit of running today, so he is looking good,” said the defence coach, who went on to reveal a concern surrounding Hogg, the full-back who skippered the Lions from full-back in last Saturday’s win over the Sigma Lions “Stuart is carrying a little bit of a dead leg,” explained Tandy. “We will make a decision on that tomorrow morning and see how he holds up.”

Lions could possibly end up playing Georgia if the Bulls pull out due to covid cases.

Cancellation of the Springboks versus Georgia game on Friday and the following day’s Lions versus Bulls match would leave the Georgians and Lions at an expected late loose end. Might that hypothetically be solved by the Lions taking on the Georgians instead and if not, would the loss of a match hinder the Test team selection chances of those players likely to have been facing the Bulls?

[Sandstorm]

Lions vs Japan, then Georgia, then perhaps Ivory Coast. Why not?

[JM2K6]

Steve Tandy took the Lions update press conference today
Henshaw on the mend and Hoog an injury concern

“Robbie is tracking really well. He was doing a little bit of running today, so he is looking good,” said the defence coach, who went on to reveal a concern surrounding Hogg, the full-back who skippered the Lions from full-back in last Saturday’s win over the Sigma Lions “Stuart is carrying a little bit of a dead leg,” explained Tandy. “We will make a decision on that tomorrow morning and see how he holds up.”

Lions could possibly end up playing Georgia if the Bulls pull out due to covid cases.

Cancellation of the Springboks versus Georgia game on Friday and the following day’s Lions versus Bulls match would leave the Georgians and Lions at an expected late loose end. Might that hypothetically be solved by the Lions taking on the Georgians instead and if not, would the loss of a match hinder the Test team selection chances of those players likely to have been facing the Bulls?

Farcical tour

[Sandstorm]

If the Lions go totally unscathed by Covid this tour, I’ll buy you all a coke. Desperate tour organisers and Rugby Boards forced this one to go ahead.

Hope everyone stays safe.

[Big D]

Lions vs Japan, then Georgia, then perhaps Ivory Coast. Why not?

To be honest it wouldn't be the worst thing for the sport if Lions played Georgia.

So far the Lions and Georgia have kept covid out their camps so a game makes sense.

[PCPhil]

Note to self…..remove games from google calendar…..

[SaintK]

Lions vs Japan, then Georgia, then perhaps Ivory Coast. Why not?

To be honest it wouldn't be the worst thing for the sport if Lions played Georgia.

So far the Lions and Georgia have kept covid out their camps so a game makes sense.

Sounds sensible

[boere wors]

If the Lions go totally unscathed by Covid this tour, I’ll buy you all a coke. Desperate tour organisers and Rugby Boards forced this one to go ahead.

Hope everyone stays safe.

We didn't really mind, did we?!

[SaintK]

Lions vs Japan, then Georgia, then perhaps Ivory Coast. Why not?

To be honest it wouldn't be the worst thing for the sport if Lions played Georgia.

So far the Lions and Georgia have kept covid out their camps so a game makes sense.

Sounds sensible

Maybe not so sensible
4 members of the Georgian squad now tested positive
Turning into a shitshow
I wonder how the tour insurers are feeling

[Slick]

If the Lions go totally unscathed by Covid this tour, I’ll buy you all a coke. Desperate tour organisers and Rugby Boards forced this one to go ahead.

Hope everyone stays safe.

We didn't really mind, did we?!

I did, stupid idea

[Sandstorm]

If the Lions go totally unscathed by Covid this tour, I’ll buy you all a coke. Desperate tour organisers and Rugby Boards forced this one to go ahead.

Hope everyone stays safe.

We didn't really mind, did we?!

I did, stupid idea

To be fair there isn’t much you’re happy about at the moment.

[Slick]

We didn't really mind, did we?!

I did, stupid idea

To be fair there isn’t much you’re happy about at the moment.

I have caught myself a couple of times lately

[And 1 guest]

Let's face it. Tour should be called off now

[Slick]

Let's face it. Tour should be called off now

It does feel like it. It’s becoming obscene that all these resources are being used to get a few games of rugby on while the country is getting ravaged

[clive]

Its becoming a mess but SA needs to up their game, dirty bastards.stop poking the fucjing locals.

[Slick]

Its becoming a mess but SA needs to up their game, dirty bastards.stop poking the fucjing locals.

Great post

[Kawazaki]

To be honest it wouldn't be the worst thing for the sport if Lions played Georgia.

So far the Lions and Georgia have kept covid out their camps so a game makes sense.

Sounds sensible

Maybe not so sensible
4 members of the Georgian squad now tested positive
Turning into a shitshow
I wonder how the tour insurers are feeling

I doubt an insurance company would touch it with a bargepole unless it was basically underwritten by the SA government.

[ia801310]

Let's face it. Tour should be called off now

It does feel like it. It’s becoming obscene that all these resources are being used to get a few games of rugby on while the country is getting ravaged

I think the Tests in South Africa will still go ahead. Too late to go anywhere else and as South Africa is a Red Country they would have to quarantine anyway when they get back to the UK. They are in South Africa and the players on both sides will be desperate to play.

[Slick]

Bulls game goooooooone

[OomStruisbaai]

Let's face it. Tour should be called off now

Getting excuses now

[Openside]

We didn't really mind, did we?!

I did, stupid idea

To be fair there isn’t much you’re happy about at the moment.

That raised a chuckle

[ia801310]

I think we are looking more and more likely that the Lions and the Boks will go into 2 hard bubbles and will just play the 3 tests.

[Slick]

I think we are looking more and more likely that the Lions and the Boks will go into 2 hard bubbles and will just play the 3 tests.

Is there time to fly them both to the UK and hold the tests here with some crowds? Not that easy of course, but it could be done.

[Paddington Bear]

Saffer posters feel free to call out my armchair bollocks, but my understanding is the situation in SA atm is pretty serious, and I would assume the presence of such a high profile sporting event is distracting to the authorities trying to deal with it?