Australia vs British and Irish Lions - 22nd June : TEST 1 BUILDUP

First topic message reminder :

So, it's only a week to go before the first Lions test for 4 years.

Gatland has a host of injuries and a game against the Brumbies to manoeuvre while deciding the 23 players who will take to the pitch next Saturday.

Christian Wade and Brad Barritt have both been called up to cover for injury concerns over Jamie Roberts, Manu Tuilagi, Tommy Bowe and George North


My team for Saturday

1. Maku Vunipola
2. Tom Youngs
3. Adam Jones
4. Alun Wyn Jones
5. Paul O'Connell
6. Tom Croft
7. Sam Warburton
8. Toby Faletau
9. Mike Phillips
10. Jonathan Sexton
11. George North (Simon Zebo)
12. Jonathan Davies
13. Brian O'Driscoll
14. Alex Cuthbert
15. Leigh Halfpenny

16. Richard Hibbard
17. Alex Corbisiero
18. Dan Cole
19. Richie Gray
20. Justin Tipuric
21. Ben Youngs
22. Owen Farrell
23. Manu Tuilagi/Stuart Hogg


Thoughts?

Tom Youngs take a bow. Great 60 from him

I do not watch a lot of rugby so can someone help me here.  Is halfpenny unusually good at kicking?

I notice a lot of complain over Pollock here. He isn't fit to lace Joubert's boots when it comes to shocking decisions. Perhaps Wales fans complaining about Joubert last year may have had a point? At the time we were dismissed as whingers:whistle:

Tackling is embarrassing.

God poor defending

Cynical lions! Where's the yellow card?

McLaren wrote:I do not watch a lot of rugby so can someone help me here.  Is halfpenny unusually good at kicking?

He's shít hot at it!

Nice consistency there from Pollock, no card for the penalty close to the line

Need Lydiate! !!

Good grief ref.

beale is back to his best...all class.

McLaren wrote:I do not watch a lot of rugby so can someone help me here.  Is halfpenny unusually good at kicking?

Yes

A good international kicker gets about 80%, at the moment Halfpenny is well in the 90s

All in all though folks we couldn't have asked for a better start to the tests

Shifty wrote:

McLaren wrote:I do not watch a lot of rugby so can someone help me here.  Is halfpenny unusually good at kicking?

He's shít hot at it!

Thanks.

I played a lot as a youth but have not followed the game for about 12 years or so.

Hibbard with a terrible 'tackle'. Dreadful stuff.

McLaren wrote:I do not watch a lot of rugby so can someone help me here.  Is halfpenny unusually good at kicking?

He is. He's been Wales' best player for a long time now. Some bitter fans on here claimed he would only get in the team due to his kicking at the beginning of the tour. How wrong were they.

Why did Cuthbert pull out of contesting the Youngs box kick? He's much taller and was literally under the ball already.

Sextons been great in the 2nd half

GET IN

A shame Corbs and Jones aren't on right now...

The Saint wrote:

McLaren wrote:I do not watch a lot of rugby so can someone help me here.  Is halfpenny unusually good at kicking?

He is. He's been Wales' best player for a long time now. Some bitter fans on here claimed he would only get in the team due to his kicking at the beginning of the tour. How wrong were they.

At the moment he's he reason the Lions are up. JOC's early misses look crucial

Pete C (Kiwireddevil) wrote:Nice consistency there from Pollock, no card for the penalty close to the line

2 bad decisions imo but at least it's consistent.

Replacement props havent done much against the tired Aus props

Certainly not the impact we expected. Looks like they were correct to start with Corbs.

Well in Mako...

That scrum has given oz the match.

just like wales

Stupid penalty to give away

Lions displine was awful in the warm up games, and it is poor today

What a goddamn joke. Then lets him take all the time he wants. At least some justice

Missed!

Haha stupid moustached mofo!

Oooft, Wallabies now missed 12 points at goal

Lions fans winning the crowd battle by the sound of it

Lions might just close this out. Aus look a bit shell shocked from Beale's miss.

Don't worry there is still plenty of time for the ref to give the Aussies the game.

What the hell has happened to the scrum? It was solid as a rock until Hibbard came on and I can't believe he's weakened it.

Get to halfway
Get a penalty
Put the ball in Halfpennys hands


Aus have about as many injuries as the Lions in the second test in 2009

Cole & Vunipola

Shifty wrote:Don't worry there is still plenty of time for the ref to give the Aussies the game.

Give it a rest.

Fudge.

Massive massive scrum

formerly known as Sam wrote:What the hell has happened to the scrum? It was solid as a rock until Hibbard came on and I can't believe he's weakened it.

It was weak when Vunipola and Cole came on

Most idiotic thing I think I've ever seen.

what happened to the supposed scrum dominance?

Pathetic truly pathetic

Oh fck

Can we get any decent replacement props out to Australia?

Complete joke. So negative from the lions