Lions 2017

First topic message reminder :

Looking at the recent internationals and to beat allblack you need pace and vision so this is my team so far! 1.m.vunipola 2.hartley 3.furlong 4.itoje 5.kruis 6.faletau 7.stander 8. B.vunipola 9. Youngs 10.ford 11.watson 12.farrell 13.joseph 14.l.williams 15. Hogg 16.best 17.mcgrath 18.lee 19 .henderson 20.o'brien 21.murray 22.henshaw 23.north

rodders wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:2 Welsh, 1 English and 1 irislh.

2 Welsh and 2 English.

Well, technically Gats isn't Welsh, so it's one NZer, one Welsh and two English. I think the poster was referring to the fact that Farrell currently coaches defence for Ireland, so was counting him as Irish to this purpose. Obviously he's also very recently been England defence coach too.

Rugby fan to be honest sometimes I think us fans can be better at selection then the professionals.

You do not need to be a professional coach to know picking Cuthbert for Wales was a poor decision or that Saints should have been selecting H.Mallinder more before his injury.

To be frank I think Saints fans could pick a better team than J.Mallinder at this time.

I am sure there are numerous other examples.

The pros do not always get it right. I remember Mccall picking a crocked Farrell for a match away against Munster, dropping Hodgson who had won MOTM in the previous game - game lost.

Even the best coaches can get it horribly wrong.

Howley being a professional doesn't make him a good coach does it?

tigertattie if that led to a Lions victory..... plus who thinks R.Gray is better?


Clive's 2005 disaster was a disaster not because he filled it with mostly Englishmen, it's because those Englishmen were mostly past their sell by date.

Sounds like a familiar thing could happen if too many off form Welsh players are picked but with Borthwick and Farrell in the coaching set up some might be taken out.

To be honest I don't think there are dozens of Scottish players warranting selection, merely a handful at the moment could get in the squad. Hogg and J.Gray are probably the only at the moment nailed on to tour if they stay fit.


Mad for Chelsea of course I am bias. I don't claim to be neutral but then again I don't think it's easy for anyone to be neutral.

Just the way things are working out I'd pick mostly English and Irish with a small representation from Scotland and Wales.

In 2013, it made sense to pick more Welsh than now.

Interesting that the scotland backs coach has also turned down going on the tour. Again exactly the right move. The way Gatland likes to play is a differnt way to the way scotland play so what point is there in a Scots coach going knowing that their input is never going tobe any use?

the more we discuss it the more I hope not a single scot goes on tour for this reason. Hogg took the best part of a year to recover confidence and form after the last tour.

Now that we mentioned Farrell a little while ago. Question for English posters: Has he always been so quiet?

I didn't realise how quiet a man he is until he came to Ireland. Always in the background, always looks a little tense when the camera is on him - reluctant to be too big a willing shape either for pictures or for comment. Appears quite reserved. Was that his character when with England?

No I don't think Farrell Sr is quiet.

Some England fans thought that he was the puppet master whilst Lancaster was the puppet.

He was the most dominant of Lancaster's assistants in my opinion.

He's not the most eloquent fellow so probably best he doesn't talk much.

Himself and his wife were 16 when Owen was born. That's some age. The two of them have the most Irish names imaginable so its not a huge surprise he ended up working in Ireland.

Interview with Farrell Senior here. He has a brother to played Rugby League for Ireland! Wife is of Irish extraction as well.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/andy-farrell-finds-a-home-from-home-1.2680391

Sin é wrote:Interview with Farrell Senior here. He has a brother to played Rugby League for Ireland! Wife is of Irish extraction as well.

http://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/andy-farrell-finds-a-home-from-home-1.2680391

Even Luke Ricketson played Rugby League for Ireland.

Ireland have a Rugby League team?

Cyril wrote:Ireland have a Rugby League team?

Its more of a team of mercenaries. Very few Irish players on the team. Brian Carney was one then switched to Great Britain.

He was a great guy. Saved me from a bunch of bullies when I was a young lad.

Cyril wrote:Ireland have a Rugby League team?

I think we must have leased it out to England. We get 20% of anything they earn but none of the fuss of having any emotional connection to them.

GunsGermsV2 wrote:

Cyril wrote:Ireland have a Rugby League team?

Its more of a team of mercenaries. Very few Irish players on the team. Brian Carney was one then switched to Great Britain.

He was a great guy. Saved me from a bunch of bullies when I was a young lad.

Very good to hear that.

He was actually a great league player too.

Yeah he was a really kind person. I went to the same boarding school as him. There was a trend where the first years were literally picked on for everything. At break time one day I was queing to ring my parents because I was really home sick. However, all the older guys kept skipping me in the queue and using my call card. There was almost no break time left nor any units on my card.

Carney saw what was going on and he told everyone in the queue to f off and hung up on the guy on the phone who was using my card. He then gave me his own card and told me to have as much time as I needed. I couldnt believe it. I had never met him before that.

All is revealed:









Guns is Eddie O'Sullivan and we finally know why he picked Carney over Bowe in 2007.

GunsGermsV2 wrote:Yeah he was a really kind person. I went to the same boarding school as him. There was a trend where the first years were literally picked on for everything. At break time one day I was queing to ring my parents because I was really home sick. However, all the older guys kept skipping me in the queue and using my call card. There was almost no break time left nor any units on my card.

Carney saw what was going on and he told everyone in the queue to f off and hung up on the guy on the phone who was using my card. He then gave me his own card and told me to have as much time as I needed. I couldnt believe it. I had never met him before that.

What a guy!

Haha. I fairness Carney was a great player but came to union a bit late. he didn't even play much rugby in school.

GunsGermsV2 wrote:Haha. I  fairness Carney was a great player but came to union a bit late. he didn't even play much rugby in school.

I don't know if you saw this Guns, but well worth a read. Paul Kimmage says that Carney is one of the most interesting people he has met.

He explains why he didn't play rugby in school.


http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/not-just-a-pretty-face-brian-carneys-pathway-to-sky-30337199.html

Sin é wrote:

GunsGermsV2 wrote:Haha. I  fairness Carney was a great player but came to union a bit late. he didn't even play much rugby in school.

I don't know if you saw this Guns, but well worth a read. Paul Kimmage says that Carney is one of the most interesting people he has met.  

He explains why he didn't play rugby in school.


http://www.independent.ie/sport/other-sports/not-just-a-pretty-face-brian-carneys-pathway-to-sky-30337199.html

I hadn't read it, thank you. You know what I always thought that he didn't want to player rugby because he wanted to focus on his leaving. Really funny to read the real reasons why.

He was some character. Really good character, clearly did things his way.

I met a group of Wigan RL fans in a pub once and they just raved about what a great player and good bloke he was, particularly as he was 'posh'.

I've heard as well that both himself and Alan Quinlan (who didn't get to play) were just brilliant at keeping spirits up at 2007 World Cup, so maybe having two guys who had been there and done that was a good plan by Eddie.

What's this new plus and minus bar I'm looking at on posts?

SecretFly wrote:What's this new plus and minus bar I'm looking at on posts?

-1 for the silly question fly ..

rodders wrote:

SecretFly wrote:What's this new plus and minus bar I'm looking at on posts?

-1 for the silly question fly ..

Minus 2

I reckon I'll be eternally in red from here on in, now that people seem to have the XFactor tools right at their fingertips. Oh well, it was good whilst it lasted.

Haha this is great craic

Plus 1 for the minus 2!

How does it work? Do only teacher's Pets get the control buttons? How come we didn't get an official message warning us to be on best behaviour?


Yeah I know...another red.

One of the Founders brought it in at the request of one of the posters - we are trying it out to see what people think!

I suspect it will cause a lot of fun to start with but in a week everyone will have forgotten about it...

So where's the trigger then? I have a few smart ass fecking hombres to shoot between the eyes.

There should be a + and _ symbol above each other with a - in the middle - on the right have side of each post (but not your own)

Quick keep giving fly -1's before he gets the hang of it!

What would make this more fun is if you could see who voted for or against you...

Damn he got me!

rodders wrote:Damn he got me!

That was me!

RDW_Scotland wrote:There should be a + and _ symbol above each other with a - in the middle - on the right have side of each post (but not your own)

I saw them (+ and -) when I came in first. But now I only see the bars (green or red) and then only on some of the names, not on all.

There must be a few start up glitches. Lucky thing for that there rodders. Laugh while you can, rodders. I have an elephantine memory

SecretFly wrote:I reckon I'll be eternally in red from here on in, now that people seem to have the XFactor tools right at their fingertips.  Oh well, it was good whilst it lasted.

Red is a good colour Fly

A few people have had similar problems fly - I have no idea why it works for some but not others.

Maybe try on a different browser/device?

Sin é wrote:

SecretFly wrote:I reckon I'll be eternally in red from here on in, now that people seem to have the XFactor tools right at their fingertips.  Oh well, it was good whilst it lasted.

Red is a good colour Fly

True Sin. I think I'm going to have to really learn to Love and Adore the colour Red now - to keep my spirits up. Bye Bye Blue - you've been divorced for reasons of mental health.

YUM!

SecretFly wrote:

YUM!

Sorry fly. If we are doing Ferrari porn it has to be the GT250 California. Would post a pic but no idea how to do it from my phone.

This?

Well yes, actually in my more real moments, I'd choose this one too. As long as it's red.

SecretFly wrote:

This?

Well yes, actually in my more real moments, I'd choose this one too.  As long as it's red.

Ooo yes. That's her

Well this thread got a bit off topic...

All the Welsh players are useless, there we go

the-goon wrote:Well this thread got a bit off topic...

All the Welsh players are useless, there we go

especially the ones that won the last Lions tour.

Gwlad wrote:

the-goon wrote:Well this thread got a bit off topic...

All the Welsh players are useless, there we go

especially the ones that won the last Lions tour.

Or, do you mean, especialy the players that have done nothing against the SH Teams, since then.

Now, now gentlemen. Tis the season of goodwill to all men.

majesticimperialman wrote:

Gwlad wrote:

the-goon wrote:Well this thread got a bit off topic...

All the Welsh players are useless, there we go

especially the ones that won the last Lions tour.

Or, do you mean, especialy the players that have done nothing against the  SH Teams, since then.

In fairness we've beaten South Africa twice since the last tour. We'd never done that before in our history prior to the last lions tour (just once in 1999 I think). Then of course there were the moral victories out in NZ where we had them 'on the ropes' a few times before getting spanked.  

Finn Russell motm 2 weeks in a row against Racing metro, putting in an incredible attacking performance against one of the too teams in Europe.

He's certainly still a few injuries away from selection, but may be a dark horse given that we need good ball players to play in NZ!

Indeed. anyone who doesn't understand why we rate him needs to watch the first half of todays match if not the whole match. Right now no one in the NH can come close to the way he is plaing. He ran Racing ragged - they could hardly lay a hand on him 12 runs for 80 m 9 defenders beaten 3 clean breaks 3 offloads.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Finn Russell motm 2 weeks in a row against Racing metro, putting in an incredible attacking performance against one of the too teams in Europe.

He's certainly still a few injuries away from selection, but may be a dark horse given that we need good ball players to play in NZ!

He's a talent for sure, but Racing one of the top teams in Europe?! They've got no points in the group! I think they gave up on Europe after the first round when they realised they had no chance of progressing! Only Zebre have also got 0 points. Even the Scarlets have 4!!!