Lions...Saturday

[matthew123]

5 changes for Saturday. Only big surprise for me is they've dropped Monye - who looked comfortable in the First Test making inroads.. not sure Fitzgerald has the physique to do that even if he does carry ball on correct side. Would like to have seen Martyn Williams selected so that the pack weren't so stiff. Other surprise is they've opted for O'Gara instead of Hook on bench.

Backs: R Kearney (Ireland); T Bowe (Ireland), B O'Driscoll (Ireland), J Roberts (Wales), L Fitzgerald (Ireland); S Jones (Wales), M Phillips (Wales);

Fowards: G Jenkins (Wales), M Rees (Wales), A Jones (Wales), S Shaw (England), P O'Connell (Ireland, capt), T Croft (England), D Wallace (Ireland), J Heaslip (Ireland).

Bench: R Ford (Scotland), A Sheridan (England), A-W Jones (Wales), M Williams (Wales), H Ellis (England), R O'Gara (Ireland), S Williams (Wales).

[Mick Mac]

It looks a stromg team to me. I would agree with the Welsh front row. Monye missed 2 great try chances and you have got to take those.

Hopefully Mike Philips service will speed up. Ellis might not have been far away from a call up.

Its a great achievement for Kearney to come to the fore so quickly in the last year or two - don't know if he has replaced Byrne or if Byrne is injured but Kearney really made a positive difference when he came on last time.

Hope this can get this one to set up the decider.

[bignumber5]

disappointed not to see Ellis start. Pack picked to plug a fairly obvious hole: Shaw in presumably to match the physical challenge in the first half, trade for a younger, faster, lighter model in the 2nd. Painful to admit that the all welsh front row are our best option, but they are. If we can stabilise the set piece it could be a hell of a game - if that falls apart again then i'd say we're buggered...

[matthew123]

I don't understand the reason for Harry Ellis the guy would be blown away if he was picked - it's not as if he ripped up any trees during the tour. I thought Mike Phillips had a terrific game once the pack was reinforced with Welsh muscle.

I still think the Springboks will have the upper hand upfront for the 2nd Test. I think the late dominance of the Lions pack last week was somewhat influenced by the Boks withdrawing a number of their top forwards. I also think their Backs will have a point to prove this week. I reckon the Lions players will need to up their game to a brand new level to have any chance of winning.

[Mick Mac]

Philips delivery was slow in the most part but he did make a number of forward runs. Quick service is vital.

[bignumber5]

what mick mac said, essentially. a physically bolstered pack would cover a less hefty scrum half, and for almost the entire second half last week phillips was pedestrian at best. even with the big boys being called in up front, there's obviously a huge amount of pressure in the pack as well as very quickly organising bok defence: quick service is a must.

[Mick Mac]

think the brilliance and unpredictability of roberts and o driscoll meant the lions did not seem to suffer too much from the slow service. They often turned poor service to their advantage. Im really hoping for it all to work out well on saturday. Anyone else think the lions will win on saturday and set up a grand finale?

[JohnL]

Phillips keeps the Bok back row honest, Jones goes flat, very flat and that makes space for our top two centres.

The statistics last week showed a large LIONS dominance in attack, breaks etc. But the scrummaging collapse caused a disaster - the penalty count was unplayable in the first half.

I think the Lions may do it ..... with some clever subs in the 2nd half.

[Mick Mac]

13-5 lions. Great game and contrary to some opinions lions without vickery are matching boks up front.kearney has been superb and scored a top try.

[Mick Mac]

brilliant stuff. 8-16 in lions favour at half time. Boks are on the back foot but still v dangerous of course. Adam jones and shaw have made a big difference and the scrums are a worry for the boks. If lions can reproduce the same intensity in the second half they can win this.

[Mick Mac]

boks dominating 2nd half so far but no score as they have missed 2 pens. Lions need a score to settle nerves.

[Mick Mac]

lions on back foot now at 19-18. But pen for lions makes it 18 22 lions. Lions are injury hit but fighting to save the tour.

[Mick Mac]

big try for the boks gives them the lead. 4 mins left its slipping.

[Mick Mac]

o gara cock up gives boks a penalty to win with the last kick. 28 25. Disaster.

[Narnia]

I'd blame the pen conceded just before half time as being more at fault though ROG didn't help at the end.

[Mick Mac]

great game and v disappointed. Lots of key points in the game and decisions could that could have gone either way. Those things happen in most games but the principal reason the lions lost was that they suffered from injuries to both props and both centres and you cant hold out against the world champs with a second string. But they very nearly did. Thats what sport is all about. Some great performances from the lions.

[matthew123]

It was a great game to watch and the Lions gave a good account of themselves, hopefully they can go into the final test and give another top performance. It will still be a huge achievement if the Lions can claim one win against the World Champions.

In the end I think the Lions paid the price for not having Monye and Hook in the 22 man squad. There were a few tackles made on Shane Williams and Fitzgerald that emphasised the loss of not having Monye on the wing. As the injuries came the Lions also paid the penalty for not having Hook as a replacement.

MOTM: Stephen Jones

[Narnia]

I don't understand your point about Monye? What would he have brought to the game? Fitzgerald didn't do anything wrong and held on to the ball when needed. Shane Williams only came on because both centres went off injured. Hook would have been better than O'Gara as an option. MOTM either Shaw or Kearney. I reckon we will be stuffed in the final test given the likely large number of changes required.

[matthew123]

In the 1st Test Monye glided through the Bok defence and made hard yardage. There is no reason why he should not be able to repeat that feat. Yes he might not know how to carry the ball, but I'd have thought that is something that can be rectified easier than the need to beef up Fitzgerald to make an impact. Shane Williams from 12 months ago would have been a different story but sadly unless these small guys are on top form they are being easily contained by brute force. From watching the first 2 Tests the Lions seemed to make most inroads by power rather than jinking runs and that is why I think the strength of Monye would have been better for the 2nd Test. I think the trickery of the Six Nations is fine up against Italy, Scotland, England - but against the All Blacks or South Africa it needs injecting with a lot more muscle.

[Narnia]

Well Fitzgerald is 6'1"..........if that's small I'm a Dutchman! He is 1" smaller than Monye and 7lbs lighter. In the two tests the Lions scored 4 tries. Which one of them had to do with power and not jinking runs?

[Mick Mac]

i am with declan on this matt. Monye was not missed. Jones played well but not as well as shaw and kearney. I dont think they have to win the final test to prove anything as they could have won this one and the boks know they were fortunate to win. It will end up 3-0 as the lions gave everything in the first 2 tests and are now injury ravaged. But the boks stole this one. The lions gave a good account of themselves on this tour and could have come out of it better.

[Narnia]

The only thing about the third test that will please me is that several other guys who haven't had a chance, will now. It doesn't mean I don't think the best team wasn't picked but I'd like to see the likes of D'arcy and Flutey given a go and even the Bull Hayes. Bull v Beast.......could be wrestling. Where's the local SA with the Irish name when you want another opinion?

PS Please let O'Gara redeem himself.He must feel like he lost it but I thought that the pen conceded just before half time could come back to haunt us. It did.

Edited for spelling

[matthew123]

Declan Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Well Fitzgerald is 6'1"..........if that's small

> I'm a Dutchman! He is 1" smaller than Monye and

> 7lbs lighter. In the two tests the Lions scored 4

> tries. Which one of them had to do with power and

> not jinking runs?

Haha, I thought he was about 5'6" - I blame it on watching it down the EDT! ;-) Which incidently was an excellent atmosphere if not better than First Test. Definately going back down there for Third Test if anyone else interested let us know.

[Narnia]

Given Bowe was injured too, Monye and Fitzgerald may well feature in the final test. Certainly in the 22 as that's about all that's left!

[JetSetWilly]

o,gara,s a dickhead, as was shown in his antics when the ireland team had a royal reception in belfast last month. he was an absolute disgrace, and personally if i was in charge of irish rugby, he wouldn,t play for the country again. and before there,s any comparisons with johnson and mary robinson, what o,gara did dosent even come into the same league.