well its a good choice
12trees on the plane
hmm i hope its not as a direct replacement for Sexton.Extraordinary rise by "36" who has only been in the England squad for the last 6 months .Bloke went to the same mid West Sussex comp that I did - The Weald
Recently back from watching the Lions v 'tahs match.
That's a great ground, BTW, they should play the test there. Obviously not as big a capacity as the other one, but an awesome atmosphere.
Big step up in opposition and form, IMO. It was great chatting to the Aussies and getting their take on the Lions. They have a genuine respect and fear for this team - whatever the media might say.
Halfpenny again proved what a great player he's become, and Zebo seemed to settle in and make his mark straight away. I haven't seen any reports yet on Jamie Roberts' injury, but hope its not too serious, although I now see Barrit is on his way here too, along with Christian Wade.
On Friday I was lucky enough to attend the Northern Suburbs RFC's annual lunch, guest speaker Warren Gatland. He made some interesting comments about squad selection, especially relating to some comments at home and here about Warburton's choice as Captain. He made it plain, SW news he has to earn his place in the team, same as anyone (actually, he looked good yesterday from where we sat, but I haven't seen the TV coverage yet. The Warburton/Croft thing seemed to work well).
Onwards and upwards - I'm still hopeful of tickets for the 3rd test ��
BT Bob may have a chance to see a real legend in action once again. Shane Williams, at 36 years of age, has been called up by the Lions for Tuesday's game.
although i hope Roberts recovers ,the Lions have a more than capable replacement in Jonathan Davies who was excellent yesterday.AWJ also have gave a MOM performance which pretty much guarantees his place alongsideO'Connel. Zebo looked very good too so i see himtaking one wing spot with North on the other.Hope there are no more injury concerns
Ha ha - what's that about? Just one more "retirement" to go, eh? data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Also, Barrit, Wade & Twelvetrees here now.
Roberts went down right in front of us - hobbled off, so let's hope it's not too serious.
Weakest selection so far for the Brumbies game tomorrow, so that'll be interesting. I think WG is resting many of the "first choice" players, which bears out my theory that a large number of the team that played against the 'tahs will be in the test team for game one.
It was good to see SW calling the shots on Saturday, especially for the kicks at goal. The crowd weren't impressed, but a few knowledgeable people by us "got it" - we played that game as if it was a test, didn't get sucked in to the "spectacle" the crowd wanted. We took every opportunity to keep the score ticking over. That's how you win matches and series.
It's building up in the media as well - they're desperate to build support for the Wallabies.
Reading up this morning it looks as though Roberts is a real doubt for the first test and Big George has a 50/50 chance as he is responding well to treatment. What about Halfpenny though, surely he's nailed the test place at full back with that performance.
HalfpennybenchHogg
Cuthbert
John Davies
Bod
Sexton bench Farrell
PhillipsbenchBen Youngs
Zebo
Warberton Bench Tipuric
Heaslip
Croft
A W Jones
O Connell
A Jones
Hibbard bench Tom Youngs
Vinapola
This is my pick concidering the injuries.
I dont know who else to put on the bench but thats my starting 15 with a few others to sort out. A huge problem but a nice one with so many good players on form and being coached so well.
We should win this with the best Lions squad I have seen in a long time.
Kearney
Zebo
BOD
J Davies
Halfpenny
Sexton
Philips
Vunipola
T Youngs
A Jones
AW Jones
P O'connell
Croft
Warburton
Heaslip
6 Welsh, 6 Irish 3 English andnot Jock in sight data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7
Bench
Corbs
Hibbard
Cole
Parling
Tipuric
B Youngs
Farrel
Hogg
Bit too light on Scots really but I am afraid AWJ , rather than Gray,made an unanswerable case to be included