Comments on: Best Of The Weekend: Lions Win Marred By Sloppy Performance

By: eve

eve — Fri, 30 Jun 2017 06:27:07 +0000

lions has been strong all the way. keep it up with the good work

By: CC

CC — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 20:01:58 +0000

I am amazed by the criticism Hogg is getting after the game. Yes, it was a poor performance but apart from the dropped ball and missed pass he did not play that badly. Several jinky runs and offloads were impactful and his defense was solid. Overall he was more of an impact than Joseph.
And Pablito, its wrong to suggest he has a poor skill set, IMO he is one of the most Skillful players in the NH if not the world.

By: Joe

Joe — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 17:15:42 +0000

I actually completely agree regarding Laidlaw. He played exactly as he was picked to play; a calm and mature head. He took on a lot of the decision making as Sexton was making poor ones. The problem is that he holds no threat, so will be nowhere near a test start. Keep up like that though and he may be a decent bench option if we need to play keep ball or territorial. If not, a solid bet for midweek captain with displays like that

By: Ten Ton Donut

Ten Ton Donut — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 11:41:09 +0000

The last Lions tour served up some of the most boring, uninspired international rugby I’ve ever seen and put me right off the brand. With almost the exact same coaching set up I didn’t expect anything different this time around. I didn’t watch the game but sounds like it went as expected.

By: Pablito

Pablito — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 11:24:52 +0000

Test-wise:
Front Row :
Sinckler – great. Passable in the scrum, strong runs and lines, passes better than either Laidlaw or Sexton. Super sub for the tests
Marler – fine but needs to carry more if he wants to make tests
Best – Poor. Not visible in the loose, weak in the set piece, no leadership from such an experienced player. Hartley should have had his place.
Second row:
AWJ – poor, slow and lacking in leadership
Henderson – cumbersome, lightweight, poor defensively.
On that evidence, Launchbury and the Gray brothers must be livid. In fact I’d take England’s top 8 locks before either of these 2 would get a look in. Neither should be anywhere near the test team on this evidence, but you just know AWJ will be selected.
Back Row:
Warburton – utterly anonymous in play and leadership. If he can’t impose himself on a bunch of semi-pros, what hope he can do so to the ABs?
Moriarty – ok but one dimensional. Reminds me of Andy Powell. Poor play to be stripped of the ball a couple of times.
Faletu – excellent. A different style of 8 to Billy but no worse for it.
Moriarty is solid mid-week material, Warburton on that evidence should be also but won’t and Faletau is a nailed on starter
Scrum half: Laidlaw does what he does but he is slow of thought, deed and pass. At one point a space as big as a bus opened up in front of him and you could almost see the wheels of decision turning in his head before he just shipped the ball on. Poor decision making when camped on oppo line. Wish Ben Youngs was there. Mid-week scrummie only
Fly half: Sexton. Made to look like an amateur by Gatland. Crap passing, poor kicking and awful decision making. Looked one dimensional. Needs to pick it up but with the only other option being Biggar, he will be in the test team.
Centres:
Teo – good lines, strong running. Possible test bolter and set down a marker for the likes of Henshaw
Joseph – poor. Ineffective running, missed a couple of tackles. The JJ of the Ireland game not the Scotland game. Mid-week only
Wings:
Seymour and Watson – similar, both ok, both need to look for more work. Watson took his try well. Still in the running for the test team.
Fullback – all the bad bits of Hogg, none of the good. Wasted 2 nailed on tries. The concern with Hogg (other than his defending) is his tendency to go it alone, his inability to spot the opportunities that his running opens up and if he does spot them, poor skill levels in making the most of them. All evident here

Overall, pretty awful. Yes they were jet lagged but that was always a given for this game. Yes the oppo had nothing to lose, but they were mostly semi-pro. The lions should have hammered them.

Needs to be massively improved for the Blues game

By: Leon

Leon — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 09:32:05 +0000

Stock going up
Faletau, Teo and Sinkler were the stars of the show and Improved their chances of a test start with some powerful running displays as well as a strong defensive shift
Controversial but I actually thought Laidlaw played well and was much better than I was expecting
Watson, Moriarty and Seymour went well but probably didn’t particularly move their test markers
The entire bench had a positive impact with the only player to not perform better than the man he replaced being Furlong

Stock going down
Sexton was very poor as was Hogg and although their performances will have been taken with a pinch of salt it will be nagging at the back of Gats mind.
AWJ and Warbs looked well short of match fitness and will have a lot to prove in their next couple of games
Marler, Henderson and Joseph were pretty anonymous and made little impact on the game
Best was terrible messing up the basics and failing to have any positive impact

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 05 Jun 2017 08:25:38 +0000

From the starting line-up: Marler, Best, Moriarty, Joseph, Seymour and Watson probably did their chances no harm. They’ll all get another game and will be looking to show more, but there was nothing too majorly wrong.

Faletau was the star and has probably nailed the 8 shirt. If his main competitor, Stander, plays a couple of blinders, he’ll probably find himself in the 6 shirt – that shows where Faletau is right now.

Sinckler and Te’o have probably enhanced their test prospects as they were surprise call-ups to tour, and while they aren’t inked in, they have at least set a standard to beat. Both could become Lions “bolters”, despite limited England appearances.

Alun Wyn Jones and Sam Warburton were two favourites to start the first test from the outset, and both are coming off injury lay-offs. Both will be better for the minutes they played, but we’ll need to see both in action again before we can tell if their form is where it needs to be.

Henderson and Laidlaw were both unfancied players who didn’t play too well, and therefore find themselves a long way from test selection. They would have to perform outstandingly in their next run out, and probably hope for others to fail or go down injured.

Sexton and Hogg were two players who were both fancied who probably didn’t live up to the billing. Again, they’ll need to raise their performances with some very strong competition and neither should be discounted, but both will hope to get a second start as soon as possible and look to move on.

It will be interesting to see who Gatland picks against the Crusaders. He has to pick the following players to give everyone a start in the first three games: Mako, George, Furlong, Kruis, O’Mahony, O’Brien, Murray, Farrell, Davies, North, Williams.

This is when we’ll get the first real insights into Gatland’s thinking;

Alun Wyn Jones and Kruis is a potential test partnership, will he put them together again? Is Jamie George crucial to this, with the George/Kruis axis from Saracens coming to the fore?

Does he go Murray-Sexton-Farrell or Murray-Farrell-Te’o? If he’s serious about trialling Sexton and Farrell at 10/12, it has to be in this match.

Does he give Hogg another go in what would potentially be the test back three? Or does he switch Williams to full back?

I think Gatland will use this game and the Maori game to try out things for his test team – and these will be the important areas this game. The Blues game and the Highlanders games will be the fringe players trying to force their way into Gatland’s mind in case one of his experiments goes wrong.