Warren Gatland has named the lineup to take on the Crusaders in Christchurch this weekend.
What do you make of this side?
British & Irish Lions (v Crusaders, Saturday, June 10, AMI Stadium, 7.35pm NZST/8.35am BST)
15 Stuart Hogg – Glasgow Warriors, Scotland, 783
14 George North – Northampton Saints, Wales, #792
13 Jonathan Davies – Scarlets, Wales, #778
12 Ben Te’o – Worcester Warriors, England, #815
11 Liam Williams – Scarlets, Wales, #832
10 Owen Farrell – Saracens, England, #780
9 Conor Murray – Munster, Ireland, #790
1 Mako Vunipola – Saracens, England, #787
2 Jamie George – Saracens, England, #818
3 Tadhg Furlong – Leinster, Ireland, #817
4 Alun Wyn Jones (capt) – Ospreys, Wales, #761
5 George Kruis – Saracens, England, #819
6 Peter O’Mahony – Munster, Ireland, #833
7 Sean O’Brien – Leinster, Ireland, #796
8 Taulupe Faletau – Bath Rugby, Wales, #779
Replacements
16 Ken Owens – Scarlets, Wales, #829
17 Jack McGrath – Leinster, Ireland, #827
18 Dan Cole – Leicester, England, #794
19 Maro Itoje – Saracens, England, #825
20 CJ Stander – Munster, Ireland, #831
21 Rhys Webb – Ospreys, Wales, #820
22 Johnny Sexton – Leinster, Ireland, #791
23 Anthony Watson – Bath Rugby, England, #816
Here’s the Crusasders team they’ll face, with an All Black front 5:
1. Joe Moody , 2. Codie Taylor, 3. Owen Franks, 4. Luke Romano, 5. Sam Whitelock (C), 6. Heiden Bedwell-Curtis, 7. Matt Todd (VC), 8. Jordan Taufua, 9. Bryn Hall, 10. Richie Mo’unga, 11. George Bridge, 12. David Havili, 13. Jack Goodhue, 14. Seta Tamanivalu, 15. Israel Dagg
16. Ben Funnell 17. Wyatt Crockett 18. Michael Alaalatoa 19. Quinten Strange 20. Jed Brown 21. Mitchell Drummond 22. Mitchell Hunt 23. Tim Bateman
3 captains so far-all Welsh.Gatland has all the flair of a dead sheep.Play it safe in every way.Boring
That’s a rather mobile front row!
AWJ needs a massive game to show he’s not past it
Back row looks like it should have good balance with a combo of carrying power and work rate. I like the way PoM plays even if I wish he would be less mouthy to the ref sometimes
I sense we may be lacking some creativity in mid-field, but hopefully Farrell can put them into some gaps.
Not sure why L Williams is there. He’s a better fullback than a winger and he was poor on Weds.
Doesn’t matter. Te’o and Davies in the centre Williams won’t see the ball anyway.
Good point!
I would say their best chance of getting hands on the ball is to follow T’eo around and wait for an offload. If he plays like he did last week there cold be a few chances there.
North should definitely be looking for work in the midfield. I think this is the least likely center partnership to combine and make any headway in attack, but T’eo can at least make a dent, and if any of the back three are on hand (which they should be!!) then it at least gives us a chance.
As I just added on a different post, the news that AWJ is the captain does not fill me with much confidence. I’m hoping that he will not hold too much sway over certain aspects of play when it comes to decision making. His form as Wales captain in the Six Nations was poor. His decision making was questionable in a few matches and his leadership (I thought) was seriously under scrutiny. And yet here we are again with him leading a group of players into a must win game!?!?!?!
Why not make O’Mahony or Farrell captain? The idea of having different captains is all very well, but to me this would mean those players will all be starting in the tests? If so it means that AWJ will somehow, despite poor form and being far from the best in his position on tour will still be starting the tests?
Owens fair enough, he has in good form and played and led well yesterday (from what I’ve seen/heard) and is better than Best in my opinion. He is in direct competition with George for the test start. AWJ is in direct competition with Kruis, Itoje and Lawes. (I’m discounting Henderson as he was even worse than AWJ). No way that he is (on current form) better than any three of these players.
Even though neither were on top of their game both Lawes and Itoje were head and shoulders above AWJ performance the match before. Literally different class.
Kruis paired with either Itoje or Lawes would probably be the strongest choice. He adds bulk and lineout nouse but also his workrate and tackling/rucking better than AWJ.
3 Games… 3 Captains….1 country… i dont understand how Farrel/O’Mahony are not captaining this after AWJ has shown little form and his leadership was seriously questioned during 6N.
Also as Dazza says worried that his means that Gats sees him as a definite starter… how he would be is beyond me think Lawes/Itoje are among a select few that have actually improved their standing so far.
Williams deserves another run out after his exuberance cost him last game, he was one of the few players from Wales that looked to give NZ a hard time in their last tour, that being said i cant see him being in the test squad… not a starter and not enough utility as back when compared to Payne/Daly.
on the match to come, will be interesting to see how the pack goes against a mostly all blacks pack, if like last weekend we get supremacy i personally will breath a sigh of relief that one area need not be worried about – all the coaching staff can try their hand at attack and getting rid of Howler.
Plus we know if all goes to shit we can just stick it up the jumper and try and grind out at least 1 victory that way to retain some pride (regardless of the sniping NZ coach and media who if they thought they would win in this way would happily play like it. A win is a win and the mind games the whole country plays attempting to make the lions not play to their strengths should be treated for what it is … gamesmanship from an entire country)