BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?)
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I vaguely remember a quote from a few months back from a Kiwi about Sean O'Brien:
"Sean O'Brien? Even if he was dead you would have him on the bench, just in case in came back to life and you could put him on for 10 minutes!"I can't find who said it, but I love the sentiment (even if as an Irish fan I think it applies more to the Seanie of 2010-2012 when he was a overwhelming force of nature for Leinster and Ireland).
The definition of cleaning up shit-ball going backwards: clear out 3 players at the ruck (even the exemplary Dusatoir recognised when it was time to take a step back and fight another battle).
0:13 - 0:15 and replayed 0:22 - 0:26
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@KiwiMurph then he needs to be tested under the concussion protocol
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@KiwiMurph Yalden said on this week's Out Of The Box rugby podcast that he puts O'Brien on the same level as McCaw
I regard that as excess praise of Seanie.
I hope by the end of the series he proves me wrong.Richie is an all-time great.
I'm not sure that Sean is even the best-ever Irish 7.
(My personal favourite is Fergus Slattery: "he's not flirting with offside, he's in love with it")I was lucky to get to see Richie live a few times.
I went to 2014-Nov Eng v NZ with 4 friends (1 Kiwi).
3 of us had T-shirts (to antagonise the Kiwi) that read:-
(The Aussie classic)
I'm not an alcoholic: I only drink when McCaw's offside -
Only two things are infinite:
. . 1: the universe and
. . 2: the times when McCaw's offside
(and I'm not sure about the first). -
Offside is a rule that only applies to 29 other players. #mccawesome
I'm glad that Richie played long enough for me to slowly learn that he knew the laws better than almost all players and better than many refs.
He also knew better than all back-rows when contravening the laws would make a difference in a game-winning way.
Like most greats, he also had amazing resilience of character to resist retaliating when he was targeted by the opposition.In my opinion (probably contentious on a Kiwi site), if I had to bracket two back-rows as operating at the same level, I'd say McCaw and Pocock.
My criteria are: Who are the players from the opposition that you most want to be on your side or missing from theirs?
But which, if they were missing when you had a ticket, you would be disappointed not to see a master of their craft.Back rows in that class for me would be:
McCaw, Pocock, Dusatoir, Parisse, ...
#set-the-bar-highAs I said before, I hope to be proved wrong by the end of the third Test.
But I fear that Warren may feel that Sam is worth including in at least one Test.
Feel free to suggest one time in sport when a coach decided to give trusted players 1 more chance for glory.
(Excluding most of the 2005 English Lions) -
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@Megweya said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
@KiwiMurph Yalden said on this week's Out Of The Box rugby podcast that he puts O'Brien on the same level as McCaw
In my opinion (probably contentious on a Kiwi site), if I had to bracket two back-rows as operating at the same level, I'd say McCaw and Pocock.
My criteria are: Who are the players from the opposition that you most want to be on your side or missing from theirs?
But which, if they were missing when you had a ticket, you would be disappointed not to see a master of their craft.Back rows in that class for me would be:
McCaw, Pocock, Dusatoir, Parisse, ...
#set-the-bar-highPersonally Pocock is not on the same level as Richie - the guy is way too one dimensional and has been neutralised in way too many big tests to be on that level. I'd definitely have George Smith higher on my list of best Aussie 7s and for me much more deserving of inclusion alongside Richie.
As for the Lions - their loose forwards group is looking very strong - especially up against ABs who are short of a gallop (Read, Kaino and Squire). The Maori ABs side this weekend should also be able to put out a decent loose forward group (Akira, Elliot Dixon, Kara Pryor, Liam Messam).
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Mentions of McCaw reminded me of recently seeing this old video clip of Richie scoring in 1998 Schools final between Rotorua & Otago
Skip to 3:25 for a50m multiple-offloading side-stepping try5m lineout drive
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@Megweya said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
Found the quote:
Nigel Yalden
RadioSportNZ / NewstalkZB Sports team.Picking Sean O'Brien is a no-brainer. Even if dead, I'd put him on bench just in case he came back to life
I rate Yalden as analyst. So yeah
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@Megweya said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
@KiwiMurph Yalden said on this week's Out Of The Box rugby podcast that he puts O'Brien on the same level as McCaw
I regard that as excess praise of Seanie.
I hope by the end of the series he proves me wrong.Richie is an all-time great.
I'm not sure that Sean is even the best-ever Irish 7.
(My personal favourite is Fergus Slattery: "he's not flirting with offside, he's in love with it")I was lucky to get to see Richie live a few times.
I went to 2014-Nov Eng v NZ with 4 friends (1 Kiwi).
3 of us had T-shirts (to antagonise the Kiwi) that read:-
(The Aussie classic)
I'm not an alcoholic: I only drink when McCaw's offside -
Only two things are infinite:
. . 1: the universe and
. . 2: the times when McCaw's offside
(and I'm not sure about the first). -
Offside is a rule that only applies to 29 other players. #mccawesome
I'm glad that Richie played long enough for me to slowly learn that he knew the laws better than almost all players and better than many refs.
He also knew better than all back-rows when contravening the laws would make a difference in a game-winning way.
Like most greats, he also had amazing resilience of character to resist retaliating when he was targeted by the opposition.In my opinion (probably contentious on a Kiwi site), if I had to bracket two back-rows as operating at the same level, I'd say McCaw and Pocock.
My criteria are: Who are the players from the opposition that you most want to be on your side or missing from theirs?
But which, if they were missing when you had a ticket, you would be disappointed not to see a master of their craft.Back rows in that class for me would be:
McCaw, Pocock, Dusatoir, Parisse, ...
#set-the-bar-highAs I said before, I hope to be proved wrong by the end of the third Test.
But I fear that Warren may feel that Sam is worth including in at least one Test.
Feel free to suggest one time in sport when a coach decided to give trusted players 1 more chance for glory.
(Excluding most of the 2005 English Lions)McCaw v Pocock is a no contest. Seriously wishful thinking from the NZ/McCaw haters.
McCaw v George Smith however... there was a year or two when Smith was actually better than McCaw. Didn't last. But it did happen.
Pocock? Nup.
And still not as good as the 3 best NZ 7s
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Hansen was well informed:http://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/19650619/british-irish-lions-call-reinforcements-midweek-games Finn Russell, Scott Williams, Hamish Watson could be handy.
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@pakman said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
Hansen was well informed:http://www.espn.co.uk/rugby/story/_/id/19650619/british-irish-lions-call-reinforcements-midweek-games Finn Russell, Scott Williams, Hamish Watson could be handy.
He must have picked up some useful hotel bugging tricks from somewhere
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From a mate
Gatland's making it clear that any British person with a pulse or recently deceased in New Zealand will be a Lion before Mike Brown and Dylan Hartley. Magic.
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@MiketheSnow said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
From a mate
Gatland's making it clear that any British person with a pulse or recently deceased in New Zealand will be a Lion before Mike Brown and Dylan Hartley. Magic.
Nel and either Gray brother should quite rightfully be spitting fucken tacks that there nobodies are in the squad before them.
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@MN5 said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
@MiketheSnow said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
From a mate
Gatland's making it clear that any British person with a pulse or recently deceased in New Zealand will be a Lion before Mike Brown and Dylan Hartley. Magic.
Nel and either Gray brother should quite rightfully be spitting fucken tacks that there nobodies are in the squad before them.
Definitely on today's performance.
NOT!
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@MiketheSnow said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
@MN5 said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
@MiketheSnow said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
From a mate
Gatland's making it clear that any British person with a pulse or recently deceased in New Zealand will be a Lion before Mike Brown and Dylan Hartley. Magic.
Nel and either Gray brother should quite rightfully be spitting fucken tacks that there nobodies are in the squad before them.
Definitely on today's performance.
NOT!
You're assuming MN5 actually watches rugby?
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@Bones said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
@MiketheSnow said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
@MN5 said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
@MiketheSnow said in BIL & AB teams for Test #1 (AKA - who's impressing you at the moment?):
From a mate
Gatland's making it clear that any British person with a pulse or recently deceased in New Zealand will be a Lion before Mike Brown and Dylan Hartley. Magic.
Nel and either Gray brother should quite rightfully be spitting fucken tacks that there nobodies are in the squad before them.
Definitely on today's performance.
NOT!
You're assuming MN5 actually watches rugby?
Fuck off raghead. Don't ruin my buzz
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Here we go again
If Farrell is fit
1 - Vunipola
2 - Owens / George - can see either of these starting. I think George is better off the bench
3 - Furlong
4 - Kruis
5 - AWJ / Itoje - can see either of these starting. I think Itoje is better off the bench
6 - O'Mahoney - Captain if Warburton is on the bench
7 - Warburton / O'Brien - can see either of these starting. I think O'Brien is better off the bench
8 - Faletau
9 - Murray
10 - Farrell
11 - Daly - Won't happen, but North should be nowehere near the Test 23
12 - Te'o
13 - Davies
14 - Watson
15 - Halfpenny16 - George / Owens
17 - McGrath
18 - Sinckler
19 - Itoje /AWJ
20 - O'Brien / Warburton
21 - Webb
22 - Sexton
23 - Williams - not been great but covers wing and fullbackIf Farrell isn't fit, then Sexton to 10 and Biggar to bench instead of Williams
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Not going to be far off with that. For me you start the best players as you want them playing more of the game. No point being good off the bench if you are 20-30 points down when they come on. Know Eddie has had success with it with England but he starts Itoje and George only benches as Hartley is captain. The other 'finishers' for England are Sinckler and Te'o who are probably struggling for a start in front of Cole and Farrell.
George and Owens is actually pretty even for me saying that. You'd perhaps go George to keep the 2, 4, 5 club unit together at lineout time. Itoje is a better player than AWJ for me, so starts. Henderson was very good off the bench today, so will be interesting to see what Gatland does with the locks.
Agree re North, not the game he needed to cement his place and I would go Daly. Watson also quiet today, but he had little space to work with. Wouldn't be entirely surprised to see him spring a SOB, Warburton, Faletau back row, but we'll see.
