NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017)
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I think the lions are going to find these non test sides a real pain in the arse, particularly the super rugby sides ,
players who they dont know their strengths and weaknesses ,who they just simply dont have the time to do their analysis on , collectively who can and will attack from anywhere on the field , its a bit more like going into the unknown for them
Strangely enough, the test matches might be more to their liking , not because they are easier , but at least they might feel like they know what they are up against and can prepare for that
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@kiwiinmelb said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
I think the lions are going to find these non test sides a real pain in the arse, particularly the super rugby sides ,
players who they dont know their strengths and weaknesses ,who they just simply dont have the time to do their analysis on , collectively who can and will attack from anywhere on the field , its a bit more like going into the unknown for them
Strangely enough, the test matches might be more to their liking , not because they are easier , but at least they might feel like they know what they are up against and can prepare for that
Well, the tests might be easier in the sense that they will be expected to get thumped. So I guess when they do it will be less of a surprise?
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@Pot-Hale said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
@Rembrandt said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
@MiketheSnow Well put. I find it odd the lack of shock from uk pundits on the result, these guys are literally no-names. Jetlag is bad and all but the baabaas aren't even a real team. It might be a very long tour indeed.
The lack of shock?
Lions limp past NZ Barbarians is but one of a number of headlines to stories that don't pull any punches on the shit performance. Jet lag, etc is balanced with acknowledgment that the Baa Bas opposition were made up butchers, bakers, candlestick-makers and how impressive they were as a scratch team.
No one is hiding from what is a shit result and performance. Gatland as coach doesn't get to have the freedom to say that in public. I reckon Sexton and Henderson already know they've pretty much blown their chances of test starting places. Best had a better debut than his last Lions tour which isn't saying much.
According to Gatland, he's planning a new starting XV for next week's match against the Blues so presumably it might look something like this:
McGrath, Owens, Cole, Itoje, Lawes, Stander, O'B'rien/Tipuric, Haskell
Murray, Biggar, Williams, Henshaw, Davies, North, Halfpenny
Reps: George, Marler, Furlong, Kruis, O'Mahony, Webb, Sexton, Payne/NowellThe Blues game is on Wednesday, isn't it? So it is likely to be a completely different XV but you'd imagine it won't be full strength, and the shadow Test team will be saved for the Crusaders on the weekend.
So the Blues team is likely to tell us a lot about Gatland's early thinking.
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end of the day it will be the test matches that we judge them on ,
While they wont want to lose these games , if they play well in the tests , these games become a memory ,
bit like us in the WC , with a few scratchy pool games
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@SimonAdd_2 said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
@Pot-Hale said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
@Rembrandt said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
@MiketheSnow Well put. I find it odd the lack of shock from uk pundits on the result, these guys are literally no-names. Jetlag is bad and all but the baabaas aren't even a real team. It might be a very long tour indeed.
The lack of shock?
Lions limp past NZ Barbarians is but one of a number of headlines to stories that don't pull any punches on the shit performance. Jet lag, etc is balanced with acknowledgment that the Baa Bas opposition were made up butchers, bakers, candlestick-makers and how impressive they were as a scratch team.
No one is hiding from what is a shit result and performance. Gatland as coach doesn't get to have the freedom to say that in public. I reckon Sexton and Henderson already know they've pretty much blown their chances of test starting places. Best had a better debut than his last Lions tour which isn't saying much.
According to Gatland, he's planning a new starting XV for next week's match against the Blues so presumably it might look something like this:
McGrath, Owens, Cole, Itoje, Lawes, Stander, O'B'rien/Tipuric, Haskell
Murray, Biggar, Williams, Henshaw, Davies, North, Halfpenny
Reps: George, Marler, Furlong, Kruis, O'Mahony, Webb, Sexton, Payne/NowellThe Blues game is on Wednesday, isn't it? So it is likely to be a completely different XV but you'd imagine it won't be full strength, and the shadow Test team will be saved for the Crusaders on the weekend.
So the Blues team is likely to tell us a lot about Gatland's early thinking.
Gatland has said he is going to mix and match for the first three games, to give everyone an opportunity. With a genuine midweek team against the Highlanders and then a shadow test team against the Maori.
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@taniwharugby said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
@Gunner where are you, she's wet underfoot in the cheap seats.
I was in the same seats as you - bloody wet alright.
What a fucking shit game.
Lions need to get 1000% better than they were last night to have any show of winning another game, let alone a test match -
@SimonAdd_2 I thought with the sole intent of winning the tests and not caring about the other games, they start kicking for points, sure looked like a win first mentality last night.
@Gunner we ended up standing above the beer stand on halfway, couldn't get a good enoug spot of mud!
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@SimonAdd_2 said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
@Pot-Hale said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
@Rembrandt said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
@MiketheSnow Well put. I find it odd the lack of shock from uk pundits on the result, these guys are literally no-names. Jetlag is bad and all but the baabaas aren't even a real team. It might be a very long tour indeed.
The lack of shock?
Lions limp past NZ Barbarians is but one of a number of headlines to stories that don't pull any punches on the shit performance. Jet lag, etc is balanced with acknowledgment that the Baa Bas opposition were made up butchers, bakers, candlestick-makers and how impressive they were as a scratch team.
No one is hiding from what is a shit result and performance. Gatland as coach doesn't get to have the freedom to say that in public. I reckon Sexton and Henderson already know they've pretty much blown their chances of test starting places. Best had a better debut than his last Lions tour which isn't saying much.
According to Gatland, he's planning a new starting XV for next week's match against the Blues so presumably it might look something like this:
McGrath, Owens, Cole, Itoje, Lawes, Stander, O'B'rien/Tipuric, Haskell
Murray, Biggar, Williams, Henshaw, Davies, North, Halfpenny
Reps: George, Marler, Furlong, Kruis, O'Mahony, Webb, Sexton, Payne/NowellThe Blues game is on Wednesday, isn't it? So it is likely to be a completely different XV but you'd imagine it won't be full strength, and the shadow Test team will be saved for the Crusaders on the weekend.
So the Blues team is likely to tell us a lot about Gatland's early thinking.
All the players will be in better nick by Wednesday. I agree and reckon he'll want a strong side for Match 3 against Crusaders with combos he's happy with. I don't think he'll want many, if any, players going in cold to that match. So he needs to use the Blues match to give as much of the remaining squad their first match. Biggar gets the 10 start and Owens will get the 10 start on Saturday. That puts Owens in pole position for test starting 10. Match 4 will be dirt-trackers mainly. Maori will be full-on test team. Match 5 dirt trackers.
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@Stargazer said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
All I hope for this game is that the Lions are not so dominant that these Baabaas players have no opportunity to express themselves. I want these lads to go out on the park to play their best and leave the field with some pride, not humiliation.
Well that didn't happen
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@Stockcar86 said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
Barbarians jersey looks like a Counties abomination
Yeah wasn't a fan. But I suppose they had to mash up the red and white of the NZ Baabaas with some black
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@Frye said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
I said after the teams were named that this would be a close match.
I didn't expect it to be this close but there were some talented kids out there for the BaaBaas. This was closer to a sixth super team than a Mitre 10 cup side.
A sixth Australian team maybe but i would expect most NPC teams to beat that team easily.
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@pukunui yep, most were fringe Super players, and a few not even regular starters in thier provincial side.
They played bloody well, punched above thier weight and kept the Lions in check though, you saw some of thier faces after the match, they were gutted they lost, not stoked they ran them close!
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@Pot-Hale said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
Sexton should have stayed at home.
Hogg pretty rusty.
Don't know why they're not making more use of their scrum dominance.Faletau and Te'o the only ones catching my eye.
Scrum dominance?
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Reminded me of an old fashioned Ranfurly Shield game,with the BaaBaas's as the total outside under dogs giving it 100% for 80 minutes,and the Lions being the shield holders with all the big guns..
Only thing is,the shield holder is normally a very good side.
The boy Luteru Laulala who played at fullback looks a very promising talent,but I did wonder on a couple of occasions if he was sponsored by Velcro.
What should have been a straight draw and pass to an unmarked no 8,resulted in a pass to the 2nd five who always going to struggle to make the line with the great covering tackle from Faletau,
What made it worse,the 2nd five Finau who had been tackling well,he gets carted off with an injury..Laulala's first instinct is to run,before he weighs up were the support is,had a couple of other occasions to offload,but chose to take contact.
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The Walrus's take on it. Not much to argue with in general, but I didn't think Wyn Jones was all that good.
Alun Wyn Jones leads the charge as Lions stutter against Provincial Barbarians
Stephen Jones, Rugby Correspondent
June 3 2017, 12:01pm,
The TimesIn short, the Lions forwards were disappointing in Whangarei. Up against a scratch combination, their lack of headway at a succession of five-yard scrums was poor - and they could make no dents in the efficient home line-out. Perhaps oddly, amongst all the new Lions desperate to stand out, it was the three-tour veteran Alun Wyn Jones who was the best Lion up front.
The Osprey lock was powerful at the breakdown. He was deft with his handling and clearly played a strong leadership role during the breaks in play. On the day he outshone his partner Iain Henderson, who faded after a bright start. Wyn Jones was hit by injury in the domestic season, never quite finding his best form, and so missed what was once a fighting chance of leading this tour party. Yesterday, he re-established himself - and without him it could have been really gory.
The Lions probably did not want to go to their bench as early as they did, but there was a little more drive in the loose and power in the scrum when Mako Vunipola and Tadhg Furlong arrived. Both men had appeared in major club finals as recently as last Saturday - one of the many lunacies of the tour set-up and its fixture list.
Who else, on this admittedly scant evidence, advanced their cause? Probably those who did not start or even appear. Certainly, the sight of Maro Itoje starting on Wednesday against the Blues will give everyone a lift, although the display of Wyn Jones this morning means that not even Itoje will walk into the Test team.
No team ever won a Test series without a great pack. The Lions will be praying that true power was masked by tiredness and unfamiliarity, rather than indicating a worrying weakness. The excuses run out rapidly on a tour of New Zealand.
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@JC said in NZ Provincial Barbarians v B&I Lions (Whangarei, 3 June 2017):
The Walrus's take on it. Not much to argue with in general, but I didn't think Wyn Jones was all that good.
Alun Wyn Jones leads the charge as Lions stutter against Provincial Barbarians
Stephen Jones, Rugby Correspondent
June 3 2017, 12:01pm,
The TimesIn short, the Lions forwards were disappointing in Whangarei. Up against a scratch combination, their lack of headway at a succession of five-yard scrums was poor - and they could make no dents in the efficient home line-out. Perhaps oddly, amongst all the new Lions desperate to stand out, it was the three-tour veteran Alun Wyn Jones who was the best Lion up front.
The Osprey lock was powerful at the breakdown. He was deft with his handling and clearly played a strong leadership role during the breaks in play. On the day he outshone his partner Iain Henderson, who faded after a bright start. Wyn Jones was hit by injury in the domestic season, never quite finding his best form, and so missed what was once a fighting chance of leading this tour party. Yesterday, he re-established himself - and without him it could have been really gory.
The Lions probably did not want to go to their bench as early as they did, but there was a little more drive in the loose and power in the scrum when Mako Vunipola and Tadhg Furlong arrived. Both men had appeared in major club finals as recently as last Saturday - one of the many lunacies of the tour set-up and its fixture list.
Who else, on this admittedly scant evidence, advanced their cause? Probably those who did not start or even appear. Certainly, the sight of Maro Itoje starting on Wednesday against the Blues will give everyone a lift, although the display of Wyn Jones this morning means that not even Itoje will walk into the Test team.
No team ever won a Test series without a great pack. The Lions will be praying that true power was masked by tiredness and unfamiliarity, rather than indicating a worrying weakness. The excuses run out rapidly on a tour of New Zealand.
Hmm. Vunipola and Furlong were not in club finals last Saturday. Their teams both exited the previous week in the semifinals. Good to see Jones has his finger on the pulse of European rugby.
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I only watched the game from the 60m mark. After seeing the Lions team List and seeing them bench, with Vunipola and Furlong as bench props ...... I was expecting carnage at that point of the game. The Prov Baabaas scrum was tight as.
Also AWJ lucky not to be carded for twice diving in the box trying to dupe a penalty
. After watching the 05 pop up channel and seeing Kaplan penalising ABs for drivng through a maul and wrapping up the ball carrier , it was good to see defending mauls not being penalised for not sneezing into their elbows.Impressed with Gardiner in the 20m I watched. Maybe you could quibble with a dominant scrum penalty that went against the Lions for not pushing straight , but I would have penalised them anyway for Webb interfering with the halfback and preventing a quick clearance.
