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3rd test - Australia v British & Irish Lions

odw26 said:
I guess that comes down to how to interpret this tour. If it's purely results based, then theoretically (should it end in a 3-0 sweep) it would go down in history as the best Lions team in the professional era as it's the first time we've won 3-0. I don't think that being 2-0 means decisions are automatically justified considering the strength of the opposition.
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Yeni get it, its a poor Aus team, who have been missing some of their best players, older head and inexperience thrown together...

Man for man you would expect the Lions to win 3-0, infact i would argue a 2nd lions 23 would beat thos Aus team..

But 3-0 is a very rare thing.

Would this Lions team beat SA or NZ, let's be honest with ourselves they wouldnt, but you can only beat those in front of you
 
odw26 said:
Not everything is written to contradict.
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Fair, good to clarify.
odw26 said:
I don't think Tuipulotu gets beaten as easily on his inside, and has a better chance of reacting in that situation and making even an attempt at a tackle.
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Maybe but we're talking about essentially a one on one against one of the best athletes in the game where you can't show him the outside. Can't speak for anyone but I can't think of anyone I back to clean up that situation, all Suali'ii needs to do is get on the outside enough to fix Jones and put Wright through if up against a quicker player.

odw26 said:
I think it's a play which highlights an area of Aki's game which could be exploited, and that wouldn't be as exploitable if Tuipulotu was playing. In terms of your latter point, it's not trying to put a player down for the sake of putting them down, it's highlighting a difference between two players who are competing for a starting position. From my perspective, it's a little frustrating the Aki V Tuipulotu discourse as I think it's been clear from the tour and the last year of rugby that Tui is the best current 12 from the four nations. If I'm being brutally honest, I don't think this discourse exists if their nationalities are swapped.
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Ok, I can see this a bit more although I don't really agree. Up until probably about 2022 Aki made his international career out of elite defence, it's just not a flaw of his. I really don't see him getting a dressing down for this incident.

I also don't think it was anywhere near cut and dry before the tour. Aki was pretty awesome for the first two rounds of the 6n, near his best stuff, that included coming off the pitch in Murrayfield comfortably the best player on the day. Now it got worse from there, Ireland as a whole did without Farrell and didn't really adapt at all throughout the 6n but Tuipuluto was also sitting on the sideline for that.

Currently Tuipuluto is the better option (with Jones anyway, Ringrose's availability would alter the picture somewhat) but Aki had signs in the build up to the tour that he was capable of producing his best stuff, and had he been able to he'd have been the correct option. So far he's only started with Tuipuluto or through his injury which seems fair to me.

dirty harry said:
Aki's hands are poor, and he doesn't look as explosive as he did a few years ago, but he is super dependable.

My best centre pairing is Tui Ringrose, Tuipolotu has the ball playing game Farrell likes as well as a carrying threat, and Ringrose is a smarter attacker and defender, but Aki and Jones have had the measure of the inexperienced Aus pairing in 2 tests, they are certainly not going to be a problem in the third, that's an area of strength for the lions.
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Agree with that. Ringrose, as referenced above, does change the picture somewhat though. Aki and Jones is very unbalanced, just 4 poor hands between them. In the same way Tuipuluto gets the best out of Jones, Ringrose can get the best out of Aki. Aki has only really done tight carrying so far this tour, it was all that was needed in the warmups and without another back who can stand in at first or second receiver with or in place of Russell he doesn't really have the freedom to roam like he does with Ireland. I think that's also why the wings haven't quite looked themselves in the tests. Farrell hasn't adopted Scotland's approach of attacking the gainline and looking for gaps with strong strike runners and the three centres he's picked so far aren't the best guys to run screens and lure the defence into narrowing before going wide which is what Farrell is used to.

I doubt any Scotland coaches were approached that could have changed things, probably for the best because there's bad blood with Ireland and Scotland, but that's another example of the flaw in picking current coaches.

Like to be honest, I've enjoyed this tour for what it is and supporting the Leinster lads but nothing has convinced me that it meshes at all with the pro game. Ringrose has picked up a concussion in an utterly meaningless fixture, it seemed positive for McCarthy but now he seems to have picked up a very ****ly injury, Darcy Graham flew out to play one game and get sent home and picked up a bad injury for his troubles and Farrell has copped an insane amount of abuse in the act of winning a test series and doing his job.

I'm sure the players love it but it just seems very hollow to me as a pretty neutral observer, generally more intrigued my selection and making a plan work with three sets of players who all play very differently, than what actually happens in the games.
 
General Melchett said:
Re. the first test, Tui and Jones played together for the first 60 and got the better of the Aussie centres but they did have a better platform provided by the Lions forwards who were monstrous in the first 50. In the last 20-30 the Lions were losing the battle up front (thanks to the Lions forward replacements being poor) and Aki and Jones did ok defensively but they and the other backs had very little platform.
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My overarching point is that all 4 are more than good enough, if Tui isnt fit then Aki will be fine.
 
General Melchett said:
I'm willing to cut Farrell a bit of slack here. I think we'd all go with players we know and trust in tightish calls. Gatland was the same. The last HC to be truly unbiased was Geechs who hardly chose any Scots. When I order Thai food it's Green Thai chicken curry every time even though there are other great options on the menu. With Indian it's chicken jalfrezi. Safe and boring af I will admit.

This is why I keep banging the drum about one tour then change the HC. Let Schmidt or Galthie coach the next one in NZ and all the noise goes away. Enough of Schmidt's Irish players will be done by that 2029 for that much bias to creep in.
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I'd like to see independent coaching, made up of a 4 union team, who do not coach internationally.

I'd also like to see a solid representation from each nation, only 2 Welsh players deserved to tour, but like Scotland previously it doesn't feel like the ethos of the Lions. Scotland suffered 2013 and 2021 and I couldn't help but identify with them then.
 
The series is won.

Harsh or not, the state of Aus rugby means this won’t go down in mythology like beating NZ or the Boks who are invariably close to the top of the world rankings. Might eventually look good in the history books, but in reality 3-0 would signify reasonable competence, not sporting immortality.

So I would like the see Farrell mix it up to say thanks to the dirt trackers and the tackle bag holders. He won’t, but he should - this isn’t a national team with rankings or future considerations at stake, the spirit of the Lions should be a thing. Mix up the team and tell them to chuck it about.
 

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