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2013 British and Irish Lions

If Maitland can make a case for "Pick me on the wing and you won't have to worry about Halfpenny getting injured" at full-back, then its not a bad day's work for him.
 
To be honest i actually think he should of been in the Lions squad, as he can cover more than 1 position. Problem was we never saw him in the England team as Lancaster refuses to lose the defensive status of Barrit. If he played all the games i am sure he would of made the squad.

His skill set is better than Davies IMO but not BOD as a playmaking centre.
 
I think if hed been given the 12 shirt he would have possible made it, Gatland i can't see not picked his welsh boys and then Tuilangi I would say is better so he may have but not definite.
 
mstar said:
To be honest i actually think he should of been in the Lions squad, as he can cover more than 1 position. Problem was we never saw him in the England team as Lancaster refuses to lose the defensive status of Barrit. If he played all the games i am sure he would of made the squad.

His skill set is better than Davies IMO but not BOD as a playmaking centre.
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Do you know what else Twelvetrees can do? **** off home. MADDOG (woofwoofwoofwoof)
Seriously though, you can make the versatility argument for Madigan too, and at least Madigan has had some (small) amount of international experience, and has looked good at that level. He's also been outstanding for Leinster all season. If I wasn't picking Madigan, Twelvetrees would still not be my next option.
 
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To be honest I've hardly seen 36 at all. It's just that I think if he's there as a back up to Farrell and Sexton as well as Tuilagi who all have knocks it would have been better to call the player who is primarily a 10 rather than the 12 but the Lions staff obviously know the situation better than I do!

Also they probably called Madigan but he must be one of the players poisoned by Canadians!
 
Have to say, I wouldn't want Twelvetrees playing 10 in a Lions test game.
 
And to think Tigers were using Twelvetrees as a second-string fly-half/center last season...

Great news, well-deserved. I must admit that I don't view him as much of a versatile player. His performances at 10 for Gloucester have been pretty mixed and he's miles better as a 12. But he does bring with him a very different style of center to all of the current Lions, and if BOD gets injured, then there's at least another decent distributor available in the centers. Also, now that Twelvetrees is in, I would be very, very tempted to drop Farrell, bank on Sexton playing 80 mins, and have Twelvetrees providing backup in the centers and emergency cover at 10.
 
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This is a great call - I'm really delighted. He's been absolute class for England. I think his call-up has to be less to do with 10 cover (where we now have 3 viable options) than 12, where we only have 1 specialist, who hasn't even looked too sharp. 36 is a far better 12 than Madigan which is why I think it's a great call. His distriubtion including offloads is top notch aand was to thank for around half of our points against Argentina...
 
Two of the guys are covering for are 10's which means 2/3 of those viable options could be gone, far better to call up the better 10. Whether that be Madigan or Hook. I'd be happy enough with 36 at 12 but I don't want him or Hogg near 10 in a test.
 
osulli mi said:
and at least Madigan has had some (small) amount of international experience
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36 has more caps than Madigan.

Billy played some 10 vs Barbarians - realistically he's not going to play there for the Lions, but he CAN if needs be (I'd trust him more at 10 vs the Wallabies than Hogg, despite Hoggs good peformance there last week). At most he'll play 20mins or so there in a mid week game.
 
Irrespective of his call up, he still has the best nickname in rugby since John 'Nobody' Eales.
 
Why does everyone think this is to cover 10? Farrell and Sexton are both fine, just rested in the easiest game with Hogg able to step in as cover. No big deal.

Roberts as the only specialist 12 has not been too impressive though against the 2 weakest teams faced and Tuilagi got injured in the previous game. Surely he's there as cover for the midfield?

Who mentioned Biggar????? Pshhhh!
 

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