ACT Brumbies v British and Irish Lions (18/06/13)

[ratsapprentice]

Except that he isn't actually all that good under the high ball, granted he's improving quite rapidly, but it's been targeted by teams before and payed off...

 

[dasNdanger]

Question - how much effect (if any) has losing the likes of Bowe had on the Lions game?


das

 

[sifplay]

Almost as big a upset as the day when Zimbabwe beat the All Blacks

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Oh. Dear. God. That was the most painful 80 minutes of my life, don't even know what to say. Everybody made mistakes today, and that includes Gatland - why leave substitutions that late when it was clear as day that we weren't going anywhere.

The first rant I have to get off my chest is about the tactics. I can't even remember our back three running the ball back rather than kicking it. EVERY BLOODY TIME, Hogg and Kearney put it in the air. WHY BOTHER PICKING WADE AND WILLIAMS IF YOU WON'T LET THEM RUN WITH IT! Christ! When it gets to 60 minutes, when the game should be opening up, and you're still going up and under, should you not stop and question whether it's getting you anywhere!? Kearney, with his experience, should have known better by that point.

Secondly, Lynam, how you think the centres were out of their depth is utterly beyond me... Ben Youngs should take 60% of the blame for his atrocious passing, constantly going behind twelvetrees, who then got smashed time and again. I don't even remember Barritt having ball in hand until about 70 minutes in. He flung the ball out whichever way he felt like. Hogg was directionless, but quelle surprise - he's not a fly-half! In my opinion, we should have switched Hogg to 15 and Farrell to 10 at half time - I'm sure that would have won us the game, with no disrespect to the brumbies. Gatland should have known better. Ultimately we've laboured through with only two 10's, essentially so Kearney could stay with the tour.

The only pack member to actually stand out was Faletau - got us over the gainline whenever asked to do so. I don't think Tips was too bad actually. But in general, our ball security and protection was SO SO much better with the subs on. More forwards sheltering the ball and the scrum half.

I don't think there's much point talking about the first try - Wade could have done better but frankly, bigger and more experienced players have missed tackles like that. We have to face facts - we had most of the game to come back from the points deficit, and couldn't.

I'm not usually one for kicking a guy already down, but Best did nothing he was in there to do: you can't win games without lineout ball, and this was the first time our scrum wasn't actively in command. I didn't detect a great deal of leadership going on out there, which was a shame.

God, these guys have given me nightmares out there tonight. Can't wait to see the test guys back saturday morning. The only way to make up for a loss like that is to beat the wallabies on saturday. The only way.

 

[big ginger 8]

Henry sorry but think it's wrong about Kearney being the reason we have two 10's. Gatland could have picked a third in his original squad and has had plenty of oppurtunity to call one up he clearly doesn't want one.

 

[Peat]

I meant what has happened to Best since halfway through the 6N? He seemed a cert for the Lions, then his throwing went bad in one game in the 6N and hasn't seemed to have recovered since?

Best's throwing has been ho-hum all season tbh.

Thing is, Best is a technically proficient thrower with a big flaw in that if things start going wrong, it gets to him. Which means, if you pair him with a crap lineout, he will frequently go wrong. Often very wrong.

This season with Ulster, he's been throwing to crap. Injuries and paternity leave have led to a massive rotation of locks, lineout callers, lifting pods, everything. This season with Ireland, he's been throwing to crap. Not enough good jumpers, not enough variation of the throw.

And the Lions lineout has been crap. Its not just Best having problems. There's issues with pod timing. There's issues with the movement, particularly as it seems like they're trying to keep secrets. Best and Hibbard both count as missing their first throw - why? The jumper didn't get high enough. But if they put it a little lower, and someone gets there before the jumper, which is easy enough to do with the lack of movement, then they'll get criticised for that. Coming and going.

Thankfully, things have to be very bad, very very bad indeed, before you can start missing O'Connell AND Croft.

 

[psychic duck]

Who from the 6 Nations had statistically the best lineout?

 

[Draggs]

Who from the 6 Nations had statistically the best lineout?

Georgia, probably.

Was it ours? I can't remember saying the phrase "f***ing lineouts" as much this year.

 

[Peat]

Scotland I think. It was Scotland - Ireland - England - Wales leading into the final game. Ireland's lineout bombed last game, England's didn't go too well iirc, Wales went well, so I imagine it ended Scotland - Wales - England/Ireland... I imagine the actual truth might be easily found out on the Telegraph website

Ireland - won 57, lost 14
Wales - won 56, lost 10
England - won 52, lost 11
Scotland - won 47, lost 10

So Wales best lineout. Ireland worst. Nearly right.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Too late to call Kearnan Myall into the Lions...?