Lions to play Barbarians in Hong Kong in 2013

[TRF_Olyy]

I love the Lions tour,
It's up there with the WC for me.

 

[Teh Mite]

No, what you said it "That's hardly a cohesive unit". Implying that none of them knew each other and couldn't play.

I challenge you on that theory they all are pro players who know what is required of them and all will have had plenty of opportunity to train with their peers before the game. Therefore I call yours a weak excuse to pooh-poo the BaaBaas winning.

 

[munstermuffin]

Bullitt the facts are shown in 5/6 Nations winners list as already said.
But also on top of the team that played the Baa Baas the experienced fellas weren't up to much either on pitch and as Snoop said a few were there for 1st time as token rewards from the Churchill cup victory the summer before

 

[munstermuffin]

Also Bullitt they are all pros but today's rugby is all about knowing systems and patterns which is vital

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

No, what you said it "That's hardly a cohesive unit". Implying that none of them knew each other and couldn't play.

Being an incohesive unit means they haven't played together before as a group. It's alright throwing 3 or 4 new faces into a team but throwing 10 or more into a side at once is a recipe for disaster. Why did the equally incohesive BaaBaas win that game? Simply because they played much better rugby and had significantly better players. If I was to draw up a composite best side of the two starting XVs that day, I'd come up with this:

Kearney, Heyman, Laulala, Rabeni, Trimble, James, Mignoni, Horan, Britz, Johnston, Thion, O'Kelly, Quinlan, Smith, Rush.

Three of those players lined up for Ireland on the day.

 

[gingergenius]

Yes, rugby is about money. It has been since it turned professional. Saying this is nothing new, and it means nothing. Cricket, pantomime ball... everything is about money. That's just a fact that we have to accept about sport these days.

So of course the Hong Kong Bledisloe, the Hong Kong Lions game, the fact that Quins/ Wasps/ Saracens are playing odd games in massive stadiums, the new kits everyone has each year and so on and so forth - these are all moneymaking schemes.

But so what? None of these are nasty moneymaking schemes. Where's the matchfixing that we've seen in cricket? Where's the corruption you see at the top level of football? And when you think that only a few European clubs turn over a profit, then of course there must be other avenues of income.

And the point about not supporting a team because 3/4 of them come from a foreign country? Well don't support Ireland either, because last time I checked some of those guys aren't from your country either. But I thought one of the great things about rugby is that it can transcend petty tribalism.

 

[snoopy snoopy dog dog]

There's nothing wrong with making money - it's the Lions' modus operandi and they're very good at it. As you've said, since the game has gone professional it's essential to exhaust all revenue streams to fund international teams. What I dislike is the hype machine surrounding the Lions and the promotion of their tours as some sort of seismic event between two powerhouse teams because it's not. It's a month long series of exhibitions. If it brings new fans and more money to the sport then great but I find it a sterile event.

Well don't support Ireland either, because last time I checked some of those guys aren't from your country either

That's a bizarre point. Which current Ireland players are you be talking about? Tom Court who has Irish ancestry and has lived here and given to the game here for the last 5 years? Dan Tuohy who has Irish parents despite his English accent? Ed O'Donoghue (who has an A cap) born to Irish parents in England but raised in Australia? Rhys Ruddock who has a Welsh accent but was born in Dublin and has an Irish mother? Isaac Boss who like Tom Court has Irish ancestry and has lived here for half a decade or more? The Northern Irish players? They may consider themselves British (and I've no complaints about that) but the national team they're aligned to is Ireland seeing as the Ulster branch is aligned to the IRFU.

 

[gingergenius]

I was talking about Northern Irish players. As I see it, Northern Ireland is part of a different country to the Republic in the same way that the rest of the UK is. So you saying you can't support a team where not all of them are your own countrymen (Lions) applies equally to Ireland.

And I know I'm making a pedantic point, but I think that it's matching your pedantic disinterest in the Lions. I'm English, but I'll cheer for Chris Hoy in the Olympics or Molinari in the Ryder Cup, because Team GB represents the UK (where I'm from) and Team Europe in the RC represents Europe (where I'm from). So the B & I Lions represents the British Isles (where we're both from). So I can see no reason at all not to at least want the Lions to do well.

And the Lions tours are pretty special. How many other sports provide an event every four years that is not some kind of tournament? How many other sports can throw together a some of their best players to form an AllStar team and make it last longer than the odd charity game here and there? How much more exciting is it that the likes of Ugo Monye, Simon Easterby, Ryan Jones, John Bentley etc. can go on tour and make a serious impact beyond any of their reputations/ expectations? And you can't deny that last year's tour saw the South Africans (world No.1 at the time) really pushed hard in 3 cracking test matches, at home, by a representative side. We'd never have seen the Roberts-O'Driscoll partnership if it wasn't for the Lions. It's things like that that make a Lions Tour special. And I'd say that's genuine, and unique entertainment - whether or not it makes a huge amount of money.