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<blockquote data-quote="Saint Matt" data-source="post: 861845" data-attributes="member: 68837">He&#039;s on a bit of a hiding to nothing really. He&#039;s made a gamble but he&#039;s not got any choice this week, have to go all out. Mixture of calls:I&#039;m not sure I&#039;d have gone with AWJ, think I&#039;d have started Kruis with Itoje. He&#039;s trusted him to control our line outs but you&#039;re effectively a man down in the loose. Kruis wasn&#039;t great last week but he&#039;s an outstanding line out forward and is a more mobile body around the field.Back row, tough on POM but on paper, I get it. If you pick Farrell at 12, you want a mobile 6/7/8 and hopefully Warbuton will give us something at the breakdown. 7 and 8 are pretty obvious selections.I like Farrell at 12 but that&#039;s a call he should have made before the tour. Sexton and Farrell have played what, one game together? It&#039;s tough enough to gel as it is on a Lions tour and that&#039;s with 3/4 games. 10/12 is huge link and you need understanding there. To ask Farrell to defend there v SBW on the back of playing barely a game in that position all tour is a huge call. Should improve our attack though and an extra kicking option. It&#039;s the right call, I believe, but should have been made earlier.I see why he&#039;s gone with Stander on the bench but maybe he should have took him off earlier in midweek. With a game like this, if there isn&#039;t a stand out option, I&#039;d always trust your best players despite form. I&#039;m not sure it&#039;ll matter though, we could put any 23 out and it&#039;d be tough against NZ. For a group of players to come together in a couple of weeks and take on a team that has been together for however long, in modern rugby that&#039;s harder than its ever been.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Saint Matt, post: 861845, member: 68837"] He's on a bit of a hiding to nothing really. He's made a gamble but he's not got any choice this week, have to go all out. Mixture of calls: I'm not sure I'd have gone with AWJ, think I'd have started Kruis with Itoje. He's trusted him to control our line outs but you're effectively a man down in the loose. Kruis wasn't great last week but he's an outstanding line out forward and is a more mobile body around the field. Back row, tough on POM but on paper, I get it. If you pick Farrell at 12, you want a mobile 6/7/8 and hopefully Warbuton will give us something at the breakdown. 7 and 8 are pretty obvious selections. I like Farrell at 12 but that's a call he should have made before the tour. Sexton and Farrell have played what, one game together? It's tough enough to gel as it is on a Lions tour and that's with 3/4 games. 10/12 is huge link and you need understanding there. To ask Farrell to defend there v SBW on the back of playing barely a game in that position all tour is a huge call. Should improve our attack though and an extra kicking option. It's the right call, I believe, but should have been made earlier. I see why he's gone with Stander on the bench but maybe he should have took him off earlier in midweek. With a game like this, if there isn't a stand out option, I'd always trust your best players despite form. I'm not sure it'll matter though, we could put any 23 out and it'd be tough against NZ. For a group of players to come together in a couple of weeks and take on a team that has been together for however long, in modern rugby that's harder than its ever been. [/QUOTE]

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