Test Match 3: All Blacks v British & Irish Lions (Auckland)

[valley commando]

I feel like father in reference to this Lions team.

I'm not surprised just disappointed.

And that's my feeling of this Lions tour. We had players who could be real showcase of NH rugby that we can play with ambition and we ended up with Gatley Warrenball.

What players are you on about ? Any individual fan might have picked one or two other players just as any other coach would have had their preferences but most of the squad would have been picked regardless of the coach. My disappointment as always is Howler as attack coach, that aside Gatland has proved the best choice for the job, he knows NZ better than most and has done an outstanding job giving hope at 1 all leading into the final weekend, nobody could have asked for more. Anybody having a pop at Gatlaland is being petty and small minded and for no other reason than he's picked to many Welsh players. Will you and others have the good grace to give him the credit he deserves should we get narrowly beaten or dare I say win on Saturday ?

 

[valley commando]

I feel like father in reference to this Lions team.

I'm not surprised just disappointed.

And that's my feeling of this Lions tour. We had players who could be real showcase of NH rugby that we can play with ambition and we ended up with Gatley Warrenball.

What players are you on about ? Any individual fan might have picked one or two other players just as any other coach would have had their preferences but most of the squad would have been picked regardless of the coach. My disappointment as always is Howler as attack coach, that aside Gatland has proved the best choice for the job, he knows NZ better than most and has done an outstanding job giving hope at 1 all leading into the final weekend, nobody could have asked for more. Anybody having a pop at Gatlaland is being petty and small minded and for no other reason than he's picked to many Welsh players. Will you and others have the good grace to give him the credit he deserves should we get narrowly beaten or dare I say win on Saturday ?

Your estimation of the northern hemisphere players ability like many other critics is over ambitious. I don't think any coach would be able to get the Home nations players to play as a cohesive attacking unit due to a) the players simply not having good enough skills b) not enough time to build combinations. The 6 nations is all based on attrition, a few examples in club rugby really doesn't change that fact as much as some like the pretend. I'm pretty sure most coaches would have reverted to something similar to Gats and let's be fair here they haven't played strictly like Wales like we saw last week.

Post of the week, I couldn't agree more

 

[valley commando]

Your estimation of the northern hemisphere players ability like many other critics is over ambitious. I don't think any coach would be able to get the Home nations players to play as a cohesive attacking unit due to a) the players simply not having good enough skills b) not enough time to build combinations. The 6 nations is all based on attrition, a few examples in club rugby really doesn't change that fact as much as some like the pretend. I'm pretty sure most coaches would have reverted to something similar to Gats and let's be fair here they haven't played strictly like Wales like we saw last week.

Post of the week, I couldn't agree more

 

[Umaga's Witness]

I'm disappointed with Cruden, his game has really fallen away.

he took a while to get his super season going but has started looking pretty good recently. was good end of last year too.

 

[ncurd]

What players are you on about ? Any individual fan might have picked one or two other players just as any other coach would have had their preferences but most of the squad would have been picked regardless of the coach. My disappointment as always is Howler as attack coach, that aside Gatland has proved the best choice for the job, he knows NZ better than most and has done an outstanding job giving hope at 1 all leading into the final weekend, nobody could have asked for more. Anybody having a pop at Gatlaland is being petty and small minded and for no other reason than he's picked to many Welsh players. Will you and others have the good grace to give him the credit he deserves should we get narrowly beaten or dare I say win on Saturday ?

I try not to comment on your posts but best chance? We won't win, we barely won last week and unless you think he bribed SBW to commit to that should barge or actually has the power of voodoo over Barretts kicks.

As Howley that's Gartands fault you talk about best position but who do you think hired him? He could of got someone like Townsend but he went for Howley. You can't critisice one coach for being useless.and then not criticise the guy who in his wisdom hired the bloke.

I said this during the last match and I'll say it again do you think Ireland or England would of struggled as much to beat 14 men?

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Can anyone argue Gatland has been good since 2012? Not winning 3-0 in 2013 was underachieving, 3rd, 3rd, 2nd, 5th in 6 nations and a weak record against SH sides... Fantastic.

Prior to that he saw success v the likes of Ashton and O'Sullivan, Kidney and Lancaster and hasn't won anything in Europe since Schmidt and Jones's arrivals. We got him out of Ireland just as our "golden generation" arrived and while Eddie O'Sullivan and Declan Kidney weren't the right guys to make this work neither would Gatland have been, could you imagine him moving 5"10 D'Arcy to 12? Gatland is ok, has gone real stale in Wales,probably belongs at club level where he'd be better than most of his peers.

 

[General Melchett]

The Howler appointment was a shocker. Not only did Gatland make a poor call here but he had the audacity to ask Townsend to assist him. When he declined he showed how spiteful he is by saying that Scots would then miss out on marginal selection calls and they did. When Russell did get called up he didn't get any time on the pitch because Gatland was embarrassed after being called out by the media for devaluing the jersey by calling up a bunch of Welsh nobodies who just happened to be in the neighbourhood.

I'm glad the same Lions team is playing on Saturday because playing against 15 ABs for 80 minutes will put last Saturday and Gatland's well and truly into perspective. Gatland got lucky four years ago and came away with a 2-1 win against a very poor Australia side.

Edit: Valley - you dislike my post even though you agree that taking Howler was a bad call and then expect me to go digging for the article to substantiate my claim. I heard him say it during a TV interview and others on here did too. Go search for it. Btw, it's lose not loose.

 

[valley commando]

I try not to comment on your posts but best chance? We won't win, we barely won last week and unless you think he bribed SBW to commit to that should barge or actually has the power of voodoo over Barretts kicks.

As Howley that's Gartands fault you talk about best position but who do you think hired him? He could of got someone like Townsend but he went for Howley. You can't critisice one coach for being useless.and then not criticise the guy who in his wisdom hired the bloke.

I said this during the last match and I'll say it again do you think Ireland or England would of struggled as much to beat 14 men?

Yes Agreed he picked Howler and there are many better attack coaches, but as for England, Ireland , SA, Oz or anyone else to beat NZ at home with or without 14 players is still a major plus, I doubt if England or Ireland would have achieved it anyway.

 

[Penne Rara]

1 major aspect of perenara's game i'm not happy with. he needs to learn to the art of not p!ssing the ref off.
perenara's gotta learn you dont get a break from the ref by p!ssing them off. this is a simple basic tenet of rugby

Yup I agree with that. As much as I like his cheeky personality, he needs to calm down when he talks to the ref. Being a d*ckhead with the opponents is one thing, being a d*ckhead with the ref is another. And in the second one, you risk to penalize your mates as well.

 

[valley commando]

The Howler appointment was a shocker. Not only did Gatland make a poor call here but he had the audacity to ask Townsend to assist him. When he declined he showed how spiteful he is by saying that Scots would then miss out on marginal selection calls and they did. When Russell did get called up he didn't get any time on the pitch because Gatland was embarrassed after being called out by the media for devaluing the jersey by calling up a bunch of Welsh nobodies who just happened to be in the neighbourhood.

I'm glad the same Lions team is playing on Saturday because playing against 15 ABs for 80 minutes will put last Saturday and Gatland's well and truly into perspective. Gatland got lucky four years ago and came away with a 2-1 win against a very poor Australia side.

Can you show me in print where Gats said Scotland would loose out on marginal calls, I'm not doubting you, just not seen it.
I cannot believe so many so called Lions fans want us to loose on Saturday, just because they are anti Gatland, pathetic in my view. For fucks sake have a moan afterwards if all goes wrong, but lets all get behind the team on Saturday and hope for a miracle.

 

[munstermuffin]

So you'd cut off your nose to spite your face.

How? I'm not connected to the Lions. Apart from Irish lads (who I hope do well) you make no sense. Alot of people are not big fans of Lions tour and hope it actually stops. And in my eyes Gatland has ruined it so again maybe make sense

 

[Umaga's Witness]

l

 

[munstermuffin]

Yes Agreed he picked Howler and there are many better attack coaches, but as for England, Ireland , SA, Oz or anyone else to beat NZ at home with or without 14 players is still a major plus, I doubt if England or Ireland would have achieved it anyway.

Didn't England do it in 03 in Westpac Stadium against 15 men? And a full backrow?
Like it is funny Valley I think your the only person to not notice we scraped past an All Blacks team with no 6, who sacrificed their scrum and well left buckets of points on field.
Like maybe throw something to back up your argument.

 

[Scotty]

You dont change a winning team...a team that almost lost against a 14 man team in the rain. Against a team that left 9 points out there and couldnt play a wide game cos of the weather...but yeh perfect team

He better use the damn bench this week, i thought he didnt use the bench last week to keep players fresh to give them a start and best chance this week or something. Byt i just dont get this not using the bench.

Gats and howley next NZ coaches prob drop NZ to 5th in world rankijgs within a year haha

 

[Umaga's Witness]

How? I'm not connected to the Lions. Apart from Irish lads (who I hope do well) you make no sense. Alot of people are not big fans of Lions tour and hope it actually stops. And in my eyes Gatland has ruined it so again maybe make sense

sad, because its pretty cool. gives us something to talk about. and a chance to see the best players of 4 nations together. maybe could replace it with a battle of the hemispheres. there seems to be bit of passionate debate about how good one hemisphere is compared to the other.

just starting to think about that and imagining if they picked one of the national coaches for the southern hemisphere side. how bloody hard would that be for that coach to not elect some of his star players? e.g. hansen not picking sam white lock. it must be hard for garland.

 

[munstermuffin]

sad, because its pretty cool. gives us something to talk about. and a chance to see the best players of 4 nations together. maybe could replace it with a battle of the hemispheres. there seems to be bit of passionate debate about how good one hemisphere is compared to the other.

It could be somethink like that. The contract is up after the South African tour 2021. And I think whoever takes that tour will have to undo alot of the damage Gatland has done and throw a real dazzle of excitement to really get it back on track. And even at that I expect there will be changes eg Length of tours etc. The new universal season will play a part too. Like even after winning last Saturday the excitement amongst alot isn't even there. I watched Sky last night and Greenwood and Quinnell even seemed disillusioned and hard to get excited. This is 2 lads I saw buzzing for many Amlin games.

 

[Scotty]

This team needed minor tweeks thats all. AWJ and warburton out and lawes or kruis star and henderson om bench.
Warbs out tips in, wouldnt mind if stander tip or sob amd tips or tips on the bench. Just minor tweeks from last week

I cant be the only one who thinks gats selection has been terrible this tour amd his man management is shocking with not using his bench.

 

[MikeTheNative]

The Lions survived the Woodward tour and going into the last game now are still in with a chance of winning it so I'm sure the tour will go on. in the future. I don't understand no real excitement commnet about it though. From what I've seen in person, media and social media there seems to be a good buzz about the final game.

 

[munstermuffin]

The Lions survived the Woodward tour and going into the last game now are still in with a chance of winning it so I'm sure the tour will go on. in the future. I don't understand no real excitement commnet about it though. From what I've seen in person, media and social media there seems to be a good buzz about the final game.

Just observations. Not sure it is as good. The thing on Woodword tour is it had to go on as it was contracted. After next tour the contract is up and well I think some unions don't have the appetite and the professionalism has changes so much that the season is becoming too congested to even 2010 never mind 2005. But certainly here in Ireland the media excitement and interest is nowhere near same league as 2013 or 2009. Even when POM was named captain for 1st test there wasn't any real buzz.

 

[Penne Rara]

Ben Smith cleared of concussion. So hopefully he starts ahead of Jordie now.

He won't. He's cleared of concussion but won't be playing for the All Blacks any time soon, just helping the lads with training and giving them some handy advice. His inner ear problem is still there and until he sorts it out, he won't be match fit. He can theoretically play against the Lions this Saturday but you don't want a player (best fullback in the World or not) to get on the field while feeling dizzy, struggling to maintain balance and having double vision. I think this is why he's been poor by his standards under the high ball during the last test he played. Not being able to maintain balance during such a physical test is also incredibly dangerous for himself, we better wait until he's fully fit.