The Lions squad for 2021 prediction

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Genge saying he didn't even get a letter. Very surprised by that

Should've clapped if he wanted to tour

 

[Welsh Exile]

Genge is too much of a liability imo. He needs to take a leaf from Sinkler's book and chill out a little bit without taking anything way from his naturally aggressive game. Maybe next tour.

 

[Yulia]

Should've clapped if he wanted to tour

Should have clapped? What do you mean?

 

[ncurd]

Should have clapped? What do you mean?

Ellis Genge receives death threats after not clapping Wales into tunnel

The England prop Ellis Genge has received death threats after a video emerged online of him not clapping Wales into the tunnel following Saturday’s Six Nations game in Cardiff

www.google.com

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Should have clapped? What do you mean?

There was a big uproar in the Six Nations because the cameras showed Ellis Genge not clapping Wales off the pitch after England's loss to them

Ignoring that every side had players that don't clap (as someone showed in a compilation they put together on twitter)

He was getting death threats from Welsh fans over it, and the RFU and the WRU had to make public statements about it

 

[BPM]

What players are people hoping miss out on selection just to see the big **** storm online?

I could honestly see Sexton being left at home. Concussion isn't like a muscle or bone injury where you can estimate recovery time with a degree of confidence. He's just missed a major semi final and with concerns over his fitness and competition from Biggar, Russell, Ford and Farrell it wouldn't be totally inconceivable to see him as the big name omission.

Genge saying he didn't even get a letter. Very surprised by that

Not that surprising IMO. Loosehead is one of the more competitive spots and if it's 14 on the reserve list, I can't imagine there being more than one prop for each side of the scrum on there.

It wouldn't be unreasonable to say Jones, Sutherland and Mako are ahead of Genge in Gatland's thinking as well as Marler as another possibility and Healy who is a previous Lions tourist.

Personally, I'd have had Genge as 3rd or 4th choice depending on Marler's availability.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

IMO Genge has not shown the consistency needed yet, he has extremely destructive games but also games where he gets very easily wound up and is pretty ineffective.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

At 26 he's gonna be in prime spot if he can keep progressing for the next one.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I'm pretty sure that's not how it works and ignores loads of factors/variables but I can't really be arsed to go into it tbh.

Makes sense to me. A previous England and Ireland combined would have been stronger than the welsh tainted lions, it's simple logic.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Hardy as a bolter?

Not for me, personally, but his performance against England was impressive.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Mako

Luckily he'll be battle hardened after his time in the championship

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Hardy as a bolter?

Not for me, personally, but his performance against England was impressive.

A single good performance against England does not a Lions bolter make. It's quite funny how English players are being dismissed from the Lions because of how poor they were (rightly for a fair few) but then teams performances against England are being used to justify positions. Either England are poor and so performances against them count for less or performances against England do count for a lot but then you have to claim that the English players are therefore not poor. It can't be both.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Makes sense to me. A previous England and Ireland combined would have been stronger than the welsh tainted lions, it's simple logic.

Simple logic? You're taking about one off games for 2 totally different teams playing totally different games with dozens of different combinations and variables at play. Even if, for arguments sake, you picked the entire English or Irish team that wouldn't prove we'd win the series.

I don't even know what the argument is? If Gatland had picked Launchbury we would've won the series? Were there any other players that Gatland unfairly favoured over others that ensured we didn't win all 3 tests or something? Or was it just Launchbury that was the one player?

This whole weird obsession over Gatlands perceived biases also ignores that these decisions are never made solely by him as well. He has final say for sure but thee will be input from all the coaching staff.

 

[Welsh Exile]

A single good performance against England does not a Lions bolter make. It's quite funny how English players are being dismissed from the Lions because of how poor they were (rightly for a fair few) but then teams performances against England are being used to justify positions. Either England are poor and so performances against them count for less or performances against England do count for a lot but then you have to claim that the English players are therefore not poor. It can't be both.

I think you can have both. Hardy can play well against an out of form England. Also, England actually played some really good stuff for some decent periods in that game, some of the best stuff you've played since the semi against the AB's.

Actually, thinking about it, I bet Gatland will look at that game and use it to justify him taking Billy V who, imo, had a good game against us.

 

[BPM]

Luckily he'll be battle hardened after his time in the championship

I literally wrote that 'it wouldn't be unreasonable' to think that Mako (a player he has picked before) might be ahead of Genge in 'Gatland's thinking'. Not sure my reasoning could have been any clearer.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I literally wrote that 'it wouldn't be unreasonable' to think that Mako (a player he has picked before) might be ahead of Genge in 'Gatland's thinking'. Not sure my reasoning could have been any clearer.

I wasn't implying you want him there, just that it's gross that he's very likely to be in the test 23 despite being shite these days

 

[LIONSxv]

A single good performance against England does not a Lions bolter make. It's quite funny how English players are being dismissed from the Lions because of how poor they were (rightly for a fair few) but then teams performances against England are being used to justify positions. Either England are poor and so performances against them count for less or performances against England do count for a lot but then you have to claim that the English players are therefore not poor. It can't be both.

Their also seems to be an odd phenomena of wanting to pick players on the basis of a single or two good games. Yet wanting to leave some the English lads out who have performed well for 3 years over 20 odd games. Clearly the form of binny, Daly and Farrel to a lesser extent goes further back.



than the last 6N

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

I think you can have both. Hardy can play well against an out of form England. Also, England actually played some really good stuff for some decent periods in that game, some of the best stuff you've played since the semi against the AB's.

Actually, thinking about it, I bet Gatland will look at that game and use it to justify him taking Billy V who, imo, had a good game against us.

Well not really. Imagine some players do really well against Italy, it wouldn't count for much because you'd recognise the poor quality of the opposition. If England players are being dismissed as poor because they lost to Ireland, Wales and Scotland, those 3 nations cannot then use their performances against England as evidence of playing particularly well. Ultimately it will be interesting to see if Gatland breaks form with regards to the 5th placed team. In previous Lions years both Ireland and Wales had come 5th without it really denting their Lions contributions much. On previous form, it also shouldn't hit England's too much either. If England suddenly find themselves bottom of the pile for Lions contributions off the back of 5th place in this years 6N then that would mean Gatland took a different approach this time round than he had done previously.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Well not really. Imagine some players do really well against Italy, it wouldn't count for much because you'd recognise the poor quality of the opposition. If England players are being dismissed as poor because they lost to Ireland, Wales and Scotland, those 3 nations cannot then use their performances against England as evidence of playing particularly well. Ultimately it will be interesting to see if Gatland breaks form with regards to the 5th placed team. In previous Lions years both Ireland and Wales had come 5th without it really denting their Lions contributions much. On previous form, it also shouldn't hit England's too much either. If England suddenly find themselves bottom of the pile for Lions contributions off the back of 5th place in this years 6N then that would mean Gatland took a different approach this time round than he had done previously.

I don't think that's a fair comparison with Italy. I mean, it's Italy.

Ultimately I think it's not as black and white as you're making out and is a lot more nuanced than you think. You can't just throw the baby out with the bath water especially when you're evaluating individuals in a team sport. We know Itoje, Curry, Farrell, George etc are going so he clearly is going to ignore England's 5th place.

Do you really think England will be bottom of the pile? No chance. But I guess it depends on what you're expectations are. What number would really **** you off? I mean 7 or 8 are almost guaranteed. It would seem the one constant in lions selection, at least since the 90s, is that Scottish contingent is the lowest and I expect that to be the same again this year (though hopefully a few more this time)

 

[TRF_heineken]

I think it would be a mistake to take props that aren't good scrummagers but more of breakdown and running props. The Scrums is an area the Boks will specifically target to gain penalties and also to gain dominance.

And for that reason I don't think it would be such a smart move to pick Mako.

Sure the Boks will be without Beast, but we still have Kitshoff and Thomas Du Toit at loosehead who was at the World Cup. And players such as Lizo Gqoboka, Jacques Van Rooyen and Carlu Sadie have shown that it's one of the things our props have been working hard on in getting their techniques right.