The Lions squad for 2021 prediction

[ncurd]

I thought it was Greg Wallace from Masterchef when the video started playing. No 'This is your Everest boys' speeches required this year. Just play that clip to the 23 before the tests and let them hear gobby Greg in action.

I don't rate our chances but to say the squad from 4 years ago were giant killers and this lot are not. Well there's going to be few guys thinking "I was in both those sides".

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Incredibly arrogant and their reasoning in certain areas is a bit uneducated to say the least but hard to disagree overall. They've clearly not watched Watson but I think there's a good argument to be made that there are more suitable 7s to dismantle a good Boks side available.

Edit: I think Keohane has a bit of a Neil Francis type rep, so not too quality stuff from my understanding.

That guys wife definitely left him for a welshman

 

[Welsh Exile]

Incredibly arrogant and their reasoning in certain areas is a bit uneducated to say the least but hard to disagree overall. They've clearly not watched Watson but I think there's a good argument to be made that there are more suitable 7s to dismantle a good Boks side available.

Edit: I think Keohane has a bit of a Neil Francis type rep, so not too quality stuff from my understanding.

Havent watched it yet but I notice one of the guys is the same guy who wrote that piece I posted that referred to AWJ as captain plod so I will most definitely watch. Nice one.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Oh man I'm loving this.

"pick a lions side with 8 Scots in it and you already know it's going to be a disaster"

 

[General Melchett]

I don't rate our chances but to say the squad from 4 years ago were giant killers and this lot are not. Well there's going to be few guys thinking "I was in both those sides".

There was zero acknowledgement about the risk of the Boks being undercooked due to not having played any decent opposition in so long. Maybe they're confident that their 'squad alignment zoom calls' will do the job.

I really hope we make the most of the hard grounds and play some heads up running rugby but with Gatland at the helm I'm just not so sure.

 

[ncurd]

Oh man I'm loving this.

"pick a lions side with 8 Scots in it and you already know it's going to be a disaster"

They didn't there's at least one SAffer in that 8

There was zero acknowledgement about the risk of the Boks being undercooked due to not having played any decent opposition in so long. Maybe they're confident that their 'squad alignment zoom calls' will do the job.

This is my only real reason for optimism the lack of proper game time, we saw what it did to Saracens players in the 6 nations. Problem is we've picked a couple of those fella to.

 

[Don't Skip Leg Day]

I really think this is the weakest lions squad I can remember but that stems from positions like loose head, centre, FH to be weak across the home nations.

There's a lot of really poor teams you can make out of that lions squad but Gatland will have a game plan and have a first 15 already in his mind to deliver the game plan.

I think it will be 2-1 to SA but happy to be wrong. I also think we will lose Biggar to injury before the 1st test and end up with Farrell at 10.

 

[Welsh Exile]

There was zero acknowledgement about the risk of the Boks being undercooked due to not having played any decent opposition in so long. Maybe they're confident that their 'squad alignment zoom calls' will do the job.

I really hope we make the most of the hard grounds and play some heads up running rugby but with Gatland at the helm I'm just not so sure.

Tbf, I think he mentioned it but brushed it off with saying "the lions haven't played in 4 years" but yeah, very little acknowledgement of it.

It's just a bit of fun isn't it. They're doing gods work, both of them.

 

[ChicagoKid]

Rugby in general seems to lack good journalists/analysts. That's very surprising to me considering how popular the game is worldwide. That video is a guy trying to drive clicks and attention - it worked pretty well IMO.

 

[ncurd]

Rugby in general seems to lack good journalists/analysts. That's very surprising to me considering how popular the game is worldwide. That video is a guy trying to drive clicks and attention - it worked pretty well IMO.

Its not really not that popular world wide, it has at best 9-10 countries (Japan/Italy take your pick, I suppose some PI nations) that are interested in it to devote time and attention to it. Unless you include Japan the nations that play at the highest are below the 20th most populated in the world and one those is separated into 3.25 nations.

Its only the number 1 sport in one country (NZ) possibly 2 with SA. Wales prefer Footbal despite how much they care about Rugby.

Once you start looking at it from that perspective you can begin to understand. Much like Cricket most of the best analysts are ex-pros and some of those are shocking or gone into coaching where there's a lack of people at the top level.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Its not really not that popular world wide, it has at best 9-10 countries (Japan/Italy take your pick, I suppose some PI nations) that are interested in it to devote time and attention to it. Unless you include Japan the nations that play at the highest are below the 20th most populated in the world and one those is separated into 3.25 nations.

Its only the number 1 sport in one country (NZ) possibly 2 with SA. Wales prefer Footbal despite how much they care about Rugby.

Once you start looking at it from that perspective you can begin to understand. Much like Cricket most of the best analysts are ex-pros and some of those are shocking or gone into coaching where there's a lack of people at the top level.

Is it not number 1 in Wales anymore?

 

[ChicagoKid]

Its not really not that popular world wide, it has at best 9-10 countries (Japan/Italy take your pick, I suppose some PI nations) that are interested in it to devote time and attention to it. Unless you include Japan the nations that play at the highest are below the 20th most populated in the world and one those is separated into 3.25 nations.

Its only the number 1 sport in one country (NZ) possibly 2 with SA. Wales prefer Footbal despite how much they care about Rugby.

Once you start looking at it from that perspective you can begin to understand. Much like Cricket most of the best analysts are ex-pros and some of those are shocking or gone into coaching where there's a lack of people at the top level.

I understand that, but look at major American sports: Football, Basketball, Baseball and Hockey have either 1.) Zero global following or 2.) Minimal global following in minor countries ex. hockey in Canada or baseball in the Dominican Republic.

And you can find good analysis and reporting on all these sports. Granted, I know being the world's largest economy helps, but it does seem like there is a market opening for good, strong analytical rugby reporting that aims to reach multiple nations/audiences.

 

[ncurd]

Is it not number 1 in Wales anymore?

Has it ever been? Participation figures and attendance are far higher in Football.

 

[Welsh Exile]

Has it ever been? Participation figures and attendance are far higher in Football.

I definitely think there's been a lot of change the last few decades (and even more so further back than that)

I'd imagine attendance at badminton matches is higher in Wales but I wouldn't say it is more popular. It's a very fair point, though.

I guess if you were going by stadium attendance alone then I'd say we could probably sell out the Principality pretty much every game but this is probably more or less the same with the Welsh football team (I haven't checked their attendance figures)

Either way it's an interesting debate and I don't think I could justifiably say "well it's the national sport" as what does that really mean? No doubt there's a generational change as well which is probably partly motivated by the money that is in football (I think Wainwright was a football player) but having said all that I don't think it's as simple as going on purely attendance figures. I mean, I'm pretty sure I've heard kiwis talk about the lack of crowds in their game and while they still get better attendances than Wales it's probably not really indicative of the popularity of the sport as a whole as for various reasons rugby fans don't always attend games. On top of that, you've got the whole thing with the regions in Wales which never really took off from a supporter point of view as well.

 

[McTallshort]

I understand that, but look at major American sports: Football, Basketball, Baseball and Hockey have either 1.) Zero global following or 2.) Minimal global following in minor countries ex. hockey in Canada or baseball in the Dominican Republic.

And you can find good analysis and reporting on all these sports. Granted, I know being the world's largest economy helps, but it does seem like there is a market opening for good, strong analytical rugby reporting that aims to reach multiple nations/audiences.

Yet millions world wide still watch the super bowl most likely more than watch the rugby World Cup final.

Also everytime there is an NFL game at Wembley it sells out.

 

[ChicagoKid]

Yet millions world wide still watch the super bowl most likely more than watch the rugby World Cup final.

Also everytime there is an NFL game at Wembley it sells out.

Yea the NFL game at Wembley doesn't hold water to me. When Ireland played NZ in Chicago a few years back, the games were completely soldout months in advance. The NFL at Wembley or in Mexico City do well because it's a spectacle. I'm still dubious an NFL franchise could survive in the UK, especially after the NFL Europe failure.

 

[BPM]

I really can't understand this. I am no expert but is Mako not Tongan? By your reasoning Itoje is Nigerian. And so it goes on.....I find it disgraceful......

Not at all.

It's not about their heritage, it's about where they have spent their lives and their rugby education.

Mako is Tongan, (born in New Zealand IIRC) but has spent almost his entire life in Britain. He and Billy are a slightly unusual case as they were initially brought up in Wales and not England, but from a Lions POV, there is no question that they are the product of British life and British rugby.

Itoje has Nigerian parents but was born in England and has spent the entirety of his life here. Why would he not play for England or the Lions for that matter?

Duhan van der Merwe is a product of South African rugby. He is not a kid and so the Scots can take no credit for developing him. He came to Scotland purely for money and an easier route in to test rugby. As soon as he completed the residency period, he sought a move to make more money .. not to a good team where he could win things, just the highest bidder. Now we are rewarding him with a call-up in place of players who have grown up wanting to be Lions. It's embarrassing and I'm ashamed of Gatland for it.

*Sorry to re-open this one ... It's definitely been covered, but as it was my statement that offended Macca, I felt honour bound to respond and to apologise ... to absolutely no-one.*

 

[TRF_heineken]

There was zero acknowledgement about the risk of the Boks being undercooked due to not having played any decent opposition in so long. Maybe they're confident that their 'squad alignment zoom calls' will do the job.

I really hope we make the most of the hard grounds and play some heads up running rugby but with Gatland at the helm I'm just not so sure.

It's not zoom calls anymore though...

It's now been 5 weeks that Rassie and Jacques has gone to each and every franchise and done some preparation work with a bunch of players at each franchise.

The Bulls and Lions had their first combined alignment camp just last week with the Springbok coaching team.

I think the zoom meeting thing is more to do with the guys in the NH, with Felix Jones as the designated person to give the guys some areas to work on, I don't know if he is able to meet up with the majority of players.

Also, don't know if you guys saw, but the Springboks will play 2 tests against Georgia before the Lions series, which will be a good way to shake off some cobwebs...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Based on Georgia's performance in the autumn you'd be better off playing the springboks u20s, or even u18s

I don't think the Boks being undercooked has any relevance to the tour - their players have been playing club rugby, they've got the two warmups, and the players at least (largely) have played together before

The Lions is a brand new side cobbled together from 4 nations

 

[McTallshort]

Oh man I'm loving this.

"pick a lions side with 8 Scots in it and you already know it's going to be a disaster"

Yeah there were 9 in 89 and 6 in 97 both winning tours