Warm Up Match 1: New Zealand Barbarians v British & Irish Lions (Whangarei)

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

What everyone else had said.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Terrible game. Lions have a lot of work to do to get up to scratch.

 

[Pieter Steph du Teague]

Let's look at the bright side though... if we give Garland Jr a contract he could play for us next tour

 

[Maverick1987]

From my point of view Faletau and Sinkler were excellent . The starting lock pairing and Sexton were extremely poor . Sexton killed anything we had in the first half

What game are you watching? He's played better than Sexton, barely. Very worrying indeed.

He was far better than Sexton ...

 

[Jockstap]

Mako, what a boy

Someone's just being salty because Sexton was terrible
If you'll notice all his posts are slagging off the English players

I said Sexton was terrible, how's that salty? Farrell was just slightly better, let's be honest here, why are you getting upset? I don't give a **** about nationality on a Lions tour as long as we win.

 

[McTallshort]

What the **** was everyone expecting? 2 days in New Zealand with a scratch side playing a young team of Professionals in wet conditions, was everyone expecting a Cricket score? This is the 3rd Lions Tour of New Zealand I have followed and that game was about what I expected.

Don't forget these games are simply preparation for the Test matches. The Lions could lose every single game from now apart from 2 of the test matches and the tour will still be a success.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Good thing about the tour structure is there will always be a bunch of players with something to prove. For the blues game Gatland should select an entirely different 15, and if that goes well the guys from tonight will have the next 5 days to look back on tonights game as a missed opportunity and pysch themselves up to prove a point next time.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I wish Faletau would grow his fro again.

Pundits talking about the NZ side knowing the game well, but that has **** all to do with a side not taking restarts, and an experienced internationnhalf back pairing not executing fundamental skills

 

[DozeyPillock]

That was hard watching

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

What the **** was everyone expecting? 2 days in New Zealand with a scratch side playing a young team of Professionals in wet conditions, was everyone expecting a Cricket score? This is the 3rd Lions Tour of New Zealand I have followed and that game was about what I expected.

Don't forget these games are simply preparation for the Test matches. The Lions could lose every single game from now apart from 2 of the test matches and the tour will still be a success.

Actually a few of them are also semi pros.

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

What the **** was everyone expecting? 2 days in New Zealand with a scratch side playing a young team of Professionals in wet conditions, was everyone expecting a Cricket score? This is the 3rd Lions Tour of New Zealand I have followed and that game was about what I expected.

Don't forget these games are simply preparation for the Test matches. The Lions could lose every single game from now apart from 2 of the test matches and the tour will still be a success.

It's not about the score but the performance, and this performance was significantly worse than the first game of any tour I can remember. No, a cricket score was never likely but the performance is important and we almost lost that game against a semi professional load of players.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

What the **** was everyone expecting? 2 days in New Zealand with a scratch side playing a young team of Professionals in wet conditions.

You could say the same about England vs Barbarians, except the England side had far less experience and less time together, And that barbarian side was full of internationals and not semi pro players

 

[Jockstap]

So least terrible would be Faletau, Sinkler, Teo errr that's about it.

 

[McTallshort]

It's not about the score but the performance, and this performance was significantly worse than the first game of any tour I can remember. No, a cricket score was never likely but the performance is important and we almost lost that game against a semi professional load of players.

Performance? They have barely been together, were you expecting them to play like an International side? No one will be use to the calls or playing together, there will be a lack of clarity that these players are normally quite used to. Thats what makes Lions tours so difficult.

This is quite normal when touring New Zealand. I expect the Lions to lose at least 2 of the build up games before the test series.

 

[ratsapprentice]

Nah, some of the individuals were actively good, like the ones you've mentioned.

 

[Big_Grumper]

Good thing about the tour structure is there will always be a bunch of players with something to prove. For the blues game Gatland should select an entirely different 15, and if that goes well the guys from tonight will have the next 5 days to look back on tonights game as a missed opportunity and pysch themselves up to prove a point next time.

Exactly. We'll see a completely different XV against the Blues.

 

[Groundhog]

Farrell didn't impress me overly either boys. He was better than Sexton, but if that's our benchmark we're rightly boned. It's hard to pick out a silver lining from that performance. Sinckler was good..... Te'o was pretty good too among a couple others, but it was a horribly frustrating team performance throughout

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

It's not about the score but the performance, and this performance was significantly worse than the first game of any tour I can remember. No, a cricket score was never likely but the performance is important and we almost lost that game against a semi professional load of players.

Probably the most limited selection for a first game though, in 2013 only 4 clubs with Lions players would have played in the two weeks before the first game whereas it was 8 this time around.

On Sexton v Farrell (not that anything will be taken from this game) - Sexton by the sounds lacked execution, although he did well in hos 2nd half cameo, Farrell, apart from the try, looked void of ideas. Sexton wont play that badly again this tour, Farrell probably wont either with a bit more structure.

 

[McTallshort]

You could say the same about England vs Barbarians, except the England side had far less experience and less time together, And that barbarian side was full of internationals and not semi pro players

Wrong. The England players are used to each other, many have been on the fringe of the England camp for years in the age group teams. Many will know each other from their clubs oh and Twickers isnt on the otherside of the world so no jet lag either.

 

[Jockstap]

Farrell didn't impress me overly either boys. He was better than Sexton, but if that's our benchmark we're rightly boned. It's hard to pick out a silver lining from that performance. Sinckler was good..... Te'o was pretty good too among a couple others, but it was a horribly frustrating team performance throughout

Shhh, we're not allowed to criticize Farrell. Apparently he was brilliant.