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

[Ospervat]

Oh oh - seems we might be getting into "I'm offended" territory.

I'm sure Nubiwan meant no offense. Let's all let it go.

 

[ratsapprentice]

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Dear God

 

[Jockstap]

Just rewatched it without the commentary, overall indicative of a team that hasn't played together before, little mistakes, passes that were a fraction too late/early, etc, things got noticeably more organised as the game went on. People being overly harsh on Hogg who apart from two silly mistakes in a row was solid, same with Best, one dodgy lineout but was solid around the park, turned over 4 balls. Guys that stood out were Faletau, Moriarity, Teo and Sinkler, I thought Kruis was decent when he came on too. Everybody else were fairly anonymous but guys like Henderson and Laidlaw noticeably poor. On Sexton and Farrell I stand by what I said earlier, Farrell played better in that he kicked too good territorial kicks and Sexton kicked one out on the full and gave away a penalty from a high tackle, that's about it. Farrell's in pole position but let's not lose the run of ourselves and call him a force of nature Mr Greenwood.

 

[Ospervat]

It's true. I saw it myself. The English southpaw jabbed his way through defenders and with a deceptive dope a rope spin dealt a knockout try in the 53rd minute. After a short count the ref let the contest continue but the Lions won by a majority decision of 13-7.

The Lions are now the undisputed IBF / IRB champions.

 

[The Jones Boy]

A wins a win chaps.
Those kiwi boys, regardless of their stature as semi-pro or otherwise would have been so honored to play against the B+I Lions they would have been giving it everything.
Regardless of their calibre, those blokes would have been playing rugby since they could start walking.
They would know it's possible they will never play in a bigger game than getting to play against the mighty Lions.
There are easier games on this tour (and this was one of them) but none of them will be 'easy'.
Do not lose sight of what this tour means to the rugby fraternity in NZ.
This is massive.
In fact, at this point in time, this is everything.
Super rugby is now on the backburner.
In that cauldron of rugby frenzy the Lions have to lose their travel weariness, develop a one for all and all for one camaraderie, and try to start to gel as a team, a squad and a singuler entity with a singular goal, to succeed in 2 out of 3 tests in the Boneyard.
The Lions will field stronger teams and better tactics but they had to dig pretty deep to get out of jail in their first game of the tour.

 

[galumay]

An amazing performance from players that cant even get into Super Rugby teams, if ever there was a measure of NZ's rugby superiority surely that was it. Heart and pride can only take you so far, the core skills, ability and accuracy to take the game to the LIons like that was quite extraordinary IMO.

The Lions will now have any illusions about this tour shattered, they played just about their full strength team and really struggled to beat a team that had never played before together and all came out of provincial rugby. The scale of the task of beating the AB's at home will be center and front for them. I doubt the Lions could beat a full strength NZ Super Rugby team. (maybe the Blues!)

Its going to be an interesting month!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

they played just about their full strength team

.......what?
Really really didn't.

I'm not making excuses for the performance, it was dire, but that was no where near the first choice side.

 

[galumay]

.......what?
Really really didn't.

I'm not making excuses for the performance, it was dire, but that was no where near the first choice side.

Sorry for your misunderstanding, I said "full strength" not "first choice", presumably Gatland didn't bring many passengers to the other end of the planet.

 

[The Jones Boy]

The Lions are capable of so much more, and I believe we will see it against the Blues as the tourists perceive the true nature of the task ahead.
Ahhh... my poor Blues....

 

[galumay]

...
Ahhh... my poor Blues....

I am more optimistic tha you JB, Lions will have to improve out of sight in 3 days to have any chance against your poor Bloos!

I guess the Lions are helped somewhat by coming up against the Blues next rather than straight against the Saders or Canes, but they will also have to work miracles with their player management, every 3 days a fresh group of eager Kiwis wanting to prove a point, but the same squad for the Lions to pick from every game.

I must say it is the strangest schedule for a touring team.

 

[SomeOke]

As a neutral I don't think it's quite as dire as it seems, the one thing the Lions did extremely well was defend for long periods. Yes their half-backs looked very shakey which led to some very silly kicks and wasted opportunities but they weren't overly punished by it due to a very strong defense.

The biggest worry for me would be the inability to score points, it isn't easy to beat a NZ side but what you have to do is: 1)Dominate up front, 2) Contain the NZ attack off structured attack and 3)lastly score 25+ points at least regardless.

The reason you need to score 25+ points is there will always be at least three brilliant counter attacking tries that you can do virtually nothing about. If you look at wins against NZ sides in (or the AB's themselves) in the near past you don't get it done by keeping the game low scoring because that's frankly impossible. You can only contain them so much. While I have faith the Lions could possible manage 1 and 2 it's their ability to put a big enough margin of points on the board that concerns me.

Anyway I'm excited for the tour, I'll be supporting some great rugby so here's hoping it's competitive from both sides!

 

[Bada-Bing!]

After looking back at that performance it was clear jet lag played a key role in such a bad performance. Reading that players are needed sleeping tablets to get their sleep pattern right. Playing a game 3 days after a 23 plus hour, 11,400 mile flight, is just crazy. Puts the Lions on the back foot straight away.

 

[Ground We Won]

After looking back at that performance it was clear jet lag played a key role in such a bad performance. Reading that players are needed sleeping tablets to get their sleep pattern right. Playing a game 3 days after a 23 plus hour, 11,400 mile flight, is just crazy. Puts the Lions on the back foot straight away.

It is a little close to kick off, definitely.

But I've fly between Europe and NZ on a regular basis and I'm usually fine after a day or two. So it's debatable how much effect it really had. I actually think you're better off not taking sleeping pills, they're more detrimental than anything and you wake up feeling far worse than what you would do naturally staying awake and fixing your sleeping patterns that way.

I think it was more down to the fact this team have never played together before. It's a strange environment for them and the fellas they were playing were really up for the occasion and mentally ready for the task at hand.

I'm expecting the Lions to come together at some point in some shape or form. Fortunately for them they have NZ's worst Super Rugby team to try and getting things going.

 

[Nubiwan]

After looking back at that performance it was clear jet lag played a key role in such a bad performance. Reading that players are needed sleeping tablets to get their sleep pattern right. Playing a game 3 days after a 23 plus hour, 11,400 mile flight, is just crazy. Puts the Lions on the back foot straight away.

Yes, very odd they never took a week to acclimatize and get over the lag. Not like they are short on cash. Seems they will have put themsleves behind the 8 ball to me, now having to prepare for matches every 4 days. The issue is what Lions team plays Wednesday, who on Saturday, assuming you are playing to win. It's a pretty rough schedule with no easy fixtures outside the opener.

Any of the NZ posters know if the ABs players are available for their provincial teams? Crusaders for example and canes. Going to make them bloody tough matches.

 

[Which Tyler]

Sorry for your misunderstanding, I said "full strength" not "first choice", presumably Gatland didn't bring many passengers to the other end of the planet.

Sorry, but... what's the difference? Do you !ram we didn't play any injured players?

Up here, the phrase "full strength" means that it's the strongest team you can field, and "first choice" by definition.

 

[Nubiwan]

It is a little close to kick off, definitely.

But I've fly between Europe and NZ on a regular basis and I'm usually fine after a day or two. So it's debatable how much effect it really had. I actually think you're better off not taking sleeping pills, they're more detrimental than anything and you wake up feeling far worse than what you would do naturally staying awake and fixing your sleeping patterns that way.

I think it was more down to the fact this team have never played together before. It's a strange environment for them and the fellas they were playing were really up for the occasion and mentally ready for the task at hand.

I'm expecting the Lions to come together at some point in some shape or form. Fortunately for them they have NZ's worst Super Rugby team to try and getting things going.

LOL- NZ's worst super rugby team. Famous last words. It occurs to me that NZ's worst provincial side would often have more points than their counterparts near the top of the Australia and South Africa conferences.

 

[Nubiwan]

As a neutral I don't think it's quite as dire as it seems, the one thing the Lions did extremely well was defend for long periods. Yes their half-backs looked very shakey which led to some very silly kicks and wasted opportunities but they weren't overly punished by it due to a very strong defense.

The biggest worry for me would be the inability to score points, it isn't easy to beat a NZ side but what you have to do is: 1)Dominate up front, 2) Contain the NZ attack off structured attack and 3)lastly score 25+ points at least regardless.

The reason you need to score 25+ points is there will always be at least three brilliant counter attacking tries that you can do virtually nothing about. If you look at wins against NZ sides in (or the AB's themselves) in the near past you don't get it done by keeping the game low scoring because that's frankly impossible. You can only contain them so much. While I have faith the Lions could possible manage 1 and 2 it's their ability to put a big enough margin of points on the board that concerns me.

Anyway I'm excited for the tour, I'll be supporting some great rugby so here's hoping it's competitive from both sides!

Not always. England beat the abs in NZ 13-6 (13-9?) as I recall. 2003 was it? It pi553d down rain. The other thing might keep scores to a minimum in matches is the weather. The lions will look to play a 10 man game if the weather allows them. 5hit, they will probably do that if its sunny and bone dry. On the basis of the opener - long few weeks ahead

 

[Ground We Won]

Any of the NZ posters know if the ABs players are available for their provincial teams? Crusaders for example and canes. Going to make them bloody tough matches.

Fringe players will undoubtedly be available. Only sure fire starting XV and benchers won't be.

Crusaders should probably have Todd, Tamanivalu, Romano, Crockett and Dagg to get him more playing time.

Big doubts to play would be Moody, Taylor, S.Barrett.

Definitely won't play will be S.Whitelock, K.Read, O.Franks, R.Crotty.

 

[Nubiwan]

I think I will go out on a limb here and suggest several NZ sides will deploy the cross kick to offset the Lions line speed. The simple tactic worked 2 or 3 times yesterday, with alarming ease. With slightly better execution, the barbarians might have had more joy from it. Still, the lions kept sending 4 in a line to get their tackles in, and apply pressure. If they don't attend to the cross kick - the one were their winger stands by the touch line franticly waving his arms - then going to hurt them.