Warm Up Match 4: Highlanders v British & Irish Lions (Dunedin)

[Leonormous Boozer]

Henshaw was my mom for the Lions with little enough competition. He tackled anything pretending to be Scottish that moved!

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Firstly, can mods check the IP of the senile boy and ban whoever it is that's created a second account?

Secondly, how on earth was this a Highlanders turnover after Nowell takes the high ball? (and you can see from the picture that he does)

 

[TobesHodges]

My test team so far.
Mako-George-Furlong
Kruis-Henderson
Itoje-Faletau-Warburton

Murray-Farrell
Williams-Teo-Joseph-North
Watson

Owens,Cole,McGrath,AWJ,SOB,Webb,Sexton,Daley

 

[Chief Pete]

Really wanted Jack Nowell to bring his 'A' game today, sadly great NH winger who look's a bit lost playing this style, I'd like to see Watson stay at 15 for the rest of the tour with North and Williams on the wings for the tests...

 

[The Jones Boy]

Firstly, can mods check the IP of the senile boy and ban whoever it is that's created a second account?

Seconded.

 

[Ground We Won]

Aye, there's even a statue of Robbie Burns in the Octagon (centre of town).


Interested to see how we deal with the Lions rush defense, this is something the Crusaders didn't deal with or adapt to, a learning curve for Scott Robertson.

Predicting Sopoaga to be doing a lot of chip kicks in behind and turning the Lions midfield and I'm expecting us to play with some deep runners and width. Naholo will likely come inside a lot and attack the line off our rucks. Fekitoa will be fired up too, big tackles and hard hitting running.

I think the Lions rush defense suits our game plan, if Sopoaga finds some form he's one of the best tactical kickers in the country.

I'm going to predict a narrow victory for our boys.

No words can describe how proud I am of this team. They keep doing the 'impossible'.

Pleased to say I got the result spot on, but not quite the predictions of how certain players would perform.

Fair to say I was too optimistic of Sopoaga, this season he's had a shocker, I'm not sure why I miraculously thought he would do better. This also highlights it's Hansen worst ever All Black selection. I think after this tour he will have learned a few things.

Marty Banks, what can I say? He's my Highlanders player of the year, a modest hero who does the job perfectly week in week out without complaint and without the flashy BULLSHIT Sopoaga attempts. An exceptional player and a genuine legend. He clawed us back into the game after Sopoaga literally kicked and threw the game to near brink of oblivion. I said from the start Banks should have started, but I'm just glad he came on and saved us, it was really fitting for how this season has unraveled for the Highlanders and Marty Banks will no doubt get the player of the season award.

I haven't watched the game on the TV yet, so I can't give an honest opinion of certain parts just yet, but I did think having a less pedantic ref made the world of difference and allowed this game to turn into the spectacle that it was.

Naholo was everywhere and did everything tonight, him and Marty were my MotM's and Buckman not far off. These characters really sum up the Highlanders for me, great hard working good underrated players that stick it to the flash Harry's.

No Lions players stuck their hand up to be counted for in the tests either I think. They thrived off 2 Sopoaga mistakes to keep in the game and lacked the clinical edge of their own moves to really punish the Highlanders, they have to be disappointed to lose to such a depleted team. Good luck to them vs the Maori's and Chiefs, they will need it.

 

[Chief Pete]

Some cracking new forum users today (and by that I mean they're not very good)

I picked the wrong day to finally open an account then, didn't realise I'd joined with the trolls....

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

I picked the wrong day to finally open an account then, didn't realise I'd joined with the trolls....

Welcome to the forum!
It's always a bit of a cluster **** during major events such as the six nations and world cup. And also lions tours, it turns out..

 

[munstermuffin]

Rewatched there and in my eyes.
Henderson and Lawes when on were superb.
Stander had very good finish.
Sinkler was good too. Rest of pack weren't good.
In backs. Webb did very well but not still behind Murray. Henshaw and JJ had moments nut nothing to get selectors getting itch forntest selection

 

[Larksea]

amazing tight game full of drama, I didn't think the highlanders had much of a chance without the Smiths but as soon as I saw the ref I thought they were in with a shot.
In the end it did require some inspiring performances from some guys who are not household names in the rugby world. But I guess that's the great thing about these games, while they are super rugby teams there are some wider training group players involved who are basically provincial players who get a shot for some exposure.

Guys that really made a name for themselves are
Jackson Hemapo who really got stuck in and somehow came out on top in a lot of the physical stuff.
Teihorangi Walden was very handy, some good little kicks, played with a lot of energy and was on the spot when stuff needed to be cleaned up
Kayne Hammington wasn't mistake free but he was important in dictating the tempo and getting the game up to the speed the highlanders needed. He also made some important tackles.

A couple of the highlanders big names came to the party.
Whitelock was brilliant, I think everyone just expected him to be good and he didn't disappoint. He hits guys in tackles often and hard, a very smart player and decent ball carrier.
Naholo was epic, not just his running game but the fact that the lions targeted him with their kicking game and he absolutely turned it against them. IMO there isn't a contest between Savea and Naholo anymore. Naholo has proven to be a far more reliable attacking weapon with a workrate that would make Savea Blush.
Marty Banks legend continues to evolve, he probably deserved to start but it was kinda fitting for him to come on with the scoreboard down and organize the team to somehow come out on top.

One of the big talking points was Fekitoa, started the game with a hiss but faided fast. hardly spotted in the last 2-3 quarters and even made some errors on defense.

The Sopoaga cross kick was obviously a critical point in the game. The kick was on but it wasn't flat or wide enough. I am going to put some of the blame on Fekitoa as well. When you are out to take a kick like that and it clearly isn't good you need to react and either attack the ball or drop back to defend, ignore the ball and position yourself to tackle the opposition player that will get it. you can't just wait for it to come to you.

Some good moments from the Lions as well, I think they had a hard night with players picking up injuries. The Lawes head knock was very bad, one of the worst I've seen. Naholo is the one guy you need to get your technique right with or you will get hurt. Hopefully he recovers ok but you would expect for safety he should be out for a while and probably rule him out of the series. Coming back quickly after a KO like that is like playing Russian roulette.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Seconded.

I had a look last night, not shared IPs with anyone else. They're using a Netherlands IP (obviously forwarded, but makes it impossible to check who it is).

 

[smartcooky]

Marty Banks legend continues to evolve, he probably deserved to start but it was kinda fitting for him to come on with the scoreboard down and organize the team to somehow come out on top.

Marty will be a tremendous loss for both the Highlanders and Tasman

What a shame his talents are going to be wasted playing in Europe's rugby backwater.

 

[mania]

hemapo played awesome. i'm surprised that there are still high quality players in NZ that are hidden in the woodwork.
naholo's gotta start for the ABs. sorry Julian
sopoaga's and NZ 1st5's in general are going to the cross kick way too much. upside is i was able to show my 10 yr old what happens when you telegraph it, as he's started using it in his game and i warned him that its easy to intercept if u anticipate it.
not entirely sure why sopoaga got to start. banks has been the steersman for HMS HiLanders all season and doing an awesome job. hansen mustve made a request to brown/mcleod cos i wouldve started marty.
marty is mrReliable. makes awesome split second decisions
cant help but feel that the landers were helped by a super refs interpretation. gardiner had a good game but i doubt the lions feel the same. however its just the way we play the game in the SH. these games will be heavily influenced by the ref we have i reckon.
that scrum penalty i'm in 2 minds about. sinckler is right in that it was a new front row and they shouldve been allowed to bed in and find their feet...however, they were clearly dominated and popped and imo gardiner had no choice but to award a dominant scrum

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Marty will be a tremendous loss for both the Highlanders and Tasman

What a shame his talents are going to be wasted playing in Europe's rugby backwater.

Where's he going?
Didn't he not turn up to Treviso, stayed playing in NZ instead?

 

[Larksea]

I think the one big take home point from these game so far is that it does seem like the lions need their #1 team or close too it to beat NZ's super rugby teams. I mean this was almost a highlanders B team Missing their best players in Aaron Smith and Ben Smith plus others. I think its safe to say that a Highlanders A team would have comfortably put this lions side away.

How are they going to deal with the All Blacks? Gatland said he thinks NZ's super rugby sides are so good their isn't much of a gap compared to the All Blacks. If he actually believes that he is in for a heck of a shock... The way this tour is going i think the All Blacks are heavy favorites to win 3-0 and the really interesting games are the super rugby games.

The lions are now 1 win and 2 losses against Super teams. They need to beat the Hurricanes and Chiefs to win that series, that sure wont be easy.
One thing that is going for them is that the Maori and Chiefs games are so close together I think that means the chiefs side is going to be seriously depleted How many of the guys in the current Maori Squad will be able to turn around for the Chiefs a few days later, then you expect that many of the All Blacks will be missing too as they are in a separate camp.... You take Messam, Lowe, McKenzie, Cruden, Ngatai, ALB, TKB, Hames, Elliot and Retaclick out of the chiefs and it is well and truly a B team. maybe one or two of these guys will make it in but others will be missing too.

Hopefully the chiefs put a good team together its the one game I have a ticket too

 

[mania]

congrats lions . you can hold your collective heads high with pride.
despite the loss they continue to evolve and come test time theyre gonna be awesome .
this game was winnable right up to the final second.
beating the landers is hard and lions came close

 

[TRF_Olyy]

The way this tour is going i think the All Blacks are heavy favorites to win 3-0 and the really interesting games are the super rugby games.

Has there been a point where this wasn't the case? Even when we had a predictions thread the most optimistic suggestion was managing to sneak the dead rubber game and lose 2-1

 

[smartcooky]

I had a look last night, not shared IPs with anyone else. They're using a Netherlands IP (obviously forwarded, but makes it impossible to check who it is).

Public proxies normally own ranges or blocks of IP numbers, for example a proxy might own fifty ip addresses from nnn.85.195.128 to nnn.85.195.177

Check the troll's IPs by using "whois" and see if they all belong to the same Public Proxy server in the Netherlands. If they do, then its highly likely that they are all the same user, and you can stop them by blocking the entire range of IP's owned by that proxy server site

 

[valley commando]

Definitely, Sexton with Farrell at 12, they desperately need Sexton's passing which is a hell of a lot better than Farrell's.

Farrell has played 1/2 penny into the test starting line up with his poor percentage rate, Farrell is either picked at 10 or not in the 23, I think he'll be playing 10 and I can see Biggar on the bench with Sexton missing out.

 

[Larksea]

Has there been a point where this wasn't the case? Even when we had a predictions thread the most optimistic suggestion was managing to sneak the dead rubber game and lose 2-1

I think the Lions best chance is the first test.

The All Blacks are historically rusty in their first proper test of the season and a test against Samoa is historically not good preparation. In the first test the Lions will have had a lot more time together and will be much better prepared.

But then there is the Eden Park Factor. Beating the All Blacks is one thing, beating them at home is another thing... Then beating them at Eden Park is a whole other story.

But I do think with a lions tour the fact they will have been here for a few weeks already and they have a lot of supporters here helps counter the home advantage a bit.

I understand two of the tests have a french Referee? Lions should target that as well, every bit helps...