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2021 British & Irish Lions Tour
Warm Up Match 7: Hurricanes v British & Irish Lions (Wellington)
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<blockquote data-quote="big ginger 8" data-source="post: 861689" data-attributes="member: 53057"><p>Always amazes me how there seems to be a perception that SO'B isn't good over the ball. It's possibly his strongest aspect at this stage. His power is a big help in that area, he can get steals when a ruck is at a stage that most other players couldn't even get near the ball or stay on it. He made a steal on Saturday that was a prime example of that. I think Tipuric is somewhat overrated, as a poacher, because of being on the opposite side of the scale. His speed allows him to be first to the ruck and make the steal but as a general rule he has to be a decent bit (as in around two seconds) earlier because if he's not in the perfect position he will get blown off the ball. Obviously there will be exceptions to this but that is the normal for him (and in fairness for most players). Still I definitely would have him on the bench ahead of Warburton. I'd have either him or Stander in the 20 shirt depending on he approach I wanted to take.</p><p></p><p>To chime in on the whole 'greatest' thing, it's obviously an exercise to nothing but for my money BO'D is the greatest. Of course I'm biased, but especially in a thing like this so is everyone else. BO'D wasn't simply a bright flash he was a continued flash of magnificence. At the time of his retirement he was the most capped player and is still the highest scoring centre ever. He played at the top level for 15 years, pretty much always as undersized. As rugby changed he changed as well, he burst onto the scene mostly being known as an incredibly dangerous individual threat, while he was still pretty good at everything else it was his main strength. As the game morphed following the ELVs etc he became a defensive mastermind and as good over the ball as any flanker. He still had a lot of his long range attacking ability but with defenses suddenly being more organised he became incredibly good at the pick and go. Then as his pace started to evaporate he became the one to set up the tries rather than scoring them with sublime distribution (somehow despite not being the most incredible passer). Throughout this he kept that magical skill level and inventiveness that allowed him to score those tries against Australia, New Zealand, Wasps and France all spread out across his career. Even for all this his toughness really set him apart, he was injured a lot, but always seemed to heal faster than he had any right to. Even in his thirties when he was injured and meant to be out for 12 months missing the 2012 HEC final he came back within a third of that time a play and excellent game. That's not to suggest he'd always go off with those injuries, most notably in the 2009 6N he nearly always kept getting back up and made the opposition regret that he did.</p><p></p><p>Sure as an Irish and Leinster fan I basically can't give any different answer but that doesn't mean he doesn't have an ******* excellent case.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="big ginger 8, post: 861689, member: 53057"] Always amazes me how there seems to be a perception that SO'B isn't good over the ball. It's possibly his strongest aspect at this stage. His power is a big help in that area, he can get steals when a ruck is at a stage that most other players couldn't even get near the ball or stay on it. He made a steal on Saturday that was a prime example of that. I think Tipuric is somewhat overrated, as a poacher, because of being on the opposite side of the scale. His speed allows him to be first to the ruck and make the steal but as a general rule he has to be a decent bit (as in around two seconds) earlier because if he's not in the perfect position he will get blown off the ball. Obviously there will be exceptions to this but that is the normal for him (and in fairness for most players). Still I definitely would have him on the bench ahead of Warburton. I'd have either him or Stander in the 20 shirt depending on he approach I wanted to take. To chime in on the whole 'greatest' thing, it's obviously an exercise to nothing but for my money BO'D is the greatest. Of course I'm biased, but especially in a thing like this so is everyone else. BO'D wasn't simply a bright flash he was a continued flash of magnificence. At the time of his retirement he was the most capped player and is still the highest scoring centre ever. He played at the top level for 15 years, pretty much always as undersized. As rugby changed he changed as well, he burst onto the scene mostly being known as an incredibly dangerous individual threat, while he was still pretty good at everything else it was his main strength. As the game morphed following the ELVs etc he became a defensive mastermind and as good over the ball as any flanker. He still had a lot of his long range attacking ability but with defenses suddenly being more organised he became incredibly good at the pick and go. Then as his pace started to evaporate he became the one to set up the tries rather than scoring them with sublime distribution (somehow despite not being the most incredible passer). Throughout this he kept that magical skill level and inventiveness that allowed him to score those tries against Australia, New Zealand, Wasps and France all spread out across his career. Even for all this his toughness really set him apart, he was injured a lot, but always seemed to heal faster than he had any right to. Even in his thirties when he was injured and meant to be out for 12 months missing the 2012 HEC final he came back within a third of that time a play and excellent game. That's not to suggest he'd always go off with those injuries, most notably in the 2009 6N he nearly always kept getting back up and made the opposition regret that he did. Sure as an Irish and Leinster fan I basically can't give any different answer but that doesn't mean he doesn't have an ******* excellent case. [/QUOTE]
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Warm Up Match 7: Hurricanes v British & Irish Lions (Wellington)
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