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Western Force v British & Irish Lions - 5/6/13

Bottom line (for me) is that the Force, sitting at the bottom of the Australian conference, managed two tries against the mighty Lions. And the Force kept the Lions score under a point-a-minute. Fairly sure the Reds, sitting in the second Ozzie spot and 5th overall (I believe), will do a bit better.

das
 
some pretty bad - to the point of being surprising - defense by the Force...they managed to score at least once, two in fact of course...
Scrum held, which was very surprising, astonishing really...a bit of a mystery, I don't think Healy just "had a bad day" merely..

It's not like the scrum will be a concern at any point this Tour for the Lions anyways...when Adam Jones (among others) steps on the field, I can't imagine the Wallabies will have an answer to that...
 
Goos stuff form the Lions loads of good performances really liked the back 3 getting involved and the backrow were all fairly good, hoping Healy is alright.
 
Anyone know if any good extended highlights are up yet, or even the full match? Was in a lecture so had to make do with the live text feed
 
Aparrently Murray up for citing for stamping?

Odd, didn't really notice Murray use his feet that much, the one I did was fair game as the Force player was led all over it and he was sin binned for slowing it down.
 
I just am very really confused right now, Tuilagi and Driscoll play amazing performances today. But then Roberts and Davies also play great rugby against the barbarians. Tuilagi/Roberts - yeah both very strong, both will push any aus man over. But then Driscoll and Davies same player in a way haha. Both fantastic speed and magic rugby!

Gatland picks the next squad, I say he has to pick four of the centres together, just all too great to leave out any of them. Please, have Driscoll and Davies for inside/outside. Then tuilagi/roberts goes on the right wing and left wing?

Could work out I say.
 
I just am very really confused right now, Tuilagi and Driscoll play amazing performances today. But then Roberts and Davies also play great rugby against the barbarians. Tuilagi/Roberts - yeah both very strong, both will push any aus man over. But then Driscoll and Davies same player in a way haha. Both fantastic speed and magic rugby!

Gatland picks the next squad, I say he has to pick four of the centres together, just all too great to leave out any of them. Please, have Driscoll and Davies for inside/outside. Then tuilagi/roberts goes on the right wing and left wing?

Could work out I say.

But that would leave Tommy Bowe, George North and Alex Cuthbert out who also played well ! :D

Gatland has his work cut out for him though almost all of his outside backs are on good form and in with a chance of starting, the same with the back row.
 
This is the supposed bite.

936162_536108713118289_1679252432_n.png
 
As I did it with the first match, I'll try to give my opinion of individual performances.

01 Cian Healy - 6/10. Struggled a little in the scrum which was surprising. Carried well and defended strongly whilst on the pitch. Unfortunately god injured before he could turn things around in the scrum (I would have backed him to do so).
02 Rory Best - 5.5/10. Maybe a slightly harsh score, but I felt that his lineout throwing was a little off on occasion (I thought the first lost lineout was an overthrow from him). Not as dynamic in open play as his usual standards dictate.
03 Dan Cole - 6/10. Looked solid in the scrum, but not as dominant as Adam's display the other night. A little quiet for his standards in open play as well. Needs to step it up a notch or two to compete for a starting test spot.
04 Alun-Wyn Jones - 7/10. Worked tirelessly, and did a huge amount of graft. A couple of small errors including his yellow card, and the dropped re-start. I think there's a little more to come from him.
05 Ian Evans - 6/10. Quiet game from the Ospreys man. I'm sure there was plenty he did that I missed, but he certainly didn't stand-out.
06 Tom Croft - 7.5/10. Strong game from Croft, doing what he does well.
07 SOB - 8/10. Dynamic all round game from SOB. Carried well and linked well with those around him. Rushed out of defence to allow an easy Force try though.
08 Jamie Heaslip - 8.5/10. Tempted to give him a 9. It was an all out rampaging display. Really one of the best displays from Heaslip in years. The battle between him and Faletau is going to be awesome, with Heaslip edging it atm.

09 Conor Murray - 7/10. Did a lot of stuff well, but was a little slow on occasion.
10 Johnny Sexton - 8/10. Ran the show. Some great distribution really got on the outside of the Force. Classy.
11 George North - 8/10. Was everywhere and beat defenders every time he touched the ball. Lovely offload for BOD's first try. The only thing he didn't do was score.
12 Manu Tuilagi - 7.5/10. Very good display from Tuilagi, showing a nice variety to his game. Oddly enough, I thought his carrying could have been a little stronger, with North eclipsing him in that regard.
13 BOD - 8/10. Shows once again that he's a master at playing off direct players. He's a superb support runner, always offering an offload option for the likes of North, Tuilagi and Bowe.
14 Tommy Bowe - 7/10. Started on fire, and had an excellent first half. Offered some great running lines in midfield, and finished well for his try. Maybe dropped off slightly in the second half, but still an overall good display.
15 Leigh Halfpenny - 8/10. Maybe the pressure was off, but his goal-kicking display left me almost speechless on occasions. Every one went straight through the centre, even though most were from out wide. Solid in other aspects of the game, offering himself in support. I'd still like to see him hitting the line from deeper and with more purpose in attack.

16 Tom Youngs - 6/10. Another solid display from the hooker off the bench. Noticed him putting in a few very solid tackles during his time on the pitch.
17 Mako Vunipola - 8/10. Made a huge impact after replacing the injured Healy. Looked strong in the scrum, but it was his carrying that really stood out, always breaking tackles and getting over the gainline. Coupled this with a few nice offloads and a try and I couldn't ask for much more.
18 Matt Stevens - 6/10. Seemed to come on and do well. Again I noticed a couple of good tackles, and the scrum held up fine with him on the pitch.
19 Geoff Parling - 7/10. Made an impact with a nice try and a couple of decent carries.
20 Toby Faletau - 7.5/10. Came on and carried on from where he left off in Hong Kong. Took over the restarts and was solid there again. Put in a few nice touches again.
21 Ben Youngs - 7/10. Was happy with his contribution. Added a little more zip with his speed to the breakdown and passing.
22 Owen Farrell - 7/10. Much happier with his contribution this time. I think that early try really helped him gain some confidence and he looked more comfortable because of it.
23 Sean Maitland - 6/10. Only got 7 or 8 minutes, so I'm not going to be critical of his play. Maybe his defence a little suspect during his time on the pitch, but I'd need a second viewing to really check.
 
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This is the supposed bite.

936162_536108713118289_1679252432_n.png

Really dont see it, from te replays I saw it was somthing more along the lines of him throwing his arm at Healy's mouth which may have been open.

So some more detailed thoughts from me.

The front row was overall pretty good nothing really outstanding in the scrum which I expected to muller the Force one so in a way a bit disappointed. Best's throwing continues to be problem those two misses realistically could have cost 2 trys considering opposition and when those chances come in a test they need to be taken. the man I was most impressed by was Vunipola very good coming in for Healy which could be important as his injury did look bad even if it only a sprain.

2nd row were fairly anonymous haven't seen it a second time yet so I'll have to go back and take a look at them closely.

Now the back row were really good. All 3 of them worked veyr hard and put in great shifts in the lose. Heaslip and SOB stood out more in the loose and form what I saw croft hit a lot of rucks. Heaslip coming back into this form at this time is just great for the Lions. SOB looked like a very good 7 today not in terms of fetching but his linking and support was top class.

Murray was quite average to be honest dosen't seem to offer any more then Philips to me he did his job but naught to write home about.

Sexton was just great ran thing superbly his passing at the gain line was just so much better than Farrel last week, who admitly was better off the bench this week.

The centers were good, Tuilangi didn't quite make the impact I expected him to make early on but he got more into it later. BOD was very good didn;t do a lot of "leading: today but he didn't need to both his trys were great support and the finishing on the first one was very good. Still want to see him and Roberts perhaps after the Reds game.

Back 3 alos good Bowe looked for work which is what I like so much about him over Cutbert who is a pace man and finishes well but hes not as good a footballer. North was used very well and showed some nice touches such as the offload to BOD. Halfpenny was brillant with the boot 10/10 if I'm not mistaken which is just unbelievable he also showed a few glips of countering and some good defense.

Probably a little overly happy with that but just the way I saw it.
 
Whilst I'm gutted for Healy, I'm really happy for Corbs!

From what I've read Healy's not out just yet:

British & Irish Lions Head Coach Warren Gatland said: "Cian has had an X-ray and, while his left ankle is not broken, he will be assessed further when we get to Brisbane. In the meantime we need to get Alex over here as soon as possible and I am thankful to Stuart Lancaster for letting him go so quickly."
 
I hope nothing comes of this Healy stuff as he has just been on fire recently but i'm not to hopefully after being carried off being fit within 3 weeks is unlikely.
 
I hope nothing comes of this Healy stuff as he has just been on fire recently but i'm not to hopefully after being carried off being fit within 3 weeks is unlikely.


Not sure about the "on fire bit" as not seen him a lot recently....time he moved to France....but agree entirely about the three week doubt and surely that is enought to say good bye and here is your business class ticket home? It seems to me we may already have to many passengers but we must see how the two injured are on their comebacks on Saturday and when, indeed, Kearney makes an appearance but surely time is running out!!

Edit...we should also remember that Corbs has played virtually nil rugby in the last 12 months!
 

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