The Rugby Union Thread

mattdavis

Conor Murray named as tour captain. Interesting. I’d much rather have a forward as captain against the Boks. 

TJT1979

Was a bit disappointed by Japan. Lions were never under much sustained pressure. Biggar played nicely I thought. 

The Quins/Exeter game was amazing to watch as a neutral. Fearless attacking rugby. There is an argument that the defenses could have been tighter. 

Surely Eddie can’t ignore Marcus Smith and Sam Simmonds any more. At fly half I’d put either Smith or Joe Simmonds over George Ford. I thought Nowell was good too today. 

Worried about Cowan-Dickie from a Lions perspective. Gutted about AWJ too. Great player but he’ll be missed as a captain even more. 

TJT1979

Conor Murray surprised me as choice for captain

sev112

Yes surprised me as first pick scrum half too given his less than great international performances this past year plus.  But lot of experience, good player, and the closest back to the forwards.

scrumhalf

The Lions at their best have at least half a dozen captains on the field. If you're good enough to be a Lion you will have a pretty good idea of what to do and how to do it. 

koneguitarist

A lot can’t understand why Beard is picked, think he’s a great player in the Luke Charteris mode, great tackler and a bloody nuisance in mauls. Also our line out improved massively after he came back from Injury. 

Suspect AWJ will retire soon, nothing left to prove. 

fretmeister

https://www.skysports.com/rugby-union/news/12040/12343110/south-africa-squad-in-isolation-ahead-of-lions-tour-after-three-players-return-positive-covid-tests?fbclid=IwAR1GdaH4J4MYgXpZZ3xxlpIRjrPOse4Rhu0EvqNTV6O2-tuX-ff_C1Jntas


SA Squad have positive Covid tests.

sev112

koneguitarist said:

A lot can’t understand why Beard is picked, think he’s a great player in the Luke Charteris mode, great tackler and a bloody nuisance in mauls. Also our line out improved massively after he came back from Injury. 

Suspect AWJ will retire soon, nothing left to prove. 

Surprised me , I thought they would bring in some bulk rather than height, I.e Gray who has been playing well, Ryan (even though he hasn’t) or even Launchbery who is like for like, but I guess he is still injured ?

exocet

I heard that Ryan is currently injured ?

Neill

sev112 said:

koneguitarist said:

A lot can’t understand why Beard is picked, think he’s a great player in the Luke Charteris mode, great tackler and a bloody nuisance in mauls. Also our line out improved massively after he came back from Injury. 

Suspect AWJ will retire soon, nothing left to prove. 

Surprised me , I thought they would bring in some bulk rather than height, I.e Gray who has been playing well, Ryan (even though he hasn’t) or even Launchbery who is like for like, but I guess he is still injured ?

Agree with that, Jonny Gray must be wondering what he has to do to get in the squad, he's as invaluable to the Scots as AWJ is to the Welsh.  I thought Warren Gatland had a reputation for picking form players?

VimFuego

Launchberry injured (and for some time to come I believe) not sure what more Gray has to do to get picked. I mean, I know there are a lot of class 2nd rows in the British Isles, but even so, he's still a class operator and a real workhorse. 

Gassage

It's not often I can combine my Pink Floyd love with my rugby love but today's lead goes like this....i'll link soon.....

Urban myth suggests that Roger Waters wasn’t even the best bass player in Pink Floyd, but his vision and leadership of the world’s greatest rock band was absolutely peerless. Sure, guitarist David Gilmour was a far better musician and technician (and even played bass on all the studio parts!) but as a leader and visionary, Waters held Pink Floyd’s creative success together and drove them forward with sheer charisma and willpower as a band bigger than the sum of their parts.

The 2021 British and Irish Lions find themselves in a similar position. We will never know if Alun Wyn Jones would have or would not have started in the tests and yes, there were question marks over his aging legs and mobility, but as a leader, make no doubt about it, he was the glue that was bonding this tour party together and the emotional orchestrater that plucked at the team’s heartstrings.

Neill

Gassage said:

It's not often I can combine my Pink Floyd love with my rugby love but today's lead goes like this....i'll link soon.....

Urban myth suggests that Roger Waters wasn’t even the best bass player in Pink Floyd, but his vision and leadership of the world’s greatest rock band was absolutely peerless. Sure, guitarist David Gilmour was a far better musician and technician (and even played bass on all the studio parts!) but as a leader and visionary, Waters held Pink Floyd’s creative success together and drove them forward with sheer charisma and willpower as a band bigger than the sum of their parts.

The 2021 British and Irish Lions find themselves in a similar position. We will never know if Alun Wyn Jones would have or would not have started in the tests and yes, there were question marks over his aging legs and mobility, but as a leader, make no doubt about it, he was the glue that was bonding this tour party together and the emotional orchestrater that plucked at the team’s heartstrings.

Which begs the question - who is the Dave Gilmour in the Lions squad..?

Gassage

Re other stuff....

Gray- he has a knee op scheduled to clean out some issues.

Ryan- injured.

Underhill- injured.

Adam Beard is very under rated, a real big unit and very disruptive- I can see why.

Re skipper- this is a lift from today's leader I wrote;

Ken Owens is far from sure of a test starting berth, and in any case, his personality lends itself more so to the role of Sergeant Major in the trenches rather than the General in the battlefield, so making him skipper robs the Lions of a crucial secondary leader on pitch. Stuart Hogg has suffered some horrendous luck and cruelly, has flattered deceive as a Lion and his focus must be on completing a tour in one piece and transporting his role as a brilliant free runner into the test side. Owen Farrell’s appointment would have taken so many headlines both in South Africa and the Celtic Nations that the pressure on him would have been enormous, coupled with the fact that he’s only a probability rather than a certainty to start the tests right now. He, like Owens, is better off (to continue our Floyd theme) with a ‘walk on part in the war rather than a lead role in a cage’ (sic).

Which leaves us with Conor Murray. The three qualities that go in his favour is his popularity in the squad, his sheer doggedness in terms of scraping wins from a crucial position on the pitch and the fact that he, like Alun Wyn Jones has something near a century of caps, winning tests against every one of the big three nations. It might not be the most obvious choice but when you unpack the logic behind Gatland’s thinking, it makes a great deal of rugby sense.

Gassage

Neill said:

Gassage said:

It's not often I can combine my Pink Floyd love with my rugby love but today's lead goes like this....i'll link soon.....

Urban myth suggests that Roger Waters wasn’t even the best bass player in Pink Floyd, but his vision and leadership of the world’s greatest rock band was absolutely peerless. Sure, guitarist David Gilmour was a far better musician and technician (and even played bass on all the studio parts!) but as a leader and visionary, Waters held Pink Floyd’s creative success together and drove them forward with sheer charisma and willpower as a band bigger than the sum of their parts.

The 2021 British and Irish Lions find themselves in a similar position. We will never know if Alun Wyn Jones would have or would not have started in the tests and yes, there were question marks over his aging legs and mobility, but as a leader, make no doubt about it, he was the glue that was bonding this tour party together and the emotional orchestrater that plucked at the team’s heartstrings.

Which begs the question - who is the Dave Gilmour in the Lions squad..?

Ooooooooo.......well Finn Russell is deffo Syd, so I'm going with Bigs as DG!

scrumhalf

As a Wasps fan I feel so gutted for Launch, a marvellous club player and leader and not half bad in an England shirt. 

sev112

scrumhalf said:

As a Wasps fan I feel so gutted for Launch, a marvellous club player and leader and not half bad in an England shirt. 

I don’t ever recal Lunchberry ever having a bad game for England - he is Richard Hill esque in what you don’t see him do

sev112

That is a really good point about Owens
he has had a very good year and has loads of relevant and Lions experience and he comes across as a real Lions player (rather than a clique player). .  I hope he gets the Test places and plays a blinder in all 3 

Gassage

Whole piece here

https://www.planetrugby.com/five-headaches-for-british-and-irish-lions-head-coach-warren-gatland/

sev112

Really feel for AWJ (blimey), even more for Tipuric 
Any news on Cowan Dickie?