The Silver Fern

Greatest ever Lions, my arse.

@MiketheSnow said in Wallabies v Lions I:

@Catogrande said in Wallabies v Lions I:

@Dodge said in Wallabies v Lions I:

@MiketheSnow said in Wallabies v Lions I:

Friends who went said it was a great evening with a tremendous atmosphere

Farrell totally vindicated with his selections of Beirne and Curry in the back row

Beirne got MOTM but I would have given it to Curry

Excellent, dominant first half from the Lions and should have kicked on to give the Wallabies a real pasting in the second half

But personnel changes gave the Aussies a sniff and they were like 50 year olds at the Oasis reunion gigs, didn’t need a second invitation to have a go

There is no way on God’s Green Earth that Earl had arms in that tackle

Should have been Penalty (possibly Penalty Try) and YC

12-24 with Earl in the bin from the 60th - 70th minutes is a very different game

Lowe, Keenan, and Freeman the only realistic changes for the second test

With possibly Morgan or Pollock on the bench instead of Earl

If Schmidt has his thinking cap on this week and the Italian ref wants to penalise the Lions offsides and repeated killing of the ball in their own 22 it could be a very interesting second match

Back three all had pretty average games which there’s no real excuse for when your forwards are that dominant.

As for the Earl tackle, surprised he got away with it but wouldn’t necessarily blame BOK, the TMO was categorical that there were arms in the tackle and it was fine, BOK checked on a number of occasions but was shut down.

That was my recollection but on watching again, when BoK goes to the TMO for checking the try, he says firstly that he wants to check for foul play by red in the lead up to the try AND states that he feels that there was an attempt to wrap using both arms. The TMO agreed with that.

And even with slow mo they were both wrong IMHO

I think the discussions between the refs should not be broadcast. It discourages debate and disagreement.

@antipodean said in Brumbies v British & Irish Lions:

Chessum went well.

I don't think he is mobile enough to be a 6, as was seen in the Creighton try from the scrum.

Credit to the Brumbies who went down swinging.

@cgrant said in AUNZ XV vs British and Irish Lions:

@ARHS said in AUNZ XV vs British and Irish Lions:

Just watched. Anzac midfield pretty awful. Bizarre back subs made. Horrid back pass from Fakatava. I guess just nothing clicked for them.
MP don't look to get getting the old Laumape. Looks a bit slow.
The Lions were very clinical and impressive all round.

Most Ferners who were hoping to get Laumape back in NZ should be in a very different mood now. Of course, they didn't watch the Top 14 games where he was involved. He was already a shadow of his former self.

There's a reason why they end up back in NZ. They're not wanted by anyone overseas.

@antipodean said in Waratahs v British Lions:

@sparky said in Waratahs v British Lions:

Ireland's favourite English nepotist is claiming the Waratahs watered their pitch. They are claming they didn't.

Murray Kinsella  /  Jul 5 Farrell says Waratahs watered the pitch. Waratahs say they didn't Farrell says Waratahs watered the pitch. Waratahs say they didn't

The Australian side have pointed to the bad weather in Sydney earlier this week.

Irish and British don't have experience of wet pitches? Does it not rain over there?

Dry as a nun's in Ireland

Lara Pitt is the Australian rugby league equivalent.

Though without the grating voice.

@barbarian said in Force v British Lions:

I thought O'Keeffe was pretty good. If that's the style the tour will be played, bring it on! Let it flow, good competition on the ground but leeway given to the attacking team.

All for fewer whistles esp at breakdown. But can’t see why we should give one side an extra advantage in any contest?

Team in possession already has an advantage - they decide where/on what terms breakdowns are going to happen. If they can’t use that advantage to get support to tackled player & to create, use & exploit space buggered if I can see why we should give them licence to cheat a bit to keep the ball.

Fewer more fiercely contested rucks not more bullshit ones produces better quality rugby.

@Tim Great try. It does show the inexperience of Pollock, though. Curry rushes Albornoz to pressure the kick but because Pollock is lax in following up, Albornoz is able to step inside the gap.

I'm sure Andy Farrell will let him know. But fantastic execution by Albornoz nonetheless. One of the best 10s running around nowadays.

@mariner4life we were top tier on half way for the Bledisloe

A series that ended 2-1. A series that turned, in the end, on one play and one missed tackle. Sell out crowds of nearly 250,000 people at iconic sporting venues. Millions made for the Aussie economy. Tens of thousands of British and Irish tourists going home after a trip of a life time. Much debate about referees and TMOs. Thousands of yarns told over jugs of beer. Friendships forged between good rugby folk.

Let's stop right now all talk of the British and Irish Lions not touring Australia again.

Roll on 2037!

I think these are the docos. Shitty 360p quality on youtube

Interesting to see how the aftermath of the Rassie thing has been totally ignored by the local media and official channels.

Glad to hear that the result of the series is not being over-turned though! But, a bit disappointing that 3 of the allegations of errors were found incorrect by the expert officials panel. He was ruled correct on only a measly 23 of them.

But, the huge leaked revelation/allegation is that Erasmus sent a copy of the video to Referee Nic Berry before it surfaced in Aussie media. Looks like somebody deliberately hung Erasmus out to dry. I wonder if any action will be taken on that, as apparently sending a review video to a referee is not a novel thing?

@machpants said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:

Best banter from Squidge, 6:16 in - so true

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The brushing under the carpet has worked its magic on me. I don't remember any Guilford only a Guildford..

@sidbarret our refs are very strict on this on CC. My first thought was red.

LCD and Watson are class acts. Have to start in the tests

Just watched that last 20 minutes of the Boks A and Bulls, well done to the Bulls for scrapping out a win. Boks A looked rattled.

More questions than answers for mine.
The Sharks were pretty pants in that first match, wait then suddenly(in the first half anyway) they managed to turn it around and gain relative parity in just 3 days?
Just how good are the Lions??
On evidence of the Sigma Lions and the Sharks matches - has SA rugby gone backwards??
And the biggest question of all - will we see any meaningful test rugby in 2021??

Dawes (together with Barry John & Mike Gibson) visited my school during the 71 tour. From memory he spoke very well and appreciated the school assembly singing Land of My Fathers.

I had a beer with him and Bill Beaumont after the 4th test in 77. Understandable he wasn't as chipper but still seemed like a decent sort. Lions in 77 were very unlucky. Shitty weather all tour long, Phil Bennett homesick and out of sorts, an unhappy tour party, key injuries before and during the tour - hence Beaumont being there. Yet despite all this they probably should have won the series 3-1 Batty and Knights winning tries in the 1st and 4th test both came against the run of play.

@sidbarret said in 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to SA:

@stodders the two things that stick out are the stoppages and that incident where the s&c coach got told off in NZ2.

Townsend had a bit of wingh this week about his players being sledged from the sidelines by the SA support staff (though I think he missed the actual sledge - the comments were in Afrikaans and half his team understood what was said - call it a meta sledge).

It's all very class stuff.

If you win it's fine (see Aussie cricket circa 2003) but if lose or are just average you soon become Aussie cricket in 2018.

See Haddin ODI CWC Final 2015... to quote: we won didn't we?