It’s been 12 years in the waiting, but the Lions are back in Oz.
They face their first real test against a depleted Reds tonight.
Anyone else watching?
The 2001 tour was a highlight. I remember attending the first test at the Gabba- it was like attending an away test. I recall the defeat I that game directly led to the popularity of wearing gold to wallaby matches.
The pound doesn’t go are far today as it did in 01, so I wonder if there will be the level of support there was back then.
Big start by Quade Cooper. A double cutout and a triple cutout in the first five minutes? I think he’s trying to make a point.
I went on the South Africa tour in 2009 (best holiday ever - shame about the result) but changing priorities mean that I am staying at home this time. Apparently, the British and Irish are supposedly taking 50k over to Oz though, so I would imagine that there is going to be enough Lions support in the grounds when it rolls around to the Tests. Generally, people will go out for the Test matches in the greatest numbers - those on tour now are those doing the whole thing and that is quite expensive, so the numbers at Suncorp on Saturday will not be quite representative of what to expect later in the tour.
Thought the Reds did well on Saturday and continued to expose problem areas in the Lions defence (we’re especially weak around the fringes, it would seem - which is worrying for the tests as Will Genia is basically tailor made for exploiting that weakness) and it took the Lions some time to impose a game plan on the match. The first 30 minutes, with the Reds running from everywhere, were an interesting test and exposed the Lions for thinking that the game was going to proceed as they planned, rather than accounting for what the Reds would do. Later on, when the Lions got more ball and were able to use the forwards to good effect the game changed round a bit.
I suspect that a good approximation of the Lions test side will play on Saturday against the Waratahs. Tuesday’s team definitely has a “dirt track” look about it - especially with Hogg at 10 (the selection of only 2 proper fly halves in the squad overall is a bone of contention up here). There are still a few selection decisions up in the air in the pack though (loose head prop is open for my money, as is one place in the second row and the back row has a number of decent candidates), so Tuesday could still be interesting from that point of view. I think the backs in the 1st test are pretty much already selected though - barring injury. I see it being Phillips-Sexton-North-Roberts-O’Driscoll-Cuthbert-Halfpenny (only possible change I see would be Cuthbert missing out due to his defensive frailties - they’d have picked Bowe before he got injured - there is an outside chance that they give Tuilagi a go on the wing I reckon).
Oz are depleted due to injuries. People are making the Lions favourites. I think it is going to be a lot tighter than many up here are making out. Oz always find a way to make life hard.
With the fifth columnist in charge, we also find ways to make life hard for ourselves.
Lions tours are awesome. I went to the Wellington test in 2005 and saw Dan Carter play the best game of rugbythat I’ve ever seen anyone play.
I think Will Genia is the best halfback in the world at the moment, and I’m expecting something similar from him in one of the tests. It’ll be a great series, and I expect it’ll come down to the wire.
First test kicks off in 20. Was offered a ticket this afternoon, but the wife is working and I couldn’t get a babysitter. I am sure I will regret that, the atmosphere looks awesome again.
According to the BBC text commentary, the atmosphere is indeed electric, as is the current score:
23-21 ot the Lions as I write - I think they will just do it, but it’s anyone’s game at this point. Wish I could have watched it on TV, some of the tries in the first half sounded amazing!
The Lions Tour of New Zealand in 2005 was a sell out and a wonderful experience for the enthusiastic supporters as well as we locals. They are welcome back anytime never mind the score line.
The most surprising thing was that the really cool play revolved around George North and Israel Filau who were marking each other. Terrific match and I was happy that we didn’t win because of some BS ruck penalty.
Depends - are you a Lions or an Australian supporter?
Four spectacular tries, momentum swinging back and forth and Lions hold on to win by 2 after Australia miss a penalty with the last kick of the game
Deanes said Cooper wasn’t playing to the standard of a test 5/8. Well JOC wasn’t a 5/8th’s arsehole last night.
Despite the injury toll, I suspect that Deanes won’t recall cooper though - he may go with Toomua. Mogg should also come in for Barnes.
Despite poor goal kicking, backs going down like flies and an unimpressive forward pack Australia still would have won if Beale hadn’t slipped taking that last shot. I think the next match will also be epic.
As for Cooper, yes he’s a tool but he’s the best they’ve got at that position. You’ve got to play him in my opinion. Trying to use a converted outside back to play the most important position is a stupid mistake.
Fabulous match. Lions seemed generally to boss the play but Australia cut loose with some flashes of genius. Both sides looked dangerous and the result never certain. Just what the discerning rugby watcher demands.
Shame that the lad slipped and you’ve got to hope that it doesn’t scar him, also there are some nasty injuries that may or may not heal in time, the other issue is that Aussie captain Horwill has been cited for a stamp and on first viewing it doesn’t look good.
All of this sets up a classic “wounded animal” scenario for the second test. Very much looking forward to that.
Not surprisingly in Australia ‘The better team lost on the night’.
Hmmm, well I can understand them saying that but the stats don’t suggest any great injustice and I didn’t get that feeling from the game either. I thought it was very.very close. No point saying that it was “only kicking” that lets you down. Games aren’t won on line breaks and tries alone. If you aren’t kicking solidly then you run the risk of losing and rightly so.
The stats show the lions ahead on territory and possession, more turnovers but not good at the scrum. Everything else was pretty level. Stats don’t tell the whole story of course but they seems to be reasonably accurate in this case. i.e. it was close enough that an additional score either way would take it.
Well, from the Australian point of view the game began with two missed kicks and ended with two missed kicks and any of those kicks would have been enough to win it. Folau was the best player on the pitch, Genia is the world’s best scrum-half and the Australians progressively neutralized the vaunted Lions pack as the game went on.
On the other hand, the Lions had most of the attacking chances - apart from those two moments of individual brilliance Australia only looked like scoring penalties, and mostly penalties from Lions mistakes rather than Australian pressure.
I don’t get all the love for Filau. Certainly he was great, which is no surprise for anyone who follows rugby league, but I can’t see how he was the man of the match. He played on the wing, handled the ball very little and the guy he marked got across the line twice. A terrific debut since he hasn’t played there before in union, but best player on the ground? Genia was far more influential and North and Halfpenny were pretty good.
Yeah but I can’t really get behind that thinking. The kicks are only of value if you have good enough players to put them over. It’s not as if the 3 points are awarded by lottery. If you aren’t able to do that then…you may well lose. Like a football team that dominates possession and yet don’t have anyone to put it in the net. That’s not a complete team.
Plus, you can’t just count up the missed chances and say…there!..we deserve it. Seeing as Australia putting earlier chances over would have changed the dynamic of the match and the rest of it would not have panned out as it did. We just don’t know. And if you are willing to give the points missed (fractionally) to Australia then you have to give a (fractionally) missed converted try and (fractionally) missed penalty to the Lions as well.
Overall the scoreboard was a fair reflection +/- a score for each team. Which makes for good rugby (and that is all that really matters)
I assume you are taking into account that the Australian goal kicker was taken off on a stretcher after 53 seconds of play?
Admittedly Beale’s second last miss was ordinary and O’Connor seems to be a poor kicker generally but still you’d hope one shot at goal would be taken by your designated kicker.
If he is the only decent kicker then, yes, that is a weakness in the side. He might be injured or just having a bad day but if you can’t replace him with a decent alternative then …?