This post first appeared on The fine margins of rugby
Last weekend showed that test match rugby is all about fine margins as the Lions edged out the Aussies in a thrilling encounter.
First things first, we won’t crack any jokes about Mr Beale as Deans is to blame for actually giving him the kicking duties. Selecting a player hardly out of rehab to take the most influential kick of your career seems a bit like trusting a gypsy. Just don’t do it. It will never work out.
Felt good to get that off the chest. Now onto the next pressing subject of the weekend as the RWC Sevens has kicked off in Moscow. The IRB has released a video in which Dallaglio talks up the event, but the guy has gone to Melbourne – says everything about that event. And that is how it should be. Sevens is fine if 15s is not on.
Just to clarify, anyone choosing to watch the sevens over the Lions game should take a long hard look at themselves. It’s like going shopping with the Mrs – toughen up, bro. Now onto the real treat of the weekend.
Lucky escape
The game last week was closer than most people expected and had it not been for weak, whinging Aussies leaving the field at an impressive rate, the Lions would have lost. We questioned Gatland´s selection in our last piece, but forgot to mention Phillips. Or we left it out on purpose as we just wanted to see how he got on.
And the jury is back. Like most people expected, he was utter shambles, slow at the breakdown, useless passing, and couldn´t even be arsed to track back for the Folau try. So now he’s injured. Bulls..t. The guy was a joke. Hopefully, Youngs can add a bit of impetus to get an uninspiring backline firing.
The other Youngs was the pick of the week (no mention for Folau as he is an Aussie – or Tongan as Eliota Fuimanono-Sapulo would say. Yes, Manu Samoa Tuilagi is a proper English name. Never been to Leicestershire?). His throwing was above par, and he did well around the park.
No Croft?
Another standout player of the week was Crofty who played well, covered a lot of ground and defended like an animal. Put him on the bench this weekend? Seems logical. Or not. Lydiate is a solid tackler, but offers nothing going forward, and his job is to mark Genia. Good luck.
Defending Genia is not a one-man job, it´s a team effort. We see this one backfiring on Gatts. Yes, Mowen took out Phillips brilliantly; however, Phillips is no Genia – not even a poor man´s Genia. We’ll leave it at that as we don’t want the Welshies to build up too much anger.
We do, however, have a lot of time for North (oh yes, he is English) and thought he had a stormer, and his solo try was like a work of art. Little wave to Genia? Fine in our book. Nothing wrong with taunting the Aussies. He needs to have another blinder again today to counter the threat of Folau, who was very impressive on his first outing.
Lions are also without O´Connell and Corbisiero, and they’ll be sorely missed – O´Connell for his grunt and power and Corbs for his scrummaging prowess and darting runs (darting for a prop that is). Parling comes into the second-row and will do well at the lineout, but he’s no POC at scrum time or around the park.
Vunipola had his problems at the scrum last week and now has to start. Are they corrected? Only time will tell. We certainly hope so as Ryan Grant looks more unfit than Stevens and, to some extent, Matt Dunning. A bit harsh? Sorry.
Deans is an idiot. End of story
Deans got a lot of his backline decisions wrong last week and cost the men in gold the game. O´Connor is no ten and Berrick Barnes couldn´t defend to save his life. Pathetic. Bringing on Beale did wonders for the Aussies, but his place kicking was a disgrace – and led to the Aussie downfall.
Considering all the injuries, Lions should have won by more than two points. So why didn´t they? We’ll keep it short. Warburton was ineffective and shouldn´t even play in the midweek team – total bias from Gatts. Get Tipuric in there, and fast.
Slow ball to the backs meant they never got going, but where most people tend to blame Davies for a lack of creativity, we put it down to BOD. He was a fantastic player (the keyword being was) in his day, but he has lost his magic and offers little, except an unreal number of pens. Sort it out. Tuilagi would drive some fear into the Aussies; however, he is nowhere to be seen. On a ferry in NZ? Who knows.
Bowe is back
Cuthbert scored a try on Sat that any winger in the world would have scored. Besides that, he did absolutely nothing and deserves to be dropped.
We had Bowe in the team from the start as he offers more in attack and defence. Letting Cuthbert ride the pine is just sheer stupidity as Tuilagi or Hogg is the better option. SoB amongst the reserves is also a positive sign as he adds grunt and ball-carrying skills to the pack when entering the fray. Gray should feel hard done by and must be disgusted at some of Gatland´s decisions.
We certainly are. But we’ll leave it at that. However, a little mention for Faz who is starting to show off some real skills Down Under and we can’t wait to see him in an England shirt again.
Another cracker
We expect the game to be another absolute cracker, with intensity levels rising to unseen heights, players giving it their all, and a ref who actually knows what he is doing. Never trust a Kiwi with a whistle. We know that from experience.
Unfortunately, we have our doubts about the Lions on this Melbourne night and expect the Aussies to win. But we’ll gladly bow in the dust if we are wrong. We certainly hope to be proven wrong and labelled as total tossers. Come on Lions.
Now get off the internet and go watch the game – and for goodness sake, stay off the sevens while the game is on.
Think we were too harsh? Leave a comment.
