talkmagic.co.uk

Hello,

Bit of the subject of magic (well sort of) - but does anyone think that Sir Clive can pull off the ultimate magic trick by winnig the test series?

I got a feeling he'll end up more like Dr Zhasams Cr*p Ballon Magic (made up name) than Derran Browne.

Cheers
Rob

No way, I think we can do it this time round. It will be hard but the test team is going to be so quality.

Could be close. SCW has a lot on his plate, but should be able to motivate the side better than that prat Henry (who fortunately is coaching the ABs now). Could've done without dayglo trashing his ankle though.

My heart says we'll do it, my head says 2-1 to the ABs, all close matches.

Wales pushed the ABs close in the Autumn (even though it was a weakeand NZ team)

I dont think Graham Henry is a prat though. Without him coming to Wales and changing a lot of the infra-structure- which is why he had a lot of bad press and the Witch hunt to get rid of him - Wales wouldnt have won the Grand Slam.

These improvements took a long time to come through the system, but remember, NZ have had these in place for a loooooong time.

Dont be surprised to see the ABs put 60+ points on us (I hope not)

Rob

... and Wales woudn't have won the Grand Slam if England had someone who could kick the effing ball in a straight line. Not that I'm bitter or anything.

Henry is an arrogant idiot IMO. Completely buggered up team morale when he coached the Lions in Aus, created various factions within the set up. Efffectively sidelined certain players and besically made a hash of the whole thing. Cost us the series did Henry. The NZedders are welcome to the obnoxious lttle.... I'd better stop because profanities are sadly banned here.

Yea I agree, Hodgson performs for everyone except for England. It doesn't make sense.

Oh dear the AB beat Fiji 91-0. Good news is that Rokocoko might not be in all the test matches, the bad thing is his cousin Sivivatu is the player who is competing with him and he scored 4 tries in the recent match against Fiji, and it's his debut! Basically they're both huge threats and looking at their performance they might just destroy us. Lets just hope SCW picks a quality team and we make some history!

Oooops. Lost to the Maoris, Jones rubbish, at least it makes the number 10 selection a bit easier for Clivey boy.

I think it will be an England fly-half. Hodgson or Wilko. Go on BBC and make your ultimate Lions team, it's great fun!

Yea, it's a shame we lost to the Maoris but we will bounce back. O'Driscoll wasn't on form except for the last 10 mins. Unfortunately Shane Williams didn't do well, I was hoping he would. We gave away too many penalties and that's what put them ahead.

Oh well, of to Wellington. Did you know the nickname for the Wellington team is also 'The Lions'. So basically the Lions cannot lose this match. Whoever wins it will be the Lions if you understand what I'm saying

It will be a good match, the tour isn't decided yet!

Just remember it's Steven Jones first game - talk about being put in to the deep end.

"England would've won if they had a kicker "(hahahaha) - typical boring boring boring England.

At least we played with flair and scored some tries.

Bring on the All Blacks in November!

I dont think Henrys an idiot, but was the Lions 'professional' enough at the time he took them? I know he has a great rugby head, and sometimes players dont understand what is expected of them.

The game on Saturday was pretty poor. Lets get a hooker in who can throw straight.

I also think we need a stronger captain - I think Laurence wouldve been my choice (before the injury), and maybe one of the 'older' english guys now. (see I'm not totally against the English )


Cheers
Rob

I just wanted to ask you if you saw the England vs Scotland match in the 6 Nations. I was actually there and I think those tries were flair. We do have flair, you just need a good kicker to secure the score.

Anyway back to the Lions. I do agree with you that Jones was in the deep end but he never really shone for me anyway, not even in the 6 Nations.

Lawrence wouldn't have been my first choice captain. It would always be O'Driscoll, he has so much skill and he can hold a team together.

rob,
Wales fully deserved the slam. England were truly dismal in all of their games and it would have been a travesty had they won. However, the fact is that if you don't kick the points then you don't win. In the Eng Wales game, Wales won because they kicked more effectively, not because of their back line (impressive as it was).

ye, I agree that kicking is an imprtant part of the game, but I find it hard to work out why any team should fall flat on its bum just because one of it players is out injured (Wilko)

Also, to win a world cup on a drop goal?

I'm not totally anti-Clive Woodward, as I think the more stronger Northen Hem. teams we have the better.


Cheers
Rob

Eh? We are getting strong again. It's just that lots of our experienced players retired so the new ones have come in. Also there have been 5 World Cups, and 2 of them have been won by drop goals. I would much rather have a strong England squad for the World Cup than the 6 Nations.

We should have had a better back line for the Wales match. No disrespect to Matthew Tait but surely he wasn't the best player to place against Henson. He had played one season but the better choice, Ollie Smith, had played 3 seasons for Leicester Tigers. That annoyed me. Then we threw away the France game. We were outplayed against Ireland (despite that dissallowed try for Cueto). Oh well, I'm looking forward to France 2007, I'm going over there to watch some matches!

oops the guest thing above was me