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I think Byrne is the best of a bad bunch to be honest.

As as to Peel being slow and playing Cusiter instead! Dont agree with that, Peel is a good runner and thinker (and in the 6nations Peel played him off the field in Wales V Scotland). But, I'd rather have Cusiter on the bench instead of that idiot off a Question of Sport (I dont speak his name!)


Been a couple of hours since I 1st seen the team, still cant work out why Robinson in the team.


Rob

Funnily enought, not true. There is no rule in rugby union that refers to a spear tackle.

Actually spear tackling IS against the rules. Any tackle that is as dangerous as that should be illegal.

I don't think Michael Owen has tried hard enough to get a test place.

Wilko's long pass gives him an advantage over Jones.

Good descision for Josh Lewsey to move to Full Back. Robinson isn't on form but hopefully he will pull something off.

I like Shane Williams and I'm glad he got 5 tries against Manawatu but I am interested to see how he will cope against the AB.

Henson is going to play great. I don't know why but I never really liked Gareth Thomas. He is too slow but I have never seen him play outside centre. Apparently he played there for Toulouse.

Thankfully Ryan Jones is starting that makes me happy because he is quality. Unfortunately he isn't captain material. Shame Corry isn't on because he is captain material. He is basically a second Martin Johnson. He comes from Leicester and speaks like him. He looks similar and comands well . Sorry if I'm being strange.

Ludders

I see we have an anonymous nutter on the forum. If you're going to post contributions of similar intelligence and wit at least have the guts to reveal your identity.

The silly season is well and truly here! We've deleted several extremely stupid messages in this section and others in the last few days so have removed that one as well.

(IP address was 82-44-212-130. cable.ubr09.haye.blueyonder.co.uk in case anyone recognises it!)

Sorry, forgot to log in. ^ that's me.

Dec.

can somone ban that guys IP please. Also British Lions are good they are just thinging wrong at this time.

Mmm... I don't know what to think about the 2nd test. I am dissapointed but also I think that we did well. The quality of the All Blacks was immense. They could beat any side in the world with a performance like that. The are going to tear apart South Africa and Argentina in the Tri-Nations.

Right, now it's time for my long winded analysis of the 2nd test

Gavin Henson didn't stand out. He did one try saving tackle but that was the extent of his performance. Thank God he didn't do anything to stupid.

I was suprised how well Gareth Thomas played. He excelled at his centre role more than he has on the wing.

Wilko did OK but he could have played better. But then again his opposite number just happened to be Daniel Carter.

Easterby was brilliant. Ryan Jones was solid but didn't stand out as much as last week.

Josh Lewsey wasn't given much of a chance. Robinson was solid but still didn't manage to threaten the All Black's defence.

Once again Peel was fantastic, definitely one of the best scrum halfs in the world at the moment. He has pace and reads the game well.

Lewis Moody was fantastic, I love the way he puts his body on the line by charging down kicks and chasing high balls with no regard for personal safety.

Steve Thompson is the best choice hooker for the Lions but unfortunately he isn't fantastic, which goes to show the quality of the hookers available

Now for the big moan. I bet you can guess who I'm going to moan about:

SHANE WILLIAMS!

I used to like Williams after the world cup because he was a different player. But now the welsh have made him out to be better than he is. I'm sorry if I am offending any Welsh people but you know it is true. One thing we have learned from this tour is that Shane Williams isn't as good as people make him out to be. He didn't make an impression and he got munched so many times. There was one awful passage of play that saw him being flung backwards in the tackle twice and losing the ball. He just hasn't got the build of Robinson. I wouldn't mind normally it's just the fact that the welsh have been constantly moaning about how good Shane Williams is and how he should have been in the first test. Maybe we should have put him in the first test so we would have realised how bad he was before playing him in the deciding test.


People who played well:

Ryan Jones
Dwayne Peel
Gareth Thomas
Simon Easterby
Lewis Moody

People who didn't have the chance to shine:

Josh Lewsey
Gethin Jenkins
Julian White
Jason Robinson
Shane Horgan
Donncha O'Callaghan
Jonny Wilkinson

People who weren't up to scratch:

Shane Williams
Paul O'Connell

That's my analysis. Feel free to disagree

Good summation IMO.

My only point of difference would be slightly in defence of Shane Williams. I do think he is class, but only when he has space and he never got that behind the Lions forward pack. When he has no space his size betrays him, and as we saw, Umanga could just through the poor buggar around.
Pity he can't tackle or I think he'd make a pretty decent full-back.

I enjoyed the match on saturday, it was nice to see the Lions playing with real heart, and they never gave up. The only thing they lacked was the out and out skill of the ABs.

I've given up with them - the All Blacks played them off the field.

Why oh why did Johnny attempt those drop goals?

What I miss with the silly posts? Typical, miss all the excitment.

I went into Cardiff Saturday morning to watch the match, and the pub had its Sat dish ripped down on Friday night - so had to find somewhere else. Mind you, wish I'd stayed there and not bethered!

It'll be intresting come November, when all the home nations play the ABs

Cheers
Rob

Yea I suppose I was a bit harsh to Shane Williams. He did ok it's just that he hasn't got enough strength to tackle and go into contact and make ground. But his 'dancing' is pretty awesome if it works.

You are right, the All Blacks are raising the bar in the world of rugby. They are going to be a tough team to beat in the World Cup. I feel sorry for South Africa and Australia. I hope that NZ don't destroy them

Jonny attempted the DG's because he knew they were playing advantage so if he missed them, he would get a penalty anyway

Well done Sir Clive - a series whitewash.

And he had the nerve to say he needed more players. What a a*se.

Rob

Ian McGeechan shouldn't quit the Lions. He should be in charge next year. He is the best at it. I hate Graham Henry