Springboks v British & Irish Lions III
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I thought LZR looked a bit down on confidence in the earlier outings for the Lions which may have counted against him. The absentee that really surprised me was Adams though. Try scoring aside he looked good and was given enough game time, I thought he must be a shoo-in. Is his head space wrong or something?
Undoubtedly there will be changes but I’m not sure we have the guys to implement the current game plan any better than the incumbents. We have to play with a different mind set and strategy if we’re going to get anywhere. If we do that, then I think we would have to look at alternatives.
An 8, 9, 10 of Simmonds, Price, Smith would bring a whole new dynamic. Fraught with risk mind but it would be a lot more interesting to watch than that turgid slug fest we had on Saturday.
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@catogrande said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
I thought LZR looked a bit down on confidence in the earlier outings for the Lions which may have counted against him. The absentee that really surprised me was Adams though. Try scoring aside he looked good and was given enough game time, I thought he must be a shoo-in. Is his head space wrong or something?
Undoubtedly there will be changes but I’m not sure we have the guys to implement the current game plan any better than the incumbents. We have to play with a different mind set and strategy if we’re going to get anywhere. If we do that, then I think we would have to look at alternatives.
An 8, 9, 10 of Simmonds, Price, Smith would bring a whole new dynamic. Fraught with risk mind but it would be a lot more interesting to watch than that turgid slug fest we had on Saturday.
Feeling his way in I'd say.
Adams took his eye off the prize and paid the price. Not for the first time.
Agreed.
Different players, different style.
I think we go Gatlandball 1.0 in the 1st half and Gatlandball 2.0 in the 2nd
We have 1.0 players, 1.5 players, and 2.0 players
Get the mix right and Bob's Your Uncle.
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@mikethesnow said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
Adams took his eye off the prize and paid the price. Not for the first time.
What do ya mean by that?
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@bones said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
@mikethesnow said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
Adams took his eye off the prize and paid the price. Not for the first time.
What do ya mean by that?
Unsubstantiated, but missing a match to watch his wife give birth via Zoom can’t have helped his chances.
His wife gave birth to a daughter a couple of hours after the match had ended.
He missed two matches for Wales this season because he broke camp protocol by going to a gender reveal party for his baby.
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@mikethesnow said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
He mentioned on Saturday that the engine room needed attention.
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@mikethesnow said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
@bones said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
@mikethesnow said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
Adams took his eye off the prize and paid the price. Not for the first time.
What do ya mean by that?
Unsubstantiated, but missing a match to watch his wife give birth via Zoom can’t have helped his chances.
His wife gave birth to a daughter a couple of hours after the match had ended.
He missed two matches for Wales this season because he broke camp protocol by going to a gender reveal party for his baby.
I thought the birth thing was sanctioned? As for the gender reveal party.. what a twat. Mind you he doesn’t come across as the sharpest of chisels.
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@catogrande said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
@mikethesnow said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
@bones said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
@mikethesnow said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
Adams took his eye off the prize and paid the price. Not for the first time.
What do ya mean by that?
Unsubstantiated, but missing a match to watch his wife give birth via Zoom can’t have helped his chances.
His wife gave birth to a daughter a couple of hours after the match had ended.
He missed two matches for Wales this season because he broke camp protocol by going to a gender reveal party for his baby.
I thought the birth thing was sanctioned? As for the gender reveal party.. what a twat. Mind you he doesn’t come across as the sharpest of chisels.
Yeah it was sanctioned but let’s be fair he should have watched it on Catch Up
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Ha! Made me snort!
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Will Greenwood:
Starting XV: L Williams; A Watson, R Henshaw, B Aki, J Adams; D Biggar, G Davies; W Jones, L Cowan-Dickie, T Furlong, M Itoje, A Jones (c), C Lawes, T Curry, T Faletau
Replacements: K Owens, M Vunipola, K Sinckler/Z Fagerson, A Beard, T Beirne, A Price, O Farrell, L Rees-Zammit
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One thing I read about BIL team selection (based on quotes from Gatland) is that all the coaches come to their meeting with their team and then the coaches discuss and eventually pick a XV and 23. Gatland said none of them had the same team before the 1st test so there would have been compromises. Maybe Townsend needs to have more say in the back selection but will probably favour Hogg and VDM.
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@bovidae said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
One thing I read about BIL team selection (based on quotes from Gatland) is that all the coaches come to their meeting with their team and then the coaches discuss and eventually pick a XV and 23. Gatland said none of them had the same team before the 1st test so there would have been compromises. Maybe Townsend needs to have more say in the back selection but will probably favour Hogg and VDM.
Ian McGeechan didn’t, was reading something on FB and he favoured dropping both of them.
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@mikethesnow said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
What does his 5 selection mean? Is one potential injury or is he sitting with splinters up his arse?
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@majorrage said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
@mikethesnow said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
What does his 5 selection mean? Is one potential injury or is he sitting with splinters up his arse?
He's going to have them fight for the last spot in the change room before kick-off
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15 Liam Williams
14 Josh Adams
13 Robbie Henshaw
12 Bundee Aki
11 Duhan van der Meuwe
10 Dan Biggar
9 Ali Price
1 Wyn Jones
2 Ken Owens
3 Tadhg Furlong
4 Maro Itoje
5 Alun Wyn Jones (c)
6 Courtney Lawes
7 Tom Curry
8 Jack ConanReplacements:
16 Luke Cowan-Dickie
17 Mako Vunipola
18 Kyle Sinckler
19 Adam Beard
20 Sam Simmonds
21 Conor Murray
22 Finn Russell
23 Elliot DalyObviously subject to Sinkler's hearing, assume that Fagerson will be in if he's out.
Some good changes, some very puzzling ones.
How is VDM still there? Back row was poor last week, surprised that's unchanged. Owens also a strange choice, he hasn't been great.
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yeah, some puzzlers there. Owens obviously knows where the bodies are buried.
Williams and Adams are overdue selections neither Hogg nor Watson has played particularly well. VDM was probably the least worst of the back three last week and Gatland obviously has qualms about LZR. Biggar was not very effective last week, but he's a better player than that, give him a better strategy to work with and we might see something. A shame Smith is not on the bench. Beard deserves his chance from the bench, but if he's there as second row cover, I'd be tempted to have Beirne instead of Lawes starting. Tough on Lawes but provides a better balance IMO.
If we play the same game plan this week, we will get mullered, that is the real issue more than selection I feel.
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Agree, apart from the bit about VDM, I thought he was really poor on Saturday and not much better the week before, his inclusion is the most baffling to me.
Back row needed something to change. None of them are playing terribly, but as a unit it's just not working. And unlike some areas there is serious talent to call on - Simmonds, Faletau, Beirne, Watson, Navidi. Could they really not come up with something better than "Same again"?
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@catogrande said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions III:
yeah, some puzzlers there. Owens obviously knows where the bodies are buried.
Williams and Adams are overdue selections neither Hogg nor Watson has played particularly well. VDM was probably the least worst of the back three last week and Gatland obviously has qualms about LZR. Biggar was not very effective last week, but he's a better player than that, give him a better strategy to work with and we might see something. A shame Smith is not on the bench. Beard deserves his chance from the bench, but if he's there as second row cover, I'd be tempted to have Beirne instead of Lawes starting. Tough on Lawes but provides a better balance IMO.
If we play the same game plan this week, we will get mullered, that is the real issue more than selection I feel.
Expect Itoje to go to 6 at 55. Curry/Itoje/Simmonds will make for interesting back row.
