Lions Tour 2013

[hammertimethere]

!

 

[tranquility]

Looks like a white/maroon strip back in 01:

If I was a Queenslander, I'd be telling them to find an alt strip.

I had never seen that try before. Incredible line.

 

[qwerty51]

I like Gregan's team. Pretty much spot on.

 

[Swat]

I like Gregan's team. Pretty much spot on.

I'd mix it up a bit. Here's my ideal starting Lions team:

1. Ben Robinson
2. Stephen Moore
3. Sekope Kepu
4. James Horwill
5. Kane Douglas
6. Scott Higginbotham
7. David Pocock
8. Wycliff Palu
9. Will Genia
10. Quade Cooper
11. Digby Ioane
12. James O'Connor
13. Ben Tapuai
14. Joseph Tomane
15. Kurtley Beale

My main concern is around soft defense in the 10-12 and 12-13 channels but there's more than enough firepower to easily make up for it with balls-out attack.

 

[Brumbieman]

I'd mix it up a bit. Here's my ideal starting Lions team:

1. Ben Robinson
2. Stephen Moore
3. Sekope Kepu
4. James Horwill
5. Kane Douglas
6. Scott Higginbotham
7. David Pocock
8. Wycliff Palu
9. Will Genia
10. Quade Cooper
11. Digby Ioane
12. James O'Connor
13. Ben Tapuai
14. Joseph Tomane
15. Kurtley Beale

My main concern is around soft defense in the 10-12 and 12-13 channels but there's more than enough firepower to easily make up for it with balls-out attack.

Yep, that worked well for us over the last few years! LOTS of trophies to show for it!

 

[Brumbieman]

I'd be intrigued to see how somthing more like this would go:

1. Fatcat (ONLY if he regains his form.
2. Moore
3. Palmer
4. Horwill
5. Douglas (though Carter and Fardy are pushing hard)

Backrow is tough!
I have to go Pocock at 7 still, but Hooper is so good its very hard to leave him on the bench for too long. He may still get Tah-d next Super season and disappear though, so we shall see.Gill, is at the moment 3rd pick, and will unfortunately not be needed. Very tough, but two world class 7's ahead of you makes life a bit shit.
Blindside is tough, even if Hooper is started on the bench. Dennis ain't it. Maybe Fardy, he played a fair bit at 6. Jones has potential, not there yet. McMeniman is my dark horse, if he can live long enough. Him back in form would be PERFECT for 6.
Number 8......eish. Palu will most likely be injured, or coming back from injury. Which means he's not at his best, which is only ever truly good against weak teams. Vaea is our best ball running option at 8, no one shreds tacklers like he does, but the rest of his game is a bit inexperienced. Auelua, but for all his blazing runs, he doesn't have a great workrate. A full preseason with the Brumbies is a good yardstick, if that doesnt improve his workrate nothing will. Ben Mowen maybe, but he's a bit light on i contact, for all his workrate. He IS a very good lineout general though, and with Sharpe gone that bumps up his stocks by ..... one MILLION percent!.Samo will probably be still there, unpacking the zimmer frame as a joke before chasing down an escaped Lion.

McMeniman
Pocock
Mowen/Auelua

...is very balanced, though maybe a bit on the small side...?

The backrow is too tough IMO, but I would like to see THESE players considered the available and form players: McMeniman, Pocock, Hooper, Auelua, Jones, Mowen, Samo, Fardy...possibly Vaea.

9. Genia - though it's very likely Genia will be well below par. Then Nic White.
10. Lealiifano (assuming White is in better form)
11. Mitchell (if he's in 2010 form, otherwise Tomane)
12. Fainga'a/McCabe
13. O'Connor
14. Digby/Speight
15. Beale

16. Nau
17. Alexander (2nd prop Slipper if new rules?)
18. Fardy/Douglas
19. Auelua/Samo
20. Hooper (no other scrumhalves are good enough, we may as well play another forward and hope for the best)
21. Cooper
22. Tomane/Mitchell/AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)


With players like Fainga'a, Slipper, Kepu, Timani, Pyle, Higginbotham, Barnes, Tapuai, Shipperly, Cummins, Harris etc in the full squad.

 

[Joe Mac]

9 Genia
10 Cooper
11 Ioane
12 Tapuai
12 Tomane
14 JOC (James O'Connor)
15 Beale

 

[Blue]

Interesting recent survey in the British Telegraph. Readers vs Will Greenwood's Lions XV

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/ru...h-readers-v-Will-Greenwood.html?frame=2398503

Not much to argue there although the Six Nations could still deliver a bolter.

Only odd omission is Dan Cole.

 

[Allsports]

Like what youv'e put together Brumbieman, I can see Lealiifano in the 10 but with no International experience we can only hope he gets a bench spot he certainly deserves it on his 2012 season, he is miles ahead of Beale & Barnes at present. On recent performances White shouldn't have much trouble getting his no 20 back, he was in great form & we could certainly do with his 40 - 50mtr touch finders especially late in a game, we don't have that speciality in the team at present. Don't expect Sharp to be playing if we have a full squad fit though.

 

[Swat]

Yep, that worked well for us over the last few years! LOTS of trophies to show for it!

And what's in the cabinet now? One tri-nations trophy? and one where we played against second string saffas and kiwis?

 

[qwerty51]

Yep, that worked well for us over the last few years! LOTS of trophies to show for it!

Well the last time our pack was similar to that it beat Wales 3-0.

 

[Slim 293]

For the Lions I would love to see:

1. Robinson
2. Moore
3. Palmer/Kepu
4. Horwill
5. Douglas
6. ?
7. Pocock
8. Palu
9. Genia
10. Lealiifano
11. Ioane
12. McCabe
13. Ashley-Cooper
14. Tomane (or Mitchell if fit and firing. But I doubt it)
15. Beale

I'm not sure who our best 6 could be.

Higginbotham is a bit of an Adam Thompson. Has plenty of highlights in Super Rugby mainly from playing loose, but is completely outmuscled in the test arena.

Dennis has also struggled to make the step up so far, which is a shame.

Timani is a possibility. But he really needs to get his lineout work sorted.

Fardy is a smokey. Bob Dwyer rates him.

I haven't listed JOC (James O'Connor) in the starting XV. Despite all his talents, I just don't rate him better than anyone in a specific position.

 

[Bairdy]

I'd be intrigued to see how somthing more like this would go:

1. Fatcat (ONLY if he regains his form.
2. Moore
3. Palmer
4. Horwill
5. Douglas (though Carter and Fardy are pushing hard)

Backrow is tough!
I have to go Pocock at 7 still, but Hooper is so good its very hard to leave him on the bench for too long. He may still get Tah-d next Super season and disappear though, so we shall see.Gill, is at the moment 3rd pick, and will unfortunately not be needed. Very tough, but two world class 7's ahead of you makes life a bit shit.
Blindside is tough, even if Hooper is started on the bench. Dennis ain't it. Maybe Fardy, he played a fair bit at 6. Jones has potential, not there yet. McMeniman is my dark horse, if he can live long enough. Him back in form would be PERFECT for 6.
Number 8..eish. Palu will most likely be injured, or coming back from injury. Which means he's not at his best, which is only ever truly good against weak teams. Vaea is our best ball running option at 8, no one shreds tacklers like he does, but the rest of his game is a bit inexperienced. Auelua, but for all his blazing runs, he doesn't have a great workrate. A full preseason with the Brumbies is a good yardstick, if that doesnt improve his workrate nothing will. Ben Mowen maybe, but he's a bit light on i contact, for all his workrate. He IS a very good lineout general though, and with Sharpe gone that bumps up his stocks by ... one MILLION percent!.Samo will probably be still there, unpacking the zimmer frame as a joke before chasing down an escaped Lion.

McMeniman
Pocock
Mowen/Auelua

.is very balanced, though maybe a bit on the small side.?

The backrow is too tough IMO, but I would like to see THESE players considered the available and form players: McMeniman, Pocock, Hooper, Auelua, Jones, Mowen, Samo, Fardy.possibly Vaea.

9. Genia - though it's very likely Genia will be well below par. Then Nic White.
10. Lealiifano (assuming White is in better form)
11. Mitchell (if he's in 2010 form, otherwise Tomane)
12. Fainga'a/McCabe
13. O'Connor
14. Digby/Speight
15. Beale

16. Nau
17. Alexander (2nd prop Slipper if new rules?)
18. Fardy/Douglas
19. Auelua/Samo
20. Hooper (no other scrumhalves are good enough, we may as well play another forward and hope for the best)
21. Cooper
22. Tomane/Mitchell/AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper)


With players like Fainga'a, Slipper, Kepu, Timani, Pyle, Higginbotham, Barnes, Tapuai, Shipperly, Cummins, Harris etc in the full squad.

Hmm not sure how Carter and Fardy would be thrown into the deep end, debuting against the Lions when we have Horwill, Timani, Douglas and Simmons.
RE Mowen and Auelua, I would think the same; Palu, Samo, Higginbotham would be more likely to be playing against the Lions, even if both their super 15 form is absolutely superb.
But I digress

My ideal lineup for the Lion tour would be:
1. Robinson
2. Moore
3. Palmer
4. Douglas
5. Horwill
6. Higginbotham
7. Pocock
8. Palu
9. Genia
10. Cooper / Beale
11. Ioane
12. Tapuai
13. Horne (Taps and Horne the schoolboys centre pairing!)
14. O'Connor or Mitchell / Mitchell or Shipperly or Tomane
15. Beale / O'Connor (depends on flyhalf)[if Cooper is flyhalf, then O'Connor and Mitchell would fight it out for 14 if both are in form, in an ideal world]

16. TPN, 17. Alexander, 18. Slipper, 19. Timani, 20. Hooper, 21. Samo, 22. White (ideally), but hopefully Phipps would've improved by 2013, 23. AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) (he would be 13 if not for the fact he was a supersub and I've no room left in my team for another back)

 

[bryce]

My team would be pretty close to Gregan's. I would make a few changes, however.

Firstly I'd probably have Dan Palmer in at 3. I'd leave Robinson at 1, although I hope he is able to find some better form before the series starts.

The second issue revolves around inside centre. I wouldn't have McCabe there. I like the bloke, he's got the heart of a lion, but the nosedive in the quality of the Wallabies' attack seems to have coincided with Deans putting him at 12. That's not to say it's all his fault though, because I don't think it is - Deans wanted a straight running, crash ball centre and McCabe has provided that, so it's more a matter of the tactic rather than the player. I haven't seen too many Brumbies games this year so maybe he has developed his game under White, but I'm yet to see too much evidence of that at test level. Which again is probably a result of the coach giving him a certain job to do for the Wallabies. Who knows what McCabe could achieve under a different test coach?

With this in mind I'm not sure who I'd put there - probably Tapuai, maybe O'Connor. Where to put O'Connor is a big question. He has to be on the field, just not sure where. I think he'd be good anywhere from 11-15.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Having watched a fair bit of footy in the last two weekends, I am not so sure that the Lions will be the invincibles side that many of their supporters would have us believe.

There are NO B&I Lions teams in the IRB top 4 rated teams, and only one in the top 6. The team results have reflected the IRB ratings accurately.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Any word on what 'Country' is?

Is it NSW Country? NSW Country 'Gold' (the team that plays in the City V Country game)? A NSW & Qld Country combined side?

Or a country origin team?

1/2 time in the Cook Cup game on Foxtel, they flashed up the itinerary and on 12 June the B&I Lions are playing NSW and QLD Country in Newcastle.

Guess it will be a combined outfit from players currently registered and playing for NSW CRU and QLD CRU rather than a selection of players from the Bush who may now be in the big smoke or playing pro/semipro rugby somewhere.

 

[RugbyReg]

I wouldnt be so sure.....just for the hell of it, have a go at picking a 'country origin' team from any player in Oz, not likely to be in the Wallaby squad

 

[TOCC]

QLD country has gone to crap on the back of the floundering GC Breakers and SC Stingrays..

All the good players are moving to the 'City' catchment areas... It should be a origin based side.

 

[Swarley]

I think the biggest issue with our pack is how to achieve a balance of physicality, skill and set-piece strength from 4-8. Obviously Pocock and Hooper are two of the best players in any position in the country, but with the added pressure that could create come line-out time etc., it might not be worth it. For me, the contenders for those spots are Horwill, Douglas, Timani, Hooper, Pocock, Higginbotham, Dennis and Palu. Personally, I think Palu and Timani deserve to keep their starting spots- they've really stepped up to the task recently and have shown us why they've been persisted with through injury/form struggles respectively. At least one of Hooper and Pocock has to start, if not both in a dual-openside system (whether similar to France's RWC one with Bonnaire-Dusautoir or not). I'm curious as to people's opinions on the following questions:

1. What is our ideal balance of skill (Pocock, Hooper, Dennis, Higginbotham) vs. size (Timani, Palu, Douglas, Horwill) in regards to the set-piece and open play?

2. Do we really need three line-out jumpers, or can we manage with just two (as we did against England)?

I'd go with this combination:
4. Horwill (c)
5. Douglas
6. Timani
7. Pocock
8. Palu

19. Dennis
20. Hooper

 

[Slim 293]

Actually, we had 3 jumpers against England (Sharpe, Timani, Dennis).

Potentially 4 if they had utilised Palu......... although Hooper did get one.

I don't think you can have less than 3 jumpers in a team. 4 is the ideal number though.