2017 Lions Tour

[ajcj]

DocJock said:

TheGreatSoprendo said:

hornetrider said:

The Scots have been a trifle unlucky - only two in there.

Not that many more credible candidates though. Jonny Gray is probably unlucky, Hamish Watson would have been in with a shout but there's an awful lot of strength at back row. WP Nel would have gone had he been fit. Other than that....

That's a fair assessment GS.

I would agree, and add Finn Russell as probably not missing out by much - more to do with the style that Gatland wants to play than any absolute assessment of quality. I thought there was a case for taking Laidlaw as midweek skipper, second reserve scrum-half and decent goalkicker, tour vice-captain, experienced and seasoned campaigner, all that, but I'm not surprised he isn't included. If Huw Jones had come into the Scotland side a year earlier i think he would have been a credible candidate too.

[Smollet]

[anonymous-user]

Smollet said:

So the 8th best test team by world ranking gets the second most Lions call ups whilst the 5th best team only gets 2. I wonder why?

Added to that Wales 5th in the six nations. Again behind Scotland and Ireland.

Lions 2017

England 16, Wales 12, Ireland 11, Scotland 2

Pretty disappointing from the Welsh coach.

You can almost excuse his pro Welsh selection in the 2013 lions tour as Wales were playing well, but this time it's a very different situation, that squad should have a lot less Welsh players and certainly more Scots.

[CarlosFandango11]

El stovey said:

You can almost excuse his pro Welsh selection in the 2013 lions tour as Wales were playing well, but this time it's a very different situation, that squad should have a lot less Welsh players and certainly more Scots.

Which Welsh players shouldn't be going and which Scottish ones should be? Reasons why too.

[Smollet]

CarlosFandango11 said:

El stovey said:

You can almost excuse his pro Welsh selection in the 2013 lions tour as Wales were playing well, but this time it's a very different situation, that squad should have a lot less Welsh players and certainly more Scots.

Which Welsh players shouldn't be going and which Scottish ones should be? Reasons why too.

I put Russell over Biggar. Much more of a play maker imgo

[anonymous-user]

Smollet said:

CarlosFandango11 said:

El stovey said:

You can almost excuse his pro Welsh selection in the 2013 lions tour as Wales were playing well, but this time it's a very different situation, that squad should have a lot less Welsh players and certainly more Scots.

Which Welsh players shouldn't be going and which Scottish ones should be? Reasons why too.

I put Russell over Biggar. Much more of a play maker imgo

Jonny Gray and Finn Russell should both be in the squad.

Welsh players who shouldn't be going include Biggar, Davies & Halfpenny. Probably not North or Warburton either on form and recent results.

Edited by anonymous-user on Wednesday 19th April 15:15

[Smollet]

El stovey said:

Jonny Gray and Finn Russell should both be in the squad.

Welsh players who shouldn't be going include Biggar, Davies & Halfpenny. Probably not North or Warburton either on form and recent results

I suspect North will get knocked out and Warburton suffer an injury and not complete the tour.

[TheGreatSoprendo]

El stovey said:

Probably not ... Warburton either on form

All. Credibility. Blown.

Personally I wouldn't have gone with Davies, Henderson, Lawes or O'Mahony but overall I'm pretty happy with the squad selected. Surprised at the number of people who think Finn Russell should be in the squad. He's barely international standard let alone Lions calibre! To my mind there are at least 5 outside halves ahead of him in the pecking order.

[DocJock]

I agree that I wouldn't have Biggar or JD in my squad.

North is still a great strike runner but his defence always worries me.

Have to disagree about Warburton, he was great in this 6N.

Halfpenny? Well he's miles ahead of Brown, so it came down to him or Cairney as backup to Hogg.

[TheGreatSoprendo]

Smollet said:

I suspect North will get knocked out and Warburton suffer an injury and not complete the tour.

I wouldn't be surprised if 8-10 of those named today don't finish the tour. The likes of Hartley, Gray, Launchbury, Haskell and others still have a good chance of making the tour.

[Tuvra]

I'm guessing no ones been watching Jonathan Davies lately?

Judging the individual players by Wales' performance in the six nations is harsh, considering the way the Welsh Team is run whilst Gatland is away its no surprise that they performed the way they did. Still doesn't change the fact that every one of them is better than anything Scotland has to offer.

The only Welsh player that doesn't deserve his place is Faletau..... & possibly Halfpenny. Then again, if you drop Halfpenny you would have to take Mike Brown and who wants that prick on a Lions tour? Sanjay or Moriarty would probably end up chokeslamming him through a table

Saying that, both Halfpenny & Faletau will start at least one test though, mark my words

[768]

DocJock said:

Halfpenny? Well he's miles ahead of Brown, so it came down to him or Cairney as backup to Hogg.

Backup? I reckon 1/2p might be first choice.

I'd really like to see North back at the top of his game. Not sure he's a wise pick just now.

[768]

Tuvra said:

The only Welsh player that doesn't deserve his place is Faletau..... & possibly Halfpenny. Then again, if you drop Halfpenny you would have to take Mike Brown and who wants that prick on a Lions tour? Sanjay or Moriarty would probably end up chokeslamming him through a table

Goode or Kearney? With Watson, Daly and Nowell in I wouldn't be too concerned about finding someone who can play back there anyway...

Send 1/2p back and let Ford come in.

[anonymous-user]

Tuvra said:

I'm guessing no ones been watching Jonathan Davies lately?

Judging the individual players by Wales' performance in the six nations is harsh, considering the way the Welsh Team is run whilst Gatland is away its no surprise that they performed the way they did. Still doesn't change the fact that every one of them is better than anything Scotland has to offer.

The only Welsh player that doesn't deserve his place is Faletau..... & possibly Halfpenny. Then again, if you drop Halfpenny you would have to take Mike Brown and who wants that prick on a Lions tour? Sanjay or Moriarty would probably end up chokeslamming him through a table

Saying that, both Halfpenny & Faletau will start at least one test though, mark my words

It's not just the six nations, you don't end up 8th in the word after a bad six nations. Check out the autumn internationals. Narrowest of wins at home against Japan and Argentina, humped by Australia. Destroyed on the NZ tour before that.

Then to put 12 of them in the lions squad. Twelve.

[hornetrider]

TheGreatSoprendo said:

El stovey said:

Probably not ... Warburton either on form

All. Credibility. Blown.

Indeed. He was fking phenomenal in the 6N.

[768]

The oddity I see with Warburton is he supposedly dropped the Welsh captaincy to concentrate on improving his form to keep his place, IIRC. And having improved that form without the pressure of the Welsh captaincy he's given the Lions captaincy. What happens next?

[Vocal Minority]

The welsh players I would take off the top of my head are:

Owens
Webb
Biggar
Falatau - admittedly mostly on reputation, I don't think he will make the test team
Warburton
Tipuric
Moriarty
Liam Williams
North (were it not for the glimmers of form he showed at the end of the 6N he would be in there on reputation alone IMHO and should have been off the plane.....but he showed them so in he goes)


That's 9 - which I think is fairer.

[anonymous-user]

hornetrider said:

TheGreatSoprendo said:

El stovey said:

Probably not ... Warburton either on form

All. Credibility. Blown.

Indeed. He was fking phenomenal in the 6N.

I thought Welsh fans were ignoring the Welsh 6N performances as a means of selecting lions?

[irocfan]

CarlosFandango11 said:

Which Welsh players shouldn't be going and which Scottish ones should be? Reasons why too.

Rhys Webb. - why? He's a TBH (ditto that for Biggar) Way worse than Ashton for tasteless antics IMO. Who instead? Care. At a push Laidlaw.

Brown was never going to go, quite frankly he's not really good enough compared with other choices.

[Cheib]

As a mate of mine pointed out by picking that many Welsh players for the Lions he's saying the Welsh team massively under performed in the 6N...so why the fk is Howley on the plane!

The Scotts are extraordinarily hard done by as is Launchbury. Ireland's game against England got a few of the men in Green on the plane...that and Chicago I think...the latter cannot be ignored.