Stephen Jones must have enjoyed the Steinlager ?
His Kiwi baiting and wumming is top class. Seemingly he’s featured at the business end of every poll for most hated man in New Zealand over the last 20 years.
Geoffrey
NZ are phenomenal at restart on both theirs and the opposition and this has been a huge factor in their domination over the last few years , this means they as in an offensive mood regardless . I feel opposition coaching tickets are not analysing how to address this .
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I don’t really rate Tipuric at all at the very top level. Great link man but just think he isn’t as tough a bit as needs be. Fit and well Warburton is twice the player. There is no other classic 7s in the squad though as you said.
Jones is an imbecile. Read was superb yesterday, even better considering his preparation for game and he will likely improve no end for that game. SOB to 8 would be a v interesting move.
Shifting Williams from full back kills all counter attacking hope really and not sure kicking the ball back to NZ is a good plan. Interesting to see who comes into replace Ben Smith who is surely out with another concussion concern. Milner Skudder, Jordy Barrett, Dagg even move Beauden back there. Puts the Lions choices in some context when you see those options
No he wasn’t. He said ferris was
New Zealand teams are always good at all the basics and make very few mistakes. The Lions didn’t play too badly at all for the first 55 minutes yesterday but the performance was littered by silly mistakes, handling errors, turning over possession cheaply. You can’t butcher two clearcut try scoring chances and turn down a scoreable penalty when you’re only 5 behind the way the Lions did. We should have had 25 points on the board by the 50th minute.
I don’t really know what to make of this New Zealand side in terms of where they stand in relation to predecessors. I think there’s a few ordinary enough players in their team. If you were picking the best New Zealand team of last 30 years, Retallick would be a certainty and possibly Aaron Smith at scrum half, beyond that I don’t think there’s too many.
Their unbeaten runs and winning percentages have been helped considerably by South Africa and France both at possibly their lowest ever ebb at international level and the game in Australia in crisis too.
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The O’Brien family are steeped in Limerick rugby.
Read would be in there.
Who knows where Barrett will be by his careers end?
Zinzan Brooke.
A long way to go to reach level of Carter.
Zinzan Brooke, the ultimate during the amateur game…
I wouldn’t agree, there is a discussion to be had over it anyway.
Think he picked the ball up one handed one time. Incredible.
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Who would you consider ordinary? I don’t think they have any exceptional candidates in the centres at the minute.
Hot competition at 15 but Ben Smith would be up there IMO. One of the few dead certs to be picked on current side when fit.
Aaron Smith is exceptional but under a lot of pressure from Perenara now will be interesting see if he ups his game accordingly. Form ordinary for a while bit seems to be coming back to best.
Dane coles competing with one of all time greats to be classed as best NZ hooked but he is a top class player as well
I think the two centres are ordinary. Isreal Dagg best days behind him. Moody the loose head is ordinary. Sam Cane is nowhere near the levels of McCaw, Kronfeld or Michael Jones. Kaino at blindside ordinary enough - 34 now as well. Whitelock in the second row looks better than he is playing alongside Retallick. Dane Coles would be vying with Sean Fitzpatrick as their best hooker of past 30 years. Coles was injured yesterday though.
Its a distinctly non-vintage international era. An average England side won 18 internationals on the trot as recently as March - largely helped in that run by the pitiful standard of South Africa, France and Australia.
Think that’s fair comment. I saw most of the S.A. three game series with France. They won’t come close to the all blacks in the rugby championship but worth supporting them in some markets like tries scored etc think they are maybe slowly turning the corner. From a v low ebb. Erasmus has a lot of decent raw material to deal with if he bites the bullet
Zinzan Brooke kicked a drop goal from nearly the half-way line way out on the right in a World Cup semi-final.
Most GAA players outside of Down wouldn’t get near kicking a round ball over the bar from that position. In fact when one did - Maurice Fitzgerald, it was voted the second greatest moment in the history of GAA. How twee.
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Funny you mention Gaelic football and zinzan as he actually played and loved the sport I heard him say on newstalk before.
Barrett played gf for a school in Meath too by all accounts
St Brigid club in Meath by all accounts
Himself and Xabi Alonso had an almost telepathic understanding by all accounts.
You do realise the length of a rugby field is a 100 metres you pleb so it would be the equivalent of kicking a 50 over the bar which routinely happens in every GAA match.