1st test - Australia v British & Irish Lions

[IT157]

Lions should have a rule where only 10 players can play in more than 1 test. That way everyone gets a chance and the series is more competitive

Against Australia. Sure.

Against New Zealand and South Africa? Nah. The series against these two teams would be tough anyway and I would bet they would lose against both. Restricting appearances is increasing the likelihood of a series whitewash loss.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Hoping Aus call in Samu and LSL

 

[Grizwald]

I can't believe I'm saying this about a Lions Test Match but i just feel so flat about the game at the weekend. Normally in test week on a Lions tour I'd be rewatching all the classic moments from tours gone by and reading as much build-up as I could but this time?. I'm ambivalent about it tbh. This tour has felt flat and mediocre from the start. I don't think the Lions have been great so far and yet I still fully expect us to win the test series. I don't think beating this Wallabies team should be thought of as an outstanding achievement. We've got the best of 4 nations to pick from and, as good a coach as Joe Schmidt is, they are 8th in the World for a reason. This tour has basically been a lot of uninspiring warm-up matches to get to a test series which, if the Lions play to their potential, should be done after 2 test matches.

Purely from a rugby perspective, I'm much more hyped about the NZ/SA game at Eden Park than I am about the Lions.

Rejoice Australia are now actually ranked 6th in the world mostly due to not playing. They'll go into the rugby championship the same regardless.

I watched the first test in 2013 back today. My memory was of Kurtley Beal slipping and missing a pen that would of won the game. What I'd forgotten about was the easy pen he'd missed beofre that and the absolute shocker of a game JOC had with the boot. I don't really think this team is better or worse than that Aussie team but then again the core of this team got pumped by Wales in in the 2023 World Cup.

I've heard a couple of Rugby journalists make similar comments and how its become very professional and performance focused which has lost the traditions of a touring team. Feels like the Lions have been dammed of they do dammed if they don't in the warm up games. When the Lions are negotiating with SANZAR if they return to Aus there should be agreement that internationals play for the clubs and have a fixture against Fiji and possibly another Pacific team.

 

[OllyM97]

Rejoice Australia are now actually ranked 6th in the world mostly due to not playing. They'll go into the rugby championship the same regardless.

I watched the first test in 2013 back today. My memory was of Kurtley Beal slipping and missing a pen that would of won the game. What I'd forgotten about was the easy pen he'd missed beofre that and the absolute shocker of a game JOC had with the boot. I don't really think this team is better or worse than that Aussie team but then again the core of this team got pumped by Wales in in the 2023 World Cup.

I've heard a couple of Rugby journalists make similar comments and how its become very professional and performance focused which has lost the traditions of a touring team. Feels like the Lions have been dammed of they do dammed if they don't in the warm up games. When the Lions are negotiating with SANZAR if they return to Aus there should be agreement that internationals play for the clubs and have a fixture against Fiji and possibly another Pacific team.

Have to disagree there, I think the 2013 Wallaby team was comfortably better than this one. They actually had a good team back then, Robbie Deans just coached all the flair out of them towards the end of his stint.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Have to disagree there, I think the 2013 Wallaby team was comfortably better than this one. They actually had a good team back then, Robbie Deans just coached all the flair out of them towards the end of his stint.

That 2013 had stardust

Hooper
Genia
JOC
AAC
Beale
Izzy (politics aside)

Front row imo is better now but backs dont have near the same class

 

[Duck a l'Orange]

Partly the Lancaster effect, but Australia absolutely dismantled England at the 2015 RWC. Painful to watch.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

God I can’t emphasis enough how much I loved those Aussie backs in that era

Joseph Suaalii gives me the same feeling but none of the other backs do really.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Yeah, loved that era of Aussie rugby - remember watching Super Rugby games during lectures at uni, got really into it when they formed Melbourne Rebels
That 2010ish era was peak Tri nations rugby, imo - just looking through the sides for the 2009 comp and it's ludicrous

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Super rugby at that time was so damn good, sky sports with their super rugby show also.

I miss that era of SH rugby, pure entertainment. Nothing really matched it for me

 

[AngloScotsHybrid]

That 2013 had stardust

Hooper
Genia
JOC
AAC
Beale
Izzy (politics aside)

Front row imo is better now but backs dont have near the same class

I would agree with this assessment. Australia had better backs in 2013 but their front row is much better now.

 

[Welsh Exile]

I thought no one really counted Gatlands Aussie win as it was just Australia.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

I would agree with this assessment. Australia had better backs in 2013 but their front row is much better now.

I just remember the Aussie front row getting their heads bent to their arse by Corbs

 

[AlRums]

Partly the Lancaster effect, but Australia absolutely dismantled England at the 2015 RWC. Painful to watch.

We don't mention 2015 after joubert became conveniently blind in the Aus-Sco quarter final.

 

[AlRums]

I thought no one really counted Gatlands Aussie win as it was just Australia.

Are you not kneeling to St AWJ for that one?

 

[TopTen2003]

The Aussies have been wrongly written off here IMO. No doubt on paper the Lions look like they should win, but it's far from certain.

If I was to make the case for an Australia win:

- Australia showing signs of being on the upgrade and this Lions tour a real ground marker two years out from a home RWC. May have a potential world class/superstar 12 on their hands in Jo Suaalii which are few and far between.

- Australia went to Twickenham and beat what is, despite criticism of their Head Coach, a pretty tough side to beat and had a poor record against in recent years.

- Australia played very well in Dublin, on paper the toughest leg of their tour, and had Ireland in trouble for a lot of it.

- Ireland - the standout Lions nation of the last 4 years- is probably slightly below the level they got to in the cycle leading up to and in the 2023 RWC (that's not being disrespectful, but rather instead acknowledging they were quite possibly the best side in the world for some of that time- and they probably haven't quite been their best post RWC). Much of this Lions squad will be reliant upon some of that Irish core, so if they are for any reason below par, that brings Australia into it.

- Lions to me look like they haven't quite nailed down their key partnerships in midfield or back row, and that's where I believe Australia will be a handful. That is exacerbated further with the injury to Gary Ringrose, who looked a certainty at outside centre.


So that's what I'd be hanging onto if I was in Gold and Green.


There is of course the flip side! And as a Lions fan I hope we click and perform really well and do the job. I just can help but think it could be a bit of a tight scrap in the opener!

 

[Rugby100]

Seems legit that Morgan ain't playing, not even in the 23 according to all sources.

Farrell must have been spurned by a sheep when he was younger.

Morgan's last game on sat was part of a Lions bk row that nil-ed a team of fringe All Blacks and Wallabies, and was by far the Lion's most cohesive and convincing performance. Look at his stats, the man scavenges better than a Hyena on the Serengeti. Yet he picks n out of form Curry ?

Pack your bags Jac and come back 2 Cymru. We appreciate you even if Farrell doesn't.

Honestly ? His total omission makes me want to cry.

 

[AlRums]

The Aussies have been wrongly written off here IMO. No doubt on paper the Lions look like they should win, but it's far from certain.

If I was to make the case for an Australia win:

- Australia showing signs of being on the upgrade and this Lions tour a real ground marker two years out from a home RWC. May have a potential world class/superstar 12 on their hands in Jo Suaalii which are few and far between.

- Australia went to Twickenham and beat what is, despite criticism of their Head Coach, a pretty tough side to beat and had a poor record against in recent years.

- Australia played very well in Dublin, on paper the toughest leg of their tour, and had Ireland in trouble for a lot of it.

- Ireland - the standout Lions nation of the last 4 years- is probably slightly below the level they got to in the cycle leading up to and in the 2023 RWC (that's not being disrespectful, but rather instead acknowledging they were quite possibly the best side in the world for some of that time- and they probably haven't quite been their best post RWC). Much of this Lions squad will be reliant upon some of that Irish core, so if they are for any reason below par, that brings Australia into it.

- Lions to me look like they haven't quite nailed down their key partnerships in midfield or back row, and that's where I believe Australia will be a handful. That is exacerbated further with the injury to Gary Ringrose, who looked a certainty at outside centre.


So that's what I'd be hanging onto if I was in Gold and Green.


There is of course the flip side! And as a Lions fan I hope we click and perform really well and do the job. I just can help but think it could be a bit of a tight scrap in the opener!

You left out the bit that they were beaten by Scotland.

 

[AlRums]

Seems legit that Morgan ain't playing, not even in the 23 according to all sources.

Farrell must have been spurned by a sheep when he was younger.

Morgan's last game on sat was part of a Lions bk row that nil-ed a team of fringe All Blacks and Wallabies, and was by far the Lion's most cohesive and convincing performance. Yet he picks n out of form Curry ?

Pack your bags Jac and come back 2 Cymru. We appreciate you even if Farrell doesn't.

Honestly ? His total omission makes me want to cry.

You're starting to make dirty harry seem reasonable.

 

[Dean Cooperfield-West]

It’s a team that was selected on paper before the rest of the squad was decided. The whole idea about playing your way into test matches and doing well in the other games is all part of the kool aid to produce motivated tackle pad holders

 

[TopTen2003]

You left out the bit that they were beaten by Scotland.

Indeed- but that was because I was only listing bullet points as to how you could make a case for an Australian win, not against.

Scotland beat them handsomely in the Autumn and made the Aussies look very ordinary that day.