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Rugby Union
2021 British & Irish Lions Tour
2017 British & Irish Lions Squad Announcement
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<blockquote data-quote="msf" data-source="post: 849234" data-attributes="member: 72153"><p>I shall have my annual say then. </p><p></p><p>I don´t have too many problems with this squad. I mean, I wouldn´t have picked it, and I don´t think Eddie Jones or Vern Cotter or even Joe Schmidt would have picked it, but then they weren´t picked to coach the Lions, so what did you expect? It should be obvious to everyone that Gatland feels much more comfortable with solid, dependable players that fit a simple gameplan. In that context, he wouldn´t have used most of the players he left out effectively anyway. I personally would rather see George Ford taking the Argentinian defence apart, ball in hand, than doing a poor impression of Dan Biggar (who himself would be doing a poor impression of Owen Farrell and Jonny Sexton´s lovechild) on a wet, windy pitch against a Maori team told to go out and break all the creative players before the Test series. If they think about it, I´m sure the Scots would rather see Finn Russell doing likewise under a coach (Townsend) who actually appreciates him.</p><p></p><p>It´s starting to sound like I have a problem with Gatland, but I really don´t. It´s not clear to me that his approach isn´t the most sensible one in a Lions context - how long did it take Eddie Jones to get the England attack firing? At least a whole Six Nations. The same goes, but to an even greater extent, for Schmidt and Cotter. How long did it take Gatland to get Wales playing Gatball? Didn´t they win the Grand Slam first time doing so? And I haven´t really seen any attacking improvements under him since then. The only ones I´ve seen have come since Alex King was put in charge of the attack under Howley, and he´s not going on the Lions trip anyway. Perhaps we could have hoped he would, or that Townsend had taken up the offer, but I couldn´t see either of them getting their way with Test selection over Gatland, Farrell, Rowntree and Borthwick, just as I can´t see Howley doing so either.</p><p></p><p>So, it shouldn´t have really been a surprise to anyone that the most creative players from the most creative teams aren´t going, unless they are also the most dependable ones (i.e. Sexton, when his body works.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="msf, post: 849234, member: 72153"] I shall have my annual say then. I don´t have too many problems with this squad. I mean, I wouldn´t have picked it, and I don´t think Eddie Jones or Vern Cotter or even Joe Schmidt would have picked it, but then they weren´t picked to coach the Lions, so what did you expect? It should be obvious to everyone that Gatland feels much more comfortable with solid, dependable players that fit a simple gameplan. In that context, he wouldn´t have used most of the players he left out effectively anyway. I personally would rather see George Ford taking the Argentinian defence apart, ball in hand, than doing a poor impression of Dan Biggar (who himself would be doing a poor impression of Owen Farrell and Jonny Sexton´s lovechild) on a wet, windy pitch against a Maori team told to go out and break all the creative players before the Test series. If they think about it, I´m sure the Scots would rather see Finn Russell doing likewise under a coach (Townsend) who actually appreciates him. It´s starting to sound like I have a problem with Gatland, but I really don´t. It´s not clear to me that his approach isn´t the most sensible one in a Lions context - how long did it take Eddie Jones to get the England attack firing? At least a whole Six Nations. The same goes, but to an even greater extent, for Schmidt and Cotter. How long did it take Gatland to get Wales playing Gatball? Didn´t they win the Grand Slam first time doing so? And I haven´t really seen any attacking improvements under him since then. The only ones I´ve seen have come since Alex King was put in charge of the attack under Howley, and he´s not going on the Lions trip anyway. Perhaps we could have hoped he would, or that Townsend had taken up the offer, but I couldn´t see either of them getting their way with Test selection over Gatland, Farrell, Rowntree and Borthwick, just as I can´t see Howley doing so either. So, it shouldn´t have really been a surprise to anyone that the most creative players from the most creative teams aren´t going, unless they are also the most dependable ones (i.e. Sexton, when his body works.) [/QUOTE]
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