Scotland v Wales

[An Tarbh]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (4trees @ Feb 9 2009, 11:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I fyou think that Edwards and Gatland show bias then you must be a very poor judge of character. The first thing that both of these men are is winners. They are not looking for colour, nationality, yes-men. They want talent, application and total commitment to the cause. If Powell is picked for the Lions it will be because he is seen as the best man for the job, and that same theory will be applied accross the squad. And by the way, if Irish coaches were a little more prepared to make difficult decisions then the BOD would no longer be Irish captain. He is quality, but not the best man to lead that team, you would think that was evident after all these years.[/b]

of course there's going to be bias for the players they know, this will be the shortest tour in Lions history so there won't be time to build a team on tour, the staff will go with the test team that they had in mind prior to the tour, rather than allowing it to come together in South Africa like it did 12 years ago, barring injury of course. So no that doesn't make me a poor judge of character, that makes me a good judge of the reality at hand.

O'Driscoll is by far the best man to lead the team, and Saturday was yet again proof of that, not because of the tries he scored, but because he showed the required leadership, no questions over his decisions and yet again excelling in defence. What more do you want of a captain? It has nothing to do with O'Driscoll's captaincy for Ireland's failures over the last number of years.

 

[cyRil]

Well this has been 14 pages of entertainment on a sleepy Monday morning!!
Some strange comments regarding events in the game and 'individual players'
I think Speedy is attempting a late surge for the Oscars with some of his comments - Byrne was truly SHOCKING! NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT!!!11!!11!1!!!

On the whole, Wales did Ok. We played enough rugby to be in a good enough position to be able to change a third of our team in one swoop with 20 minutes to go, and these changes contributed to our mess of a last quarter.
Byrne made a couple of mistakes, but was otherwise solid and made a couple of telling breaks/passes. In regards to his shoulder charges, they did seem a bit iffy, but to me especially in one instance, the Scotland back-line move was a complex one with dummy runners, and it looked like Byrne was simply tackling the man who he thought had received the ball.
To call Cross' tackle in the air foolish but Williams' tackle cynical is going a bit far and all! I think both knew what they were doing and both deserved the punishment they received.
For the 'Lions 9', Blair was anonymous yesterday.
Roberts was class, and even though this will probably get me 6 months in a high-security mental unit with you guys, so was Phillips. Yeah Speedy! Bring it!!

So there.

 

[Sir Speedy]

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (cyRil of Ospreylia @ Feb 9 2009, 12:21 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>

I think Speedy is attempting a late surge for the Oscars with some of his comments - Byrne was truly SHOCKING! NOW IS THE WINTER OF OUR DISCONTENT!!!11!!11!1!!! [/b]

Lies.
Phillips can't pass by the way. And Byrne's poor touch kicks and lame tackle attempt on Evans puts pressure on him, 'specially with Kearney playing well. I know he had a knock early on, but there's no excuse for thinking that you can stop a winger as fast and strong as Evans with your little finger...

As for Blair: LIES.

 

[dullonien]

Think you're taking too much away from Evans there, after he got past Shane (A missed tackle the like I haven't seen from him for years), he stepped Burne good and propper, nothing much he could have done. If it were the other way round and it was Shane scoring that try, no-one would have accused the fullback of poor tackling, but instead praised Shane on an excellent finish. Praise were praise is due, Max Evans' try was class, individual brilliance and excellent feet (though he shouldn't have got anywhere neer, considering Shane had him at one point!)

Burne wasn't his usual unbelievable self yesterday, but he was still better than Kearney imo, even after taking a few heavy knocks. His 'shoulder charging' (more like body checks, didn't see any shoulder action) were slightly iffy, but I see that kinda thing all the time, he took out a player who might have got the ball, as Cyril has said, some of Scotlands backline moves were complex and better safe than sorry. They could have easily been penalised, but they weren't dangerous and I'm glad he makes certain that player's tackled if he had got the ball. I don't understand Prestwick's problem really, I don't see it a cynical, deffinitely less so than delibriately killing a ball to prevent a try. Though I don't condone the lack of arms in tackles (he was on the edge in those off the ball incidents), nor the chucking the ball away into the stands (though most players do something similar, but normally refuse to hand the ball over!).

All in all, I think Pres was being a bit harsh. No Burne isn't a 'nice' fullback, but I don't want him to be. Wales have always been to 'nice', we need ruthless, hard, winning players, Burne is one of them! Though I thought he was extremely modest post match, isn't big headed and always sees room for improvement (Nowhere neer to Roberts though, who's an awesome professional and seems to be the most down to earth guy ever).