Official British & Irish Lions Tour Thread

[Mephisto_Helix]

Thankfully, apart from a few bitter Poms, the rugby world (which is what counts) agrees that Bakkies was dealt with very unfairly.

 

[CHURCHILL]

I never once said I was an Englishman, I said I was English!

, so are you english,Scotish,Welsh,Irish or South African?

Thankfully, apart from a few bitter Poms, the rugby world (which is what counts) agrees that Bakkies was dealt with very unfairly.

Maybe he was treated unfairly this time, but there has been alot of times he has got away with it and has not been cited, do you agree?

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

I agree that he errs more on the side of being dirty (he's a Bulls player after all) but past transgressions can't be punished for ..... particularly in the case where he was doing something that every rugby player does. It was victimisation, through and through.

 

[CHURCHILL]

I agree that he errs more on the side of being dirty (he's a Bulls player after all) but past transgressions can't be punished for ..... particularly in the case where he was doing something that every rugby player does. It was victimisation, through and through.

Lol..

The way i see it, is that he has made/decided a reputation for himself and people now judge him by that reputation.

 

[sand_man]

South Africans generally play the game harder than any other nation with the exception of New Zealand. Those that can't handle it cry foul, typically and traditionally your Ozzies and Pommies, bunch of soft cocks...

With regards todays test, dead rubber, series won and lost last week. The 2nd's battled today but don't lose any sleep over it...

Tri-nations is the next challenge already evidently on the players and coaches minds...

 

[Stickfigure]

Yeah. I only saw the last 5 minutes of the match but judging by the score, I take it some of our first team players were benched for the Tri Nations?

 

[killadoob]

Today shows why some players warm the bench.

Let's hope this does not affect our tri-nations team,shocking stuff.

 

[Kabraal]

To many changes I suppose. Which is a pity.

We had no wings and no locks on the park. Did Muller even pitch up? Kanko hops around a ruck on he's toes like he's wearing a tutu. Looks like a headless chicken. Does he even know what the inside of a ruck look like?

F. Steyn was awesome at FB. Zane has some nice talent but damn, gotta love those runs from Steyn from the back.

As for our first team, three people needs to make way. Adi for Fourie, Pienaar for Steyn and Burger needs to sort his **** out. Brussouw looks the business.

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

Pienaar for Steyn

and yet, when Pienaar came on the game got more lively ..... Steyn was found out yesterday.

 

[Zyzzyva]

and yet, when Pienaar came on the game got more lively ..... Steyn was found out yesterday.

Yeah i'm glad Morne Steyn got a run, it puts things into perspective. I think we often judge a player without taking into account the conditions in the game. If yesterday proved anything, its that ruan is not to bad, and he should be given as much game time as possible to improve (im including super 14 in this).

We musnt forget that Ruan has not played much at flyhalf. This season was his first full season in the position, and he got injured right when he was starting to find his footing in the super 14. All things considered, he is doing very well.

Does this make him better than Morne, well its tough to say, Morne has the superior post/drop kicking game. Which obviously counts for alot.

 

[Mephisto_Helix]

That's actually well put jak3 ........ a lot of people forget that Ruan was a scrummie and that as he was making the change to flyhalf, he got injured, so is basically still a flyhalf-noob.

 

[LancelotSA]

I'm in agreement about Frans Steyn showing his class again though... he looked real good yesterday. Pity he blows hot and cold though. But yesterday he was aggressive as hell, running straight over Lions players.

As for Morne Steyn, I think those who wanted him to get a run should now be satisfied that although he is good, he is not a God. His goal kicking skills are pretty impressive though, but as we have seen before kicking can be coached. It is the instinctive skills that are necessary.


EDIT : Just read this review of Kirchner on a British site :

Zane Kirchner 4
Played like a tiny schoolkid at a convention of big bullies. Out of his depth, and hopefully his career will not be set back

Oh dear Nokwe's is even more scathing and only the British press can say it like this without pulling the punches!

Jongi Nokwe 4
Out of his depth, and with the greatest respect, this appeared to be what they call a selection from affirmative action

 

[Kabraal]

and yet, when Pienaar came on the game got more lively ..... Steyn was found out yesterday.

and yet, Pienaar was found out at loftus...horribly? There are 22 positions to fill in a side. Divvy needs to select one of these as 1st choice. He can't go wrong with either. There will be place for the other on the bench.

Pienaar looked good to me at 9.

 

[zippy]

Ha ha ha ha Pom alert!

I think we need to watch the game again together and see how many 50/50 calls go against the Boks. My bet is on you losing that one!

Even when out of the tension of a match situation the decisions go against the Boks. And then there is no excuse as the replays can be watched in slow motion and with cool heads and no pressure. But still Bakkies gets banned for two weeks for clearing a ruck. Sheridan doesn't even get a word said to him for hitting someone in the nuts. O'Driscoll gets away scot free for a no arms shoulder charge on Roussouw which concussed him. Yip, you are right.... clearly 70% of all calls go the Boks way!

If you were to be honest even 90/10 calls go against us!!!!!

So all decisions need to be carefuly balanced so that at the end of the game, both sides can say "we got 50% of the decisions" ? What happened to penalising someone when they infringe the rules ? If South Africa play like this in the next World Cup, they are going to struggle to field 15 players if they reach the semi-finals. Not because of injuries, but because of being banned. Where did you find that idiot coach ? Maybe if he coached the players in the fine art of playing the ball, they might be able to defend their world title.

 

[MielieSpoor]

If South Africa play like this in the next World Cup, they are going to struggle to field 15 players if they reach the semi-finals. Not because of injuries, but because of being banned. Where did you find that idiot coach ? Maybe if he coached the players in the fine art of playing the ball, they might be able to defend their world title.

Dude, I really think you need to read that and think it through! In the first test Simon Shaw played Fourie du Preez without the ball and with no arms and wasn't cited. In the last test, he dove into du Preez's back with his knee injuring du Preez. One of the Lions players hit Andries Bekker in the balls in the second test and was not cited altough it was in full view of the camera! In the third test, I counted 2 incidents where LIONS players entered the ruck exactly like Bakkies did and was not cited. So the Lions is not nearly the Angles the British public would like to believe - you just have the IRB on your side, we don't! And thats where the diffirence come in at the end of the day!

 

[Devill]

Dude, I really think you need to read that and think it through! In the first test Simon Shaw played Fourie du Preez without the ball and with no arms and wasn't cited. In the last test, he dove into du Preez's back with his knee injuring du Preez. One of the Lions players hit Andries Bekker in the balls in the second test and was not cited altough it was in full view of the camera! In the third test, I counted 2 incidents where LIONS players entered the ruck exactly like Bakkies did and was not cited. So the Lions is not nearly the Angles the British public would like to believe - you just have the IRB on your side, we don't! And thats where the diffirence come in at the end of the day!

+1 Go look at the clip that shows what bakkies was cited for, two seconds after bakkies makes contact a B&I lions player enters from the SIDE and does exactly the same thing....Why was he not cited?

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5FV7GDD--w[/ame]

Watch that and please explain to me why the nr 2 of the lions was not also cited?

 

[Alan]

Dude, I really think you need to read that and think it through! In the first test Simon Shaw played Fourie du Preez without the ball and with no arms and wasn't cited. In the last test, he dove into du Preez's back with his knee injuring du Preez. One of the Lions players hit Andries Bekker in the balls in the second test and was not cited altough it was in full view of the camera! In the third test, I counted 2 incidents where LIONS players entered the ruck exactly like Bakkies did and was not cited. So the Lions is not nearly the Angles the British public would like to believe - you just have the IRB on your side, we don't! And thats where the diffirence come in at the end of the day!

Bottom line is Burger should have been sent off in the second test. The Lions would have almost certainly won that game then. Would have made for an interesting final game.


IMO the Lions on the whole were the better side. Played some fantastic rugby. South Africans should be ashamed of the conduct of our pathetic coach and petulant, wingat behaviour in the 3rd test by the likes of Brussow. Not that the Lions were angels but we must sort out our behaviour before whinging about theirs

 

[Devill]

Bottom line is Burger should have been sent off in the second test. The Lions would have almost certainly won that game then. Would have made for an interesting final game.


IMO the Lions on the whole were the better side. Played some fantastic rugby. South Africans should be ashamed of the conduct of our pathetic coach and petulant, wingat behaviour in the 3rd test by the likes of Brussow. Not that the Lions were angels but we must sort out our behaviour before whinging about theirs

Very true, but the lions making such a fuss and then forgetting in the same game there were 3 high tackles from them that did not even get penalized and the shot to the nuts of Mr Bekker....

Both teams IMO were in the wrong.

 

[MielieSpoor]

Bottom line is Burger should have been sent off in the second test. The Lions would have almost certainly won that game then. Would have made for an interesting final game.


IMO the Lions on the whole were the better side. Played some fantastic rugby. South Africans should be ashamed of the conduct of our pathetic coach and petulant, wingat behaviour in the 3rd test by the likes of Brussow. Not that the Lions were angels but we must sort out our behaviour before whinging about theirs

On the Burger incident I'm not going to say anything, I think we all know that what he did was wrong and thus the reason I didn't mention it.

I only pointed out to the pom that the Lions were not the angels they believe they are! Yes, the boks are no angels, and were wrong on many ocations but so were the Lions but according to their supporters, they have done absolutely nothing wrong! Its amazing how quick zippy was to point out how dirty the boks were, but when its pointed out that the lions didn't really play clean rugby, he decide to pull a Casper on himself.

Not that the Lions were angels but we must sort out our behaviour before whinging about theirs

That should count for both teams or are the Lions again excluded?

 

[Bizkit87]

ok, now i'm a little worked up

i've been reading a article on BBC's site, about the tour, and the article in itself is fine, but have a look at some of the comments:

Spies reminds me of alot of college NFL players who get drafted high based on incredible physical performance tests (sprints, vertical jump, bench press etc..) and then are complete busts because they cannot play

Were it not for a couple of dubious refereeing decisions in favour of the home side, Lions would also be boasting a 3-0 series win

However, it should not be overlooked that in the 240 minutes of quality rugby, Lions played the better of it for the majority of them and resoundingly won the series 72-61

The Springboks are a great team. But they are not playing like World Champions. In 1995, they rode their luck in winning the world cup. From, 1996-1997, The All Blacks showed they were the best team in the World. In 2000-2001, Australia showed they were the best team in the world. When you win the world cup, you play like world champions after a winning the cup. The Boks did not show that last year, and judging by their performance against the British, they are not a world champion team, but they do have world champion players.

Put another way, I think the Boks can count themselves very lucky not to have lost the series, and they could have gone down 3-0. I would say they are a very long way off a world class team, and the Tri-nations will show whether I'm right or wrong