Rugby Union

[EvilScotsman]

[John Lambies Doos]

Just a reminder that Liam Williams butchered a walk in 2 on 1, then missed a simple tackle on Kolbe that led to a try.

And dropped a high ball and bottled another jump

[Left Back]

Just finished watching on catch up.  Can’t say I’m disappointed because I’m not.  Was happy when the scots made the squad but the rugby has been really turgid to watch.  The Scots being scapegoated for failing to play gatlandball to welsh standards makes me even less bothered.  Watching Williams make a c**t of it all game cheered me up.  He can’t hold a candle to Hogg.

It will take a long time to reconcile the dislike Scotland fans have for Welsh rugby that gatland has created.

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

2 hours ago, Detournement said:

Tom Curry has to be the worst performance to start all three tests in Lions history. 

Curry was consistently awful in all 3 tests. I don't think he jackaled a ball, and apparently gave away 7 penalties in 3 games (I thought it was more). 

However, he's a media darling for some reason and seems to be beyond criticism. 

One of the reasons The Lions lost was because both Curry and Lawes were rubbish at 6 and 7. Beirne and Hamish must be incredulous that they didn't get any real gametime. 

 

[John Lambies Doos]

Gatland so salty about Finn after match because he fucked up. Bye bye Warren, your rugby is shite

[ajwffc]

1 hour ago, Bob Mahelp said:

Curry was consistently awful in all 3 tests. I don't think he jackaled a ball, and apparently gave away 7 penalties in 3 games (I thought it was more). 

 

 

most of these stats seem to forget advantages that are not called back 

[John Lambies Doos]

Happy the Scottish players played well.
No that fussed the lions lost tbh. Deserved for playing turgid rugby

Great Post.
In all honesty I couldn't give a flying.. but today proved some things...Price and Russell best outhalfs in NH, Welsh savior Williams is a poor man's Hogg and Mish is 100 times the player Curry is. All in all a good day...

[GAD]

12 hours ago, Detournement said:

Gatland was asked in his interview about Finn and agreed it was a good performance but then immediately brought up a knock on. He obviously knows Russell just made him look like a dick. 

Russell didn't mention Gatland in his interview, said Gregor told him to play his own game and said his main experience of the tour was watching and thinking how he would do it differently. 

Sky haven't mentioned the 'English' pack losing two scrums on their own ball in the final 10 minutes. 

Yeah, I just watched this, there is clearly no love lost there at all. I remember seeing Finn asked about the time he went out to NZ as part of the Geography 6, with the interviewer obviously expecting him to be gushing about what an honour it was, and he basically said it was shit and a waste of time.

It was obvious as well that when Russell came on he played his own game and his team mates responded to that because the switch back to Warrenball at the start of the second half was actually quite jarring.

[IrishBhoy]

12 minutes ago, GAD said:

Yeah, I just watched this, there is clearly no love lost there at all. I remember seeing Finn asked about the time he went out to NZ as part of the Geography 6, with the interviewer obviously expecting him to be gushing about what an honour it was, and he basically said it was shit and a waste of time.

It was obvious as well that when Russell came on he played his own game and his team mates responded to that because the switch back to Warrenball at the start of the second half was actually quite jarring.

I’m no authority on Rugby by any stretch of the imagination, but any time I watch Finn Russell he always seems to be the guy trying something different that none of his teammates are able to see coming. It’s like Iniesta playing inch perfect through balls for a couple of Junior level strikers who aren’t clever enough to make the run. That could very well be absolute nonsense and I wouldn’t disagree with someone who knows more about the game than me, but even when you see him for Scotland he always seems to be trying cute little kicks through or changing direction and punting out to the wings, but because no one has seen it coming he can end up looking daft. 

[John Lambies Doos]

I’m no authority on Rugby by any stretch of the imagination, but any time I watch Finn Russell he always seems to be the guy trying something different that none of his teammates are able to see coming. It’s like Iniesta playing inch perfect through balls for a couple of Junior level strikers who aren’t clever enough to make the run. That could very well be absolute nonsense and I wouldn’t disagree with someone who knows more about the game than me, but even when you see him for Scotland he always seems to be trying cute little kicks through or changing direction and punting out to the wings, but because no one has seen it coming he can end up looking daft. 

To be honest it depends on gameplan. Scotland play a high tempo offloading game so are agile to respond to Finns genius. Some of these Welsh Warren haddies can't..

[Guest Bob Mahelp]

If The Lions franchise is to survive, they have to cut themselves loose from that fucking idiot Gatland.

I see that he's said that he could well be available in 4 years time.....Jesus Christ, another tour with him and his Welsh cabal playing Warrenball. 

He probably knows that how much he's disliked back in NZ, and he knows he'll never get a decent gig there. 

 

[GAD]

16 minutes ago, Bob Mahelp said:

If The Lions franchise is to survive, they have to cut themselves loose from that fucking idiot Gatland.

I see that he's said that he could well be available in 4 years time.....Jesus Christ, another tour with him and his Welsh cabal playing Warrenball. 

He probably knows that how much he's disliked back in NZ, and he knows he'll never get a decent gig there. 

 

Yeah, this needs to be the end of Gatland. He's had plenty now, won a series against a pretty shite Australia team, drew a series against NZ which really came down to a ref call in the end, and then yesterday his luck ran out. He's been a great coach for Wales, and you can't argue with his achievements, but time moves on, and he's not really moved with the times.

[Left Back]

Next Lions coach?  Farrell would be my guess at the moment.

[Wee-Bey]

I'll be supporting Australia next time round anyway since my mum's a born and bred Sheila, so not fussed if it's Gatland tbh.

But he's had his time surely.

[GordonS]

3 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

I’m no authority on Rugby by any stretch of the imagination, but any time I watch Finn Russell he always seems to be the guy trying something different that none of his teammates are able to see coming. It’s like Iniesta playing inch perfect through balls for a couple of Junior level strikers who aren’t clever enough to make the run. That could very well be absolute nonsense and I wouldn’t disagree with someone who knows more about the game than me, but even when you see him for Scotland he always seems to be trying cute little kicks through or changing direction and punting out to the wings, but because no one has seen it coming he can end up looking daft. 

Not the way I see it tbh. The team are set up to play off him and very rarely does it break down. The wingers generally get on the end of his cross-field kicks and his passing is so completely immaculate that he actually forces his team-mates to go where he wants them. Two examples - after an intercept against Ireland at Murrayfield he was hunted down short of the line by haunted onion Keith Earls; he throws the ball off the deck to Sam Johnson, but he throws it outside to put Johnson away from the tackler. The best example though is this pass against England, forcing Maitland exactly where he wanted him.

 

[Hard Graft]

First rule of any test match - take the points when they are on offer and only when comfortabley in front go for the corners.

[peasy23]

Hopefully Hamish doesn't suffer any Samson like after effects...

[Left Back]

Quite funny reading taffs on social media trying to claim that despite butchering the try, missing the tackle that led to a try and dropping multiple high balls, that Williams still played better than Hogg.  They’re trying to deflect blame onto Curry and the “English” pack and no way are having it that Williams is in any way culpable.

[Detournement]

Having 7 forwards from the nation that finished 5th in the 6 Nations finishing the deciding Test is madness when you actually read it but it has barely been mentioned by the press. Losing two vital scrums on your own put in is absolutely criminal yet again it doesn't seem to matter because it was done by players that rugby journalists have man crushes on.

Finn was excellent but I think the full team got a boost when he came on. They wouldn't have trained playing Russell's style but they all immediately got far more aggressive and started hitting lines that no one was attempting in the first 170 minutes. I think there would have been a lot of mixed feelings in the hotel last night, a lot of players had their tour ruined because Gatland was determined to make Biggar and AWJ the focal point.

[Savage Henry]

3 hours ago, Hard Graft said:

First rule of any test match - take the points when they are on offer and only when comfortabley in front go for the corners.

Only if you feel you are less likely to score a try. It’s the sign of a confident team if they kick for the corner.  New Zealand do it against Scotland almost every time. Australia used to.