gonetomorrow
Player Valuation: £80m
This is turning out to be pretty heavy stuff!
British and Irish Lions tour 2021
- Thread starter BornBlue76
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gonetomorrow
Player Valuation: £80m
Brilliant try by S Africa.
Had to turn it off, nothing other than kicking. A terrible spectacle
gonetomorrow
Player Valuation: £80m
Another slick try by the Springboks. Brilliant by the wee man.
BornBlue76
Player Valuation: £35m
Fantastic 2nd half performance by the Boks ( reversing the excellent 2nd half the lions put together last week) showing a lot of power and much better execution than the first that was riddled with errors from them… Lions discipline seemed to let them down more in the 2nd
as it stands all to play for in the 3rd.. honestly I feel SA if they can keep out the errors they can impose themselves more.. I feel they are physically too strong playing at full potential, but there is enough about the Lions to ensure it could go either way..
as it stands all to play for in the 3rd.. honestly I feel SA if they can keep out the errors they can impose themselves more.. I feel they are physically too strong playing at full potential, but there is enough about the Lions to ensure it could go either way..
Flaming awful . Regardless who won the match, tactics bought about a game lacking in flair, skill, no momentum and actually very little rugby was played by either team. Greenwood commentating on the world class game he was watching,was talking out his backside for 80 mins.
Poor fair, very poor fair.
Poor fair, very poor fair.
Strange take. Are you just not a Union fan in the first place?
The forwards battle in the first half was excellent and the Lions had the Boks in full panic mode - Lions were winning all the collisions, stealing the Boks' lineout ball and edging the scrums (Furlong was immense). Second half saw some shrewd tactical adjustments by the Boks which took advantage of some of the Lions' forwards faltering in fitness terms. The tactical kicking game (from Pollard in particular) in the second half was sublime, with the Boks hammering away at a weakness in the Lions' defence.
Brilliant game for the neutral, massive missed opportunity for the Lions.
gonetomorrow
Player Valuation: £80m
The game's in danger of being taken over by the referees. Yesterday's match lasted two hours! Refs are under such pressure these days.
It's noticeable that the players now have one eye on the ref and touch judges during the match. They'll be waving imaginary yellow cards next!
I watched several international rugby games last week on YouTube and even as recently as ten years ago the action flowed better. Scrums and lineouts weren't so disciplined admittedly but the refs were less prominent.
It's noticeable that the players now have one eye on the ref and touch judges during the match. They'll be waving imaginary yellow cards next!
I watched several international rugby games last week on YouTube and even as recently as ten years ago the action flowed better. Scrums and lineouts weren't so disciplined admittedly but the refs were less prominent.
The refs are more prominent now than they used to be because:
1) the players are cheating a LOT more
2) the Laws are updated appropriately to provide sanctions for cheating
3) the refs are genuinely attempting to stamp out cheating and dangerous play
The players are at fault here, not the refs.
gonetomorrow
Player Valuation: £80m
The players sure are cheating more. It's getting like football - worse if anything because it's easier to hide.
No one played any rugby or even tried. It was just one out passes and hoofing it up in the air
I played Union for 7 years at school and enjoyed it but I find it hard to watch these days. Its such a borefest with no one willing to run the ball.
I think the issue on this is that the team in possession don't get enough protection at the breakdown. I have said this a while back, the "jackal tackle" that we've seen was always very contrary to what I was taught when I played (which was explicitly if you are the tackler you can't engage the ball) as just one example. It's meant sides just don't see the reward as worth the risk of possession.
Sam Warbutton summed it up quite well on Saturday when he said South Africa can kick the ball 30 yards up in the air and have a 50/50 when it lands. If they try and make 30 yards through possession they have far less than a 50% chance of getting the same metres. It's a simple risk v reward calculation. As he also stated, when the Lions stopped being able to catch it became a 75/25 30 yards up the pitch, so settled it for SA.
While you were always get your fanatics that like Scrums, Line outs, mauls, kicks etc I don't think this appeals to the majority of potential viewers that could watch rugby. I take my partner, she just doesn't get the breakdown rules or offside in rugby and it annoys her watching it (and turns her off the game). A bit of it is fine, but to me the game has become too much like American football where the set pieces are increasingly the event rather than the rugby that gets played in between. I don't mind a bit of competition, but it's too skewed for me as a spectacle now.
That doesn't mean I can't appreciate De Klerk and Pollard by the way, who executed that game plan fantastically. In much the same way Curran and Underhill executed the jackal tackle at the breakdown very well for a time, but I can also see why it is not good for the game. If you ask me, I much prefer running rugby and think the balance needs to be restored where that is at least a comparable option to the kick/chase game we now see.
I thought that less phase of play, where the TMO was involved at the Lions request was absolutely pathetic. There were 2 perfectly fine tackles made, but because the Lions and Farrell in particular has whinged to the ref they took 2-3 minutes out of the game to look at 2 tackles that were fine. For the onlooker viewer it's not a good spectacle at all, and just takes more time out of the game. I think too often rugby teams are now trying to use the TMO to start getting decisions, rather than just playing the game.
I think it was that Nigel Owen's who said, you just have to trust your judgement and get on with the game in those situations.
BornBlue76
Player Valuation: £35m
Not long to the decider... I'm hopeful of a more attractive game with Reinach taking over from Faf... Boks the favourite for the day. We expect them to be better every time they play as the Lions came into the series a lot more cooked.
But I can never guess as the Boks generally don't play a way that allows them to pull away from other teams and out the physical dominance into a lot of points. So should be very close.
But I can never guess as the Boks generally don't play a way that allows them to pull away from other teams and out the physical dominance into a lot of points. So should be very close.
Never been so excited for a game of rugby outside of a World Cup final.
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