posted Jun 16, 2009

Let's face it the Lions have not been a class act on tour except against the Golden Lions. They have not faced any top opposition and Saturday will, I think, become a big wake up call.Brussouw for Burger will be a blessing in disguise for the Boks because all Burger does is give away penalties through indiscipline. The Test results will be down to who can kick the most penalties rightly or wrongly given by the ref. Stephen Jones for flyhalf without a doubt for his kicking, but for sheer rugby skill it will be the Boks that shape up.

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posted Jun 16, 2009

There is a photo showing O'Gara being tapped on the face by a Southern Kings player - however they fail to depict that o'gara pushed him in the face first! As I said rugby is an aggressive sport - all teams get 'fired' up!

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posted Jun 16, 2009

The boks are rusty and any touring side will have tight matches no matter who they are. I mean Munster nearly beat the All Blacks back in the Autumn.

I reckon the Lions will win the firts test.

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posted Jun 17, 2009

glad to see i am not alone in seeing the blind side flanker position as being the key issue. time and again the team with the best no6 (7 in SA) does the business - Pienaar in 95, Richard Hill in 2003 and Juan Smith now. Maybe the no 6 position is the achilles heel for the kiwis too. Always had phenominal open sides, but have not had the best sixes (reuben thorne / collins on a consistent basis)

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posted Jun 17, 2009

What hangs ups - I am happy to defend my comments on a rugby basis rather than a nationalistic basis, I am not criticising either Fitz or Kearney I just happen to think that with his strike record Monye deserves the place in the test side and that his defence is not as bad as some people make out.

What does concern me about Monye is that all through this tour he has not seemed to be running as freely as I have seen him in England. It maybe the hard grounds but I do wonder if he is carrying some minor injury

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posted Jun 17, 2009

S Jones for the test, but I've no worries on ROG, he hasn't played that great, but as in the 6 N (bad against England), when the pressure is on he rises to it (see immense 2nd half against Wales after being targeted for 40mins).

If we were playing Australia on Sat, I'd have Fitz on, but as we're playing SA and our breakdown has been iffy, it has to be Monye. He may not have the speed of Fitz or an Armitage, but he'll be an asset in the tackle area and breakdown. Also, with BOD and Roberts inside him, his defence will be better marshalled.

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posted Jun 17, 2009

It seemed pretty obvious to me that from the outset the SK were sent out there with the prime objective of trying to injure the opposition.

The number of high and late tackles that went unpunished by a seemingly incompetent referee. Piling in from the side went unpunished. His biggest joke was a penalty against the Lions for a player not moving out of the way when four of the opposition were virtually on top of him and barring his exit.

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posted Jun 17, 2009

Series of comments by RFU Minder (U13989474)

********

posted 6 Hours Ago

ROG is not a great tactical kicker. Period. Stephen jones is. Period. We need Jones and Hook in the team on Saturday.

posted 6 Hours Ago

ROG - use your eyes, you had players out wide there. Some good and some bad from ROG today.

posted 6 Hours Ago

Guys is there live video coverage fo the game ?

posted 6 Hours Ago

Agreed - nothing wrong with rees in the line out or he would not be selected for the lions, simple as that. His nationality may be causing some in here to criticize unfairly. doh

PS. Ronan O Garra - 3rd choice # 10 for me.

posted 6 Hours Ago

Fitgerald and Tommy Bowe would be in my side. Ugo Monye as well (benched). But Ronan O'Garro, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. NEVER. 3rd choice for me. My opinion. ok

****************

RFU minder, I can't decide if you are simply a poor attempt at a Wind Up Merchant, a simpleton who has never watched a game of rugby in his life, or a man who lets his passion for Welsh Rugby overwhelm his judgement to the point where he makes an utter fool of himself on public messageboards.

Ronan O'Gara is not a great tactical kicker?

Ronan? O'Gara?

Ronan O'Gara, whose picture is in the dictionary under "Great Tactical Kicker"? Who is known, not just in Europe but Worldwide, as a Great Tactical Kicker?

Seriously mate, has some-one hacked your account? 12 year-olds in Auckland can tell you about Ronan O'Gara's tactical kicking.

Let's leave aside that you're commenting on a game that you are not, apparantly, watching. Perhaps you haven't noticed it, but ROG is not just a Great Tactical Kicker, but a Great Decision-Maker.

He knows far more about rugby than you ever will, and will always be better at deciding what to do on a rugby field than you ever will.

Take a moment to take that in, to appreciate it's truth.

When ROG gets ball that's too slow from a ruck, that lets the Defence push right up on his backline, he kicks. He makes that decision based on his assessment of space available and the speed that players are moving at. He is VERY good at making that judgement, and certainly far better than you, or the Sky commentary team.

With the Biff of Roberts and the Whizz of BOD in our backline, all we need is some-one to make them a bit of space in order to prosper.

Some-one who is a master of kicking over an on-rushing defence. Who can find the corners, or drop a cross-kick on a dime for an onrushing winger.

Some-one who was known as "The Waiter" on his last Lions tour for his 'on a silver platter' service in putting players into space with beautiful passing off either hand.

Some-one who isn't always running up blind alleys, but who when you least expect it makes a run to score the match winning try (HEC semi-final vs Leinster '06) or taps a quick penalty to himself and dives to score, when all of South Africa thinks he's kicking to touch. (Last time SA played in Ireland.)

So that's ROG for the Test team please. Thanks for reading.

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posted Jun 17, 2009

all i can say about this is watch out lions. persoanly i feel they may well get humiliated. lookin at the south africas line up they are goin to play for there lifes. like they always do. ime not sayin lions wont have chances but look at it from the warm up games these teams have not been together long and still manageing to get the lions in to problems. yest game. that team was together for 1 week. i have to say lions were very lucky. nigel owens had gave a final warnign to both captains about the break down and next one will be to the bin. then lions gave another penality away due to break down no yellow. second time again another penality from break down stil no yellow card then s.kings gave one away and got a str yellow. ime glad lions won but that shows a sign of bad of a bad ref. and nigel owens is a great ref at time but think there will be a bit of a thing to come after that game. personaly we should not have any british refs doing the game and should be another nation ref like aussie french new zeland. because they would not give an english ref for an england v wales game. but back to the lions. playing very poor. the break down is there big issue and the bocks will no this and take advantage of this. persoanly bocks to win by 10points reason far much better and much stringer team and a very fast team.

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posted Jun 17, 2009

Ulster Fryer you will fine that Monye is definetely faster than Fitzgerald, Monye is clocked at less than 11 seconds.

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