Ireland

Thank you!

request to rename this the lolions thread

I've never bothered following the Lions for any tour. Whole concept seems dumb to me. Form a 'super team' that usually ends up being worse than the individual teams, and play tests against a team that the individual teams play on a yearly basis anyway.

Bump

Superb match - incredible quality.

In the old days by the time the tests came around the Lions were probably the more cohesive team than their opponent due to the time they had spent together . In the modern professional short Tour era, I agree that sending England or Ireland would probably give the Lions a better shot at winning due to the teams familiarity with each other

Still wouldn't be good enough, we're far too good

Yeah no one would win a series but England may win a game. Lions are worse than the individual countries so I agree I am not sure of the point these days. The gap between starters and like 4th choice in that same position is so small at the moment as well which makes it even more obvious because the 'dream' team isn't much of one. Lions 3rds could beat their 1sts regularly.

Moving the tours so that it's not right at the end of a ridiculously long European season would probably help the Lions as well.

Rugby season is way too long. Take a leaf from NFL.

1-1 theb

England certainly would be a way better option than the lions

I just watched the second half uninterrupted, which is pretty much unprecedented since we had kids.

Lol French referees. Sonny Bill decision was correct, but how they then blow the Vunipolo one is a joke, and the winning penalty was a joke too.

Vunipolo yellow seemed fine to me. Yeah the penalty at the end should have gone the other way if it was flagged at all. Shows the gulf between the two sides that lions only just managed to scrape a win against 14 men. Also sky's broadcast is terrible and Will Greenwood is the nut woat pundit. I'd rather see Steven Gerard alongside Scott Quinnell than Greenwood.

New Freeland

Greenwood has been terrible for years

Of course I bother to get out of bed for last week but opt to switch my radio over for the last 20 of this morning. Should at least make for a good decider

So the Lions scrape a win with 15 men vs our 14

Well done I guess

Lol - Sinckler clearly jumps to be able to catch the high pass and is clearly tackled in the air, it can only be a penalty to the Lions.

That's not to say the law is correct or sensible but given what the law currently says, it's a penalty.

And it's harsh on Faumuina, because he's committed to the tackle early and has made a good tackle - pretty much what his coaches would have instructed and expected him to do.

Stuart Barnes is far worse than anyone else.
His first reaction to the SBW incident slowmo: "That could possibly be a yellow card."

When I was playing at school level jumping into a tackler was always an offense though after a bit of googling it seems that was always just a result of a loose interpretation of dangerous play (I thought at the time it was a rule to prevent the obvious loophole, and fwiw I don't ever remember anyone being penalized for nailing a guy catching a hospital pass that caused the catcher to jump).

In that case it's ridiculous that that's an exploitable loophole that international refs haven't been taught to deal with and I still think that if the ref wants to ping it at all it should be for dangerous play against Sinckler for creating a dangerous situation that Faumuina couldn't reasonably be expected to pull out of (the pass was barely above head level so it's not like he needed to jump).

One bad on the spot call doesn't come close to surpassing Greenwood's back catalogue of insufferableness.

Lions happy to be within one score after that half.

This is brutal and intense

Series level with 20 to go...

Dare I say it's going to happen?

Useless bastards in the scrum.