Other Sports: Page 51 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

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invisibleman18

Anyway onto serious matters for this week, the lineups for the first test:

Lions: Leigh Halfpenny, Alex Cuthbert, Brian O'Driscoll, Jonathan Davies, George North, Jonathan Sexton, Mike Phillips; Alex Corbisiero, Tom Youngs, Adam Jones, Alun Wyn Jones, Paul O'Connell, Tom Croft, Sam Warburton, Jamie Heaslip. Reserves: Richard Hibbard, Makovina Vunipola, Dan Cole, Geoff Parling, Dan Lydiate, Ben Youngs, Owen Farrell, Sean Maitland.

Wallabies: Berrick Barnes, Israel Folau, Adam Ashley-Cooper, Christian Lealiifano, Digby Ioane, James O'Connor, Will Genia; Wycliff Palu, Michael Hooper, Ben Mowen, James Horwill (capt), Kane Douglas, Ben Alexander, Stephen Moore, Benn Robinson. Reserves: Saia Faingaa, James Slipper, Sekope Kepu, Rob Simmons, Liam Gill, Nick Phipps, Pat McCabe, Kurtley Beale.

Couple of surprises in the Lions side. Tuilagi misses out with injury so Davies starts. Corbisiero wins a starting spot having been a late callup due to injury. Falatau and Tipuric not even on the bench.

asajoseph

For all the strength on tour, that's a weak bench. Think it will cost us on Saturday.

Timbob

Supposed to be wet conditions on Saturday out in Oz, and that pack is pretty monstrous. Along with Vunipola, Cole and Hibbard coming on for impact, we need to grind them in to the ground.

Scrum will be very strong, reckon the line out will improve massively with the great options we have. Can see us stealing some of their ball at the set piece. We have a big advantage with goal kicking.

The bench options for the back line aren't great, but even though i am not a huge fan Youngs is capable of making an impact with his speed.

As long as we play in the right areas and don't get over excited i think the Lions by 8.

RocktheCasbah

Just reading people's Tweets about the end of game 6 of the NBA Finals was quite exciting I thought, watched the highlights last night. Kinda felt for the Spurs (not a sentence I thought I'd ever utter) and have set the V Box to record tonight's decider. Should be good!

Gazza M

im recording it too. somehow i have to avoid hearing the result until i get home from work. mugabe media lockdown at the office tomorrow.

asajoseph

No issues with the Lions XV - pretty much as I expected it, and Corbis coming in is a good move, with Vunipola coming in after 60 minutes to test some tired legs around the breakdown with his mobility.

The rest of the bench is a worry though - Cole, Farrell and Parling all choked badly when put under real pressure in the 6N, and Cole in particular has been badly found out over the last 12 months or so. All those refs can't be wrong.

Meanwhile, Hibbard hasn't had a great tour so far in the front row, and whilst I'm a massive Lydiate fan, I think picking him when he's still lacking match sharpness, when you have Faletau, Tipuric & O'Brien left out completely is a daft selection.

Maitland too I'm worried about - Lions have conceded far too many tries this tour, and there are clear question marks over his defence & tackling. The better move would be Hogg on the bench, and Halfpeny moving to the wing if required.

My bench would have been this:

Hibbard, Vunipola, Cole, Tipuric, Stevens, Parling, Youngs, Farrell, Hogg

Still weak, I suppose. More designed to open a game up toward the end than shut one down.

Timbob

Cole, Hibbard and Maiko would arguably be the starting Ozzie front row. Granted none of them are perfect, but clear advantage Lions imo. The Australians don't have anything like that quality coming on.

I think Parling gets a spot just in case the line out goes to shit, he's the most likely to sort it out. Although I've read that the Australian line out is pretty crap tbh, so i expect us to dominate in this area anyway. A lot of criticism for the Lions line out, but from what I've seen, how its gone has been its been totally dependent on who's been on the pitch.

For me the concern is with some of the back line options, and that's where we've been stuffed by injuries. Tuilagi and Bowe will be missed. Agree about Hogg, would have had him instead of Maitland and probably Murray over Youngs. Hope Farrell doesn't have to come on too.

I'm a little concerned with Cuthbert up against Ioane, and if its a really open game the Australians have a lot more pace in their backs, but i guess that was always going to be the case. We have a very quick back row so that should hopefully counter that advantage.

Anyway, two strong teams i think, should be a great game. Whoever can impose their philosophy the best will win.

Rex

Was an amazing game 6. Spurs have to feel really hard done by! Ginobili, who was pretty crap again, should have had that foul at the end. Major mistake by the refs.

Since the NBA games are on here in the middle of the night I record them. Like it a lot better when you can fast forward through all the breaks. Try it! For my money, NBA basketball is easily as good a watch as any football match bar when Arsenal are playing.

asajoseph

I'm not a big Cole fan at all, and nor are most England fans I know. Looked a great player on the 2010 Australian tour, but just hasn't come on, and the way he got destroyed (along with Marler) in this year's 6 Nations decider was shambolic. He's been stagnating for a year or two now, and I think other teams have worked out problems in his game, the number of times he gets pinged at the scrum now suggests there's something seriously wrong.

Hibbard I'm not sure about - he's been a fringe player for a while, bit of a surprise to see him do so well in the 6N, but his form on tour makes me wonder if Wales shouldn't be quite worried about this position.

To be honest, I think you're massively underrating Robinson & Alexander - Cole (and Marler again) got taught a lesson by them last autumn.

Timbob

Cole has been up and down. Was solid for most of the 6N, but went to pieces against Wales. Did well against the All Blacks, struggled against Oz and the Boks. Phil Vickery said some interesting things about Cole. Reckons that even by international tighthead standards Cole is ridiculously strong and powerful and he has pretty good technique, but can struggle against smaller guys who get under him. Basically said he'll always have a bit of a problem because he's so tall for a tighthead.

Anyway, don't really disagree greatly, but the key point is that if things go to plan Cole, Hibbard and Maiko will be scrummaging against a tired Oz front row after 60 mins or the Ozzie bench front row, or a mix. I would be very surprised if the Aussies have that quality and experience to call on from the bench. So that's still an edge the Lions have imo.

Timbob

Only other slight concern with the bench would be that there's no 7 or 8 cover at all. Lydiate is quality, but if Warburton has to come off we have no openside, and Heaslip is the only 8, yet we have three blokes in the 23 who can play 6.

RonBurgundy

Timothy wrote:
Saffas bottle it again!

But seriously, don't think the team South Africa had out was that good. Needed Amla or De Villiers to bat big if they had a chance.

We didn't choke, despite what a lot of newspapers/media are saying. We had a 'good' team with two world class batsmen and no world class bowlers with Steyn out. Our test team is our pride and joy, our limited overs sides are nothing spectacular. England have the better ODI side and they proved it.

Gazza M

Rex wrote:
Was an amazing game 6. Spurs have to feel really hard done by! Ginobili, who was pretty crap again, should have had that foul at the end. Major mistake by the refs.

Since the NBA games are on here in the middle of the night I record them. Like it a lot better when you can fast forward through all the breaks. Try it! For my money, NBA basketball is easily as good a watch as any football match bar when Arsenal are playing.

agree partially. the nba regular season is a laugh, and most players/pundits in the US treat it as such. playoffs are fantastic though.

college basketball isn't as thrilling, but there does seem to be less dodgy refereeing. some decisions in the nba are very suspicious.

Meatwad

another awesome game. and the heat are nba champions.

Rohit

I dislike LeBron but there is no argument about how amazingly good he is, clutch games or not.

Tony Montana

Why do you hate LeBron?

Rohit

Hate is a strong word but i don't like him. I recognize his supreme talent but his behaviour in 2010 was despicable. Also, to be very honest and may be this does add to the sense of dislike are the constant Jordan comparisons even if justified. More so because they started too early, before he had won a ring, before he had shown the mettle to come big in big games.

There is no doubting his status as amongst the greatest the game has ever seen right now. Massive game from him. He was everywhere.

asajoseph

Nervous now. Bookies have Lions as favourites, marginally - think I'm going to have to make an emotional hedge...

Irishgunner

We'll crush them.

Great power in our pack, and incisive runners in the 3/4 line. Solid kickers too.

invisibleman18

Few hours to go, getting really fired up for this.

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