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Four reasons for Lions hope

Murray

Conor Murray, Sean O’Brien, Jonathan Davies and George North remain untainted by the fall-out from the British and Irish Lions opening two matches in New Zealand. By missing the win over the Provincial Barbarians and today’s loss to Auckland they go into the Crusaders match on Saturday knowing things can hardly get worse.

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All four were seen as leading candidates for the test team before the squad left London and after the stuttering start to the New Zealand tour, their stock has risen considerably. What is clear is that the Lions needs physicality in the back division and that is where North comes into the equation. The image of him putting Israel Folau over his shoulder and continuing up field in attack against the Wallabies four years ago is still one Lions fans love to remember.

Jonathan Davies is a centre who possesses both strength and the ability to utilise space. His passing game is solid and that becomes vital if the Lions are to finally use space out wide once the opposition defence has been committed much nearer the break down.

Murray has a tactical kicking game and running threat that only the unavailable Ben Youngs could match at scrum half and that is vital if the opposition defence is to be stopped from automatically moving wide. O’Brien is a flanker who loves contact and ball carrying and the Lions desperately needed someone who can consistently punch a hole in the gain line and keep their legs pumping to allow support players to latch on and increase the damage.

With a set piece that has shown some signs of dominance the Lions will be able to hurt the opposition if momentum is generated. In the opening two matches they have been too lateral and passive in attack apart from the holes punched by Ben Te’o.

He is one of the few Lions squad players to put his hand up for test selection so far on tour and expect Owen Farrell to confirm his position as the first choice No10 against the Crusaders. With a back line featuring Murray, Farrell, Te’o, Davies and North, the Lions will look a much more potent attacking force to supplement the scrum and line out strength. They may not win but at least the Lions can start to offer something tangible in attack rather than slow motion side-ways movement and poor kick chase.

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S
SK 16 minutes ago
What is the future of rugby in 2025?

Set pieces are important and the way teams use them is a great indication of how they play the game. No team is showcasing their revolution more than the Springboks. This year they have mauled less and primarily in the attacking third. Otherwise they have tended to set like they are going to maul and then play around the corner or shove the ball out the back. They arent also hitting the crash ball carrier constantly but instead they are choosing to use their width or a big carrying forward in wider areas. While their maul is varied the scrum is still a blunt instrument winning penalties before the backs have a go. Some teams have chosen to blunt their set piece game for more control. The All Blacks are kicking more penalties and are using their powerful scrum as an attacking tool choosing that set piece as an attacking weapon. Their willingness to maul more and in different positions is also becoming more prominent. The French continue to play conservative rugby off the set piece using their big bruisers frequently. The set piece is used differently by different teams. Different teams play different ways and can be successful regardless. They can win games with little territory and possession or smash teams with plenty of both. The game of rugby is for all types and sizes and thats true in the modern era. I hope that administrators keep it that way and dont go further towards a Rugby League style situation. Some administrators are of the opinion that rugby is too slow and needs to be sped up. Why not rather empower teams to choose how they want to play and create a framework that favours neither size nor agility. That favours neither slow tempo play or rock n roll rugby. Create a game that favour both and challenge teams to execute their plans. If World Rugby can create a game like that then it will be the ultimate winner.

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J
JW 5 hours ago
'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

Yep, no one knows what will happen. Thing is I think (this is me arguing a point here not a random debate with this one) they're better off trialing it now in a controlled environment than waiting to open it up in a knee jerk style reaction to a crumbling organtization and team. They can always stop it again.


The principle idea is that why would players leave just because the door is ajar?


BBBR decides to go but is not good enough to retain the jersey after doing it. NZ no longer need to do what I suggest by paying him to get back upto speed. That is solely a concept of a body that needs to do what I call pick and stick wth players. NZR can't hold onto everyone so they have to choose their BBBRs and if that player comes back from a sabbatical under par it's a priority to get him upto speed as fast as possible because half of his competition has been let go overseas because they can't hold onto them all. Changing eligibility removes that dilemma, if a BBBR isn't playing well you can be assured that someone else is (well the idea is that you can be more assured than if you only selected from domestic players).


So if someone decides they want to go overseas, they better do it with an org than is going to help improve them, otherwise theyre still basically as ineligible as if they would have been scorning a NZ Super side that would have given them the best chance to be an All Black.

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