Lions

[Big D]

Russell and Dell will be heading home later this week. So no injuries and £70k better off. Not a bad 10 days or so work.

[whatisthejava]

The next head coach absolutely needs to be someone outwith the 4 national HC's, someone who can actually go in to national training sessions and see what they are doing and how each team and players tick. His assistants can be from each national set up but the HC shouldn't be someone currently employed by any of them.

Im not sure i agree with this, but the HC has to be impartial, gatland was never impartial , never pretended to be and from what i read was fairly lazy , describing the year he was employed as basically one corporate dinner after another.

I just dont think Gatland has the work ethic or the OCD required to be a lions coach


The OCD coaches i think around are

Jones, Toonie, Baxter,

I

[Big D]

The next head coach absolutely needs to be someone outwith the 4 national HC's, someone who can actually go in to national training sessions and see what they are doing and how each team and players tick. His assistants can be from each national set up but the HC shouldn't be someone currently employed by any of them.

Im not sure i agree with this, but the HC has to be impartial, gatland was never impartial , never pretended to be and from what i read was fairly lazy , describing the year he was employed as basically one corporate dinner after another.

I just dont think Gatland has the work ethic or the OCD required to be a lions coach


The OCD coaches i think around are

Jones, Toonie, Baxter,

I

Especially since the Lions board made the decision that Lions coach is a year long employment/secondment I think it does. It's nonsense to ask a nation to give up its coach for a year. Of course it also needs to be someone willing to put in the hard graft.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Why does it even have to be a national coach?

[Banquo]

Why does it even have to be a national coach?

Carwyn James being a great example, albeit a long time ago. It would certainly diminish the cries of bias.

[Big D]

Woodward and McGeechan (last 2 times) weren't national head coaches at the time. In 97 Geech was Northampton coach IIRC.

[Croft_No.5]

Agree with Big D, a coach outside of any of the national set ups. How long is Big Vern's contract at Montpellier for?

[Edinburgh in Exile]

Am I reading it right that now Gatland is saying the reason he didn't use the bench was because of the shit fit that everyone threw after the last call ups?

Fair enough Warren, I guess it's everyone else's fault then.

What a fanny that man is.

[af73]

From a welsh point of view - he took 12 welsh , then added 4 and most of the welsh guys are not good enough to play in the lions team , that wont help him come Autumn when he is back and most of his players know he didnt pick them

On past tours Scottish players (back when we were involved) said they came back from a month alongside their home nations rivals and realised they weren't as bad as the Scottish cringe had convinced them. Indeed Grand Slams followed the 1983 and 1989 Lions tours.

Now, here's the conspiracy part

The Welsh head coach and Welsh assistant coach have loaded the Lions tour with countrymen who have been struggling for form and 4 "stars of the future" along for development. Were they, per chance, hoping to have 16 rejuvenated players ready for next season?

Identifying Scotland's key player then fannying around with his playing time on the Lions tour was reckoned to play a part in Hogg's dip in 2013 so repeat the dose with Russell.

[Eugene Wrayburn]

Im still amazed that Gatland fell into this trap, i think the guy is a weasel but his handling of the situation and the entire lions debackle has been abysmal

From a welsh point of view - he took 12 welsh , then added 4 and most of the welsh guys are not good enough to play in the lions team , that wont help him come Autumn when he is back and most of his players know he didnt pick them

From a rest of britain, he has completly pissed off the englishby selecting the welsh and scots guys, they saw it as a coronation for Lunchbox and Ford

From a scotland pov - we think he is an arse

From the lions pov - he has pissed off some well respected old guard with it

From the media - after the tour is done and the sycophants and patriots have calmed down people will look back at this tour as a real chance to beat the all blacks, especially with Scotland, England and Ireland all trying to play play a more open game people will wonder what would have been if we had Jones/ Toonie/Schmitt as coaches and not Gatland/Howley/Arsehole1/Arsehole2/Arsehole3

I think its time the lions need to actually change things up for the modern times, I just dont know what the changes are

Stewart

I don't think the Irish are that happy with him either.

I could imagine that a number of irish players felt that the extra hour's time difference between Japan and Sydney was a fucking spurious reason for not selecting them.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

Nowell promoted to the bench instead of Seymour - naturally.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/40437419

Very honest words from Grant and I agree with much of it. It still baffles me that a Scot will support something that so blatantly disrespects our country & our players. That little article on Grant has only further reinforced that view.

[Tobylerone]

Looks like it`ll be pissing down in Wellington on Sat.
That`s part one of the Gatland game plan a success.

[sharvey44]

saw mention on twittersphere that the geographical 6 are getting £15k each for Lions call-up

[hugh_woatmeigh]

saw mention on twittersphere that the geographical 6 are getting £15k each for Lions call-up

Why do people keep claiming you get 70k regardless? It's apparently pro rata in some way.

[Big D]

Even if it's "only" 15k it's still good coin for very little work. Neither player for injured and will be ready to go when the SRU clear them to start pre season.

[Chunks Baws]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/40437419

Very honest words from Grant and I agree with much of it. It still baffles me that a Scot will support something that so blatantly disrespects our country & our players. That little article on Grant has only further reinforced that view.

Rowntree sounds as big a cunt as Fat Heed.

[hugh_woatmeigh]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/40437419

Very honest words from Grant and I agree with much of it. It still baffles me that a Scot will support something that so blatantly disrespects our country & our players. That little article on Grant has only further reinforced that view.

Rowntree sounds as big a cunt as Fat Heed.

Not like it's their job to know every BI&I player inside & out so they can make informed selection decisions is it?

[QwentyJ]

In contrast, the Telegraph gives him a 5/10 and says his box-kicking was shite.

That might also be because Gavin Mairs doesn't know what he's talking about.

Aye, he gets a scoop once in a while but he's just another fud. He makes Mick Cleary look like a prophet. The fucking audacity of the Torygraph to call him "The Talk of Rugby".

[morepork]

Laidlaw is shunt though.

[no sleep]

Laidlaw is shunt though.

Ye, bet he ends up playing some semi-pro level next season, now his lack of talent's been seen through so perspicaciously.

[Spiffy]

Laidlaw is shunt though.

Everyone knew that before he was selected. Little Price is streets ahead. Laidlaw has a good enough rugby brain and is a consistent goal kicker, but that comes nowhere close to overcoming his chronic lack of pace and slow passing. I thnik he will be out of the picture for Scotland next year.

[cashead]

I can see him retiring in the next 5 years and quietly taking up a coaching position, probably at the academy level or equivalent in Scotland.

[af73]

I can also see him still around at the next World Cup as every/anytime we lose a close game the media (and others) will speculate that "we wouldn't have lost if Laidlaw's game management/leadership had been on the field". While this may have been true in the past and through a lack of suitable alternatives, it doesn't necessarily hold true the more experience Price gains.

It also often and conveniently overlooks the premise that we probably wouldn't have been within 15 points of losing a close game had he been so.

Scotland lose games because they stop playing as often as they do from playing too much.

[Cameo]

I actually think Laidlaw suffers from trying to manage the game too much. His best games come when it is loose and he is attacking. That's why he worked as a bit of a harum scarum ten for a while. He's slow but he's clever once it breaks up (as with the interception) and can make half breaks. Once he tries to manage the whole game though he just slows everything down