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So could Beirne, who is a great 6.Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:05 pm Fucking hell. James Ryan is in there. That completely passed me by. WTF?
Again the lack of heavy carrying 8s beyond Conan is odd. Or lineout jumping options. Not even Baird as a 6 instead of Ryan. I guess Chessum could fill that role.
Ha, fair
Well sure if he’s not a starting lock, which surely everyone would assume. Unless they feel they need McCarthy’s heft alongside Itoje.Spiffy wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:13 pmSo could Beirne, who is a great 6.Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:05 pm Fucking hell. James Ryan is in there. That completely passed me by. WTF?
Again the lack of heavy carrying 8s beyond Conan is odd. Or lineout jumping options. Not even Baird as a 6 instead of Ryan. I guess Chessum could fill that role.
Nit in 2 years at least and it never worked at internationalMikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:31 pmWell sure if he’s not a starting lock, which surely everyone would assume. Unless they feel they need McCarthy’s heft alongside Itoje.Spiffy wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:13 pmSo could Beirne, who is a great 6.Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:05 pm Fucking hell. James Ryan is in there. That completely passed me by. WTF?
Again the lack of heavy carrying 8s beyond Conan is odd. Or lineout jumping options. Not even Baird as a 6 instead of Ryan. I guess Chessum could fill that role.
Beirne doesn’t play 6 much anymore anyway does he?
If Beirne does not start at lock, Chessum would be a good bet to partner Itoje. It's true Beirne does not play much at 6 now, but he's a good one, and a far better line out option than any of the short arrses who have been selected in back row slots. (the large Chessum can also play 6.)Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:31 pmWell sure if he’s not a starting lock, which surely everyone would assume. Unless they feel they need McCarthy’s heft alongside Itoje.Spiffy wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:13 pmSo could Beirne, who is a great 6.Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:05 pm Fucking hell. James Ryan is in there. That completely passed me by. WTF?
Again the lack of heavy carrying 8s beyond Conan is odd. Or lineout jumping options. Not even Baird as a 6 instead of Ryan. I guess Chessum could fill that role.
Beirne doesn’t play 6 much anymore anyway does he?
We’re going round in circles. Not having many proper backrows who are good in the lineout was my original point.Spiffy wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:54 pmIf Beirne does not start at lock, Chessum would be a good bet to partner Itoje. It's true Beirne does not play much at 6 now, but he's a good one, and a far better line out option than any of the short arrses who have been selected in back row slots. (the large Chessum can also play 6.)Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 8:31 pmWell sure if he’s not a starting lock, which surely everyone would assume. Unless they feel they need McCarthy’s heft alongside Itoje.
Beirne doesn’t play 6 much anymore anyway does he?
I don't know. Apart from the obvious of Darcy Graham, you could've gone for someone talented and offering a point of difference in the backs like Llewellyn in the centres or taken a flyer on IFW. In the forwards, I'm disappointed with picking 6 locks and clearly planning on putting Chessum/Beirne at 6, when you could instead have had a powerful 8 like TWillis or Faletau, or a proper 6 like the exceptional Jamie Ritchie (who absolutely has been robbed by that announcement).
Lack of a big carrying no.8 is a major omission - Conan is big but not especially powerful ( as witnessed in last Lions series ) - imo taking both Earl and Pollock is double counting - both offer basically the same skillset and neither powerful enough to fill 6 or 8 berth imo ( in the context of having a carrier there ).Puja wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 3:01 pm Initial thoughts:
Thank fuck no Fazlet
Ford was robbed.
LCD? Uhhh, yeah sure, I suppose so.
I can see an argument for Daly in terms of versatility and experience, but I'm mostly glad he's not going to be blocking a position on England's tour to Argentina
There are 6 locks and 6 back row, the latter of which has no big carriers, which suggests that Farrell's reaction to the unprecedented amount of quality back rows available to him is going to be to pick a lock there.
Only one France-based player. Makes sense, given the overlap and Kinghorn is probably good enough to be worth waiting for.
There's a very good Lions XV that can be picked out of that lot. Can't help but feel it's an uninspiring selection though.
Puja
Tuipiloto willbe 12 i reckon if he hits his straps
This is accurate imoCameo wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 9:40 am Broadly happy with the squad, and surprised in a good way given some of the stories
The exceptions are Graham (who I think is absolutely class) missing out and the backrow. I'm sure it'll be fine, but just doesn't seem as impressive as it could be. Everyone has different favourites, but I think Ritchie and Willis for T Currie and Earl would make it look a bit better (or if Doris or even Fagerson had been fit, you could maybe replace Cummings from the locks as surely don't need that many).
I'd also probably have picked Lake instead of LCD, but that is more to get another welshman in than anything.
Read that an average of 8 or 9 changes by the end of the tour. Maybe a bit misleading if it includes people called in for a midweek game right at the end, but shows scope for change.
It makes one think Farrell SNr’s choosen specialist subject isn’t exactly ( UnionPuja wrote: ↑Thu May 08, 2025 10:14 pmI don't know. Apart from the obvious of Darcy Graham, you could've gone for someone talented and offering a point of difference in the backs like Llewellyn in the centres or taken a flyer on IFW. In the forwards, I'm disappointed with picking 6 locks and clearly planning on putting Chessum/Beirne at 6, when you could instead have had a powerful 8 like TWillis or Faletau, or a proper 6 like the exceptional Jamie Ritchie (who absolutely has been robbed by that announcement).
It's just a bit... meh. Like I said, you could pick an exciting and fresh and unexpected team out of that, but the smart money's going to be on Porter, Sheehan, Stuart, Itoje, Beirne, Chessum, vdFlier, Earl/TCurry, JGP, Russell, vdM, Aki, Jones, Freeman, Kinghorn. And that's not a bad side by any stretch of the imagination, but it's just feels to me like Farrell has that inked in already and there's not really a huge amount of point in half the tour games given that.
Puja
) back row forwards!It’s a decent squad and I don’t have any complaints. There’s always going to be 50/50 calls which will probably favour the player the coaching staff are more familiar with. They don’t have long to make this work so no arguments there from me.Cameo wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 9:40 am Broadly happy with the squad, and surprised in a good way given some of the stories
The exceptions are Graham (who I think is absolutely class) missing out and the backrow. I'm sure it'll be fine, but just doesn't seem as impressive as it could be. Everyone has different favourites, but I think Ritchie and Willis for T Currie and Earl would make it look a bit better (or if Doris or even Fagerson had been fit, you could maybe replace Cummings from the locks as surely don't need that many).
I'd also probably have picked Lake instead of LCD, but that is more to get another welshman in than anything.
Read that an average of 8 or 9 changes by the end of the tour. Maybe a bit misleading if it includes people called in for a midweek game right at the end, but shows scope for change.
Williams has been in belting form domestically - maybe they felt it harsh to judge him on a difficult 6N for Wales. You're not wrong on the lack of competition at 9 though - you've got JGP and Mitchell, then a howling void below them. White's a decent player, but it's not really feasible to pick someone in a specialist position who might not be available until halfway through the warmup tour games. The next option down, on domestic form alone, is probably Jack van Poortvliet and he's got no recent internationals and only recently come back into form and fitness.Sandydragon wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 3:50 pmWilliams is lucky in my view. The competition at scrum half is probably a bit less intense and his club form must have swayed the decision.
I would not agree with you that there is a howling void below JPG and Mitchell. On recent and consistent form, I would rate Williams as at least as good as Mitchell. I believe he will really shine when surrounded by good players, rather than by most of his Wales team mates. Would not be at all surprised if he were to challenge for a test slot as the tour progresses. I don't think Casey is all that far behind them either.Puja wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 5:22 pmWilliams has been in belting form domestically - maybe they felt it harsh to judge him on a difficult 6N for Wales. You're not wrong on the lack of competition at 9 though - you've got JGP and Mitchell, then a howling void below them. White's a decent player, but it's not really feasible to pick someone in a specialist position who might not be available until halfway through the warmup tour games. The next option down, on domestic form alone, is probably Jack van Poortvliet and he's got no recent internationals and only recently come back into form and fitness.Sandydragon wrote: ↑Fri May 09, 2025 3:50 pmWilliams is lucky in my view. The competition at scrum half is probably a bit less intense and his club form must have swayed the decision.
Puja