Mikey Brown wrote:Only just switched on to see Laidlaw put a box kick up with no chase, for a potential gain of 8 metres if we somehow won it back. He is back to playing his very worst stuff on this tour it seems.
I thought Laidlaw had a pretty good game today. He was much faster moving the ball from the rucks, got his forwards on the ball and overall his kicking was ok - one charge down and the shorter kick were the only complaints. Certainly his kicking today was better than Webb's so far. It seemed he was focusing on height/"hang time". If Haskell had opened his eyes and even considered trying to offload Laidlaw may also have been under the posts.
The backs were poor until the game broke up but that was due to a lack of any attacking shape through 10, 12 and 13 which was always going to be the case. Henshaw's crab across the pitch and pass to Daly(?) were painful.
I was really disappointed that Seymour mucked up finishing off a great break. The pass and final line were really poor. I do think Seymour is a top class winger (and has been excellent at club and international level for the past 2-3 years) but it appears that the pressure mounts and mounts on the wingers under Gatland's style of play and none of them have found it easy to get going. Under Jones and Townsend the wingers seem to play with a much less inhibited mindset and execute more positively as a consequence - maybe because they aren't expected to play half the game like a forward.
Overall, the Lions were effective today but I still think a comfortable AB win is likely on Sat.
