RugbyRebels

Poor old George Ford.

Poor old Jonny Sexton (tee hee). Seriously though I thought Ford was rested due to a leg injury.

I thought it was an injury to rest if you’re playing USA and Canada but not if the Lions want you. Probably completely wrong....

We all complain about Eddie’s choices but Gatland can do some wild ones too. Anyway, good luck to the lad although I suspect if Russell’s injury isn’t bad enough to be sent home and improves quickly I fear Smith won’t get much game time (I hope I’m wrong).

Shiny wrote:We all complain about Eddie’s choices but Gatland can do some wild ones too. Anyway, good luck to the lad although I suspect if Russell’s injury isn’t bad enough to be sent home and improves quickly I fear Smith won’t get much game time (I hope I’m wrong).

I think, even if he doesn't get much gametime, it'll still be a massive opportunity for him. There's so much he can learn from being in that elite environment and fighting against the best in the Northern Hemisphere.

Puja

In the case of Smith it might actually be a benefit. Which bumps us up to one English player in that position.

Digby wrote:In the case of Smith it might actually be a benefit. Which bumps us up to one English player in that position.

You don't think there's anything Jonny Hill can learn from training with the likes of AWJ and getting a fresh set of coaching eyes on his many flaws?

Puja

Mellsblue wrote:Poor old George Ford.

Ford has been managing an achilles injury for months. Ended up missing the end of the season with Tigers. No way he could tour with England or Lions this summer. The plan was to have the summer off even before he missed the end of the season with Tigers.

I would almost argue he's best off getting as little game time as possible. Last 10 in a warm up game, something like that. I'm a big fan of his, but he does worry me defensively (not just being walked over: his positioning, flying into rucks illegally, always offside), which if the saffers target or smell blood could do him a lot of damage.

But I do think being in the environment will do him good.

Magic_sponge wrote:I would almost argue he's best off getting as little game time as possible. Last 10 in a warm up game, something like that. I'm a big fan of his, but he does worry me defensively (not just being walked over: his positioning, flying into rucks illegally, always offside), which if the saffers target or smell blood could do him a lot of damage.

But I do think being in the environment will do him good.

Agreed. Farrell didn't play much on his first Lions Tour but he came back a much better player. Just being in the environment and able to work with Sexton and BOD really advanced his game. Hopefully similar will happen with Smith. Russell, Biggar and Farrell have all got plenty of experience to pass on.

Could be a great experience for him. He's unlikely to feature in the tests and may just get 15/20 minutes off the bench in the final warm up games.

Puja wrote:

Digby wrote:In the case of Smith it might actually be a benefit. Which bumps us up to one English player in that position.

You don't think there's anything Jonny Hill can learn from training with the likes of AWJ and getting a fresh set of coaching eyes on his many flaws?

Puja

I'd forgotten Hill was even there, and I had in mind AWJ wasn't, not that I'm exactly following closely. But maybe, not sure if he's going to learn or just be something of an Easter giving away cheap penalties, which is different to a Grewcock giving away pointless acts of thuggery pens. I don't know if the Lions is the sort of environment to sort being the sort to cough up cheap pens, but Hill similar to Smith might be picking up some technical pointers, the rest I'd still prefer to have their feet up somewhere not touring SA to raise money for SA, and that before the whole Covid spin on things

Kolisi has tested positive for Covid now.

Now that Eddie Jones sees that Gatland likes Smith, his England career could be doomed.