Friday, June 14, 2013

Lions and Ireland teams, and more rugby than you can shake a stick at


The Lions face a sterner than average test of their tour so far as they take on NSW in Sydney. I thought this was going to be Gatlands A team, but he is still keeping his cards close to his chest. The pack, in fairness could be the starting pack. And although Zebo needs to given a run as they’ve deservedly brought him over, I don’t see them starting him in the tests, or Maitland or Davies. It’s a hell of a side though, and I’m looking forward to seeing Kearney get to show his wares as well.  I think they’ll do better against the ‘Tahs than the side that was picked to play the Reds.

15 Leigh Halfpenny, 14 Sean Maitland, 13 Jonathan Davies, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Simon Zebo, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Michael Phillips, 8 Jamie Heaslip. 7 Sam Warburton (c), 6 Tom Croft, 5 Paul O'Connell, 4 Alun Wyn Jones, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Tom Youngs, 1 Mako Vunipola.
Replacements: 16 Richard Hibbard, 17 Alex Corbisiero, 18 Dan Cole, 19 Geoff Parling, 20 Dan Lydiate, 21 Ben Youngs, 22 Owen Farrell, 23 Rob Kearney.

Ireland have a promising looking side for Canada – great to see talent like Felix Jones and Tommy O’Donnell starting. I’d like Dan Tuohy to show he deserves a regular starting berth, and fair play to Downey, he could make his mark too. Kevin McLaughlin adds some grunt in the loose trio we could have done with against the USA.  And how close did the under 20’s come to upsetting New Zealand?
15 Felix Jones, 14 Fergus McFadden, 13 Darren Cave, 12 James Downey, 11 Andrew Trimble, 10 Ian Madigan, 9 Isaac Boss, 8 Peter O'Mahony, 7 Tommy O'Donnell, 6 Kevin McLaughlin, 5 Devin Toner, 4 Dan Tuohy , 3 Mike Ross, 2 Richardt Strauss, 1 Tom Court.
Replacements: 16 Sean Cronin, 17 David Kilcoyne, 18 Declan Fitzpatrick, 19 Mike McCarthy, 20 Chris Henry, 21 Paul Marshall, 22 Paddy Jackson, 23 Robbie Henshaw,

International Match
Saturday , June 15
Japan vs Wales 06:00
New Zealand vs France 08:35
Samoa vs Italy 14:15
South Africa vs Scotland 17:00
Argentina vs England 20:10
Sunday , June 16
Canada vs Ireland 01:00
British & Irish Lions
Saturday , June 15
Waratahs vs British & Irish Lions 10:30

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