[Al M]

Did anyone watch the game? It was apauling. If they can only just draw with Argentina they're goina get marmalised by the All Blacks! It just goes to show the team is whats important, not the individuals! Any of the 4 nations teams (apart from maybe Scottland) would have whiped the floor with the argies! At least Johnny Wilko is back

Never mind eh

 

[welshpete]

I was there. No cohesion, and it really showed that the Lions had only been together for a few sessions.

A case of trying to meld the players into a team.

The most frustration thing at the moment is how much Sir Clive Woodward can lie about how he picked the squad. THIS IS NOT AN ANTI-ENGLISH RANT!

Yup, I'm welsh and I feel more welsh should be on the tour, and probably at the expense of some english players. But moreover SCW said he would pick on 6 Nations form, then ignored that fact that wales won, Ireland were second and England were fourth.

Then he offered the back door to english players, but not to any others.

Then he stated, on the record that Bret ****bain was on the reserve list as second row cover....now that O'Kelly is out...he picked....Simon Shaw of England.

Still I will be in the pub in my lions shirt cheering my heart out whether there be one or fifteen welsh, one or fifteen english...

Pete

 

[Al M]

IMO Englands performance was good during the 6 nations though, they just had a bit of bad luck! They should have beaten France, the did beat Ireland, but the ref b*ggered that up and they only just lost to Wales IMO Wales didnt win the grand slam becuse they played really well, it was more that everyone else didn't. Don't get me wrong, this isn't an anti-Welsh rant i've lived here all my life and like to see Wales doing well. Thats just my feeling on the subject.

Al

PS

Steven Jones got a bit of a battering didn't he!

 

[cerealk]

it must be tough being welsh.

having the ability to ignore the fact you won the grand slam and just gripe about selection of the Lions

perhaps SCW was picking the form of the players and not the form of the teams perchance?

 

[Al M]

I'm hearing ALOT of rants atm about how there arent enough welsh people in the team for the first test. Is it just me or is this not really in the spirit of things? Its the British Lions... We're all British, its the British squad LOL.

Al

 

[cerealk]

want to listen live online?

bbc five live cant broadcast it but I found this New Zealand station!
http://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/audio2/newstalkzb.asx

 

[cerealk]

First test due to kick off now!

 

[cerealk]

live text updates:
http://live.planet-rugby.com/2005/06/25/941.shtml

 

[Al M]

Well not exactly the result I hoped for..... But it's not a surprise either!

 

[cerealk]

that same radio station is broadcasting the next game
on now

 

[dex]

So let me ask something like a complete dummy........how come the team is called The British Lions, isn't this kind of the type of thing where you need to have the animal living in the country to be proud to use the name of the species?
Like The British Eagles or The British Wolfs or........something?

Also considering this is a power sport wouldn't it be more apropriate to name the team something like The British Bulls or something??

Think about it and let me know and "But the lion is the king of the beasts and you don't actually have to have the species living here to use the simbolism" argument is not enough, I realise that on my own.
I can see how you have grown with this thing so for you it's like an idiom that just is and you don't care who or why started using it first but if you think about it it's just wrong.
How would you feel if a landlocked country like Switzerland had The Swiss Whales or The Swiss Dolphins.....or France had The French Tigers or better yet, South Africa had The South African Tigers, it just sounds stupid.

p.s. This is not an anti-lions rant :smile:

 

[cerealk]

The first official tour by the British Isles Rugby Union Team, selected by a committee from all four Home Unions, was to South Africa in 1910. But the idea was not a new one, as combined British & Irish teams had been heading for the southern hemisphere since 1888.

The first tour was a commercial venture made without official backing, but the six subsequent visits that took place prior to 1910 enjoyed a growing degree of support from the authorities, although only one of these included representatives of all four nations.

The Lions name was coined during the inter-war period, when the emblem on the players' jersey and lapel badges gave them their alternative title.

http://www.lionsrugby.com/history.html

 

[dex]

Well this is a great way of explaining it, also back on 1910 The British Empire was present in a substantial part of Africa so I can see how that works.
Didn't realise this was as old as that and one of my colleagues's argument was - "It just is, OK" ..... :grin:
Otherwise Rugby is an excellent game (I'm sure most of you know that already :grin: ) but it's like american football without the padding and where you can't actualy throw the ball forward so it's a lot more difficult - you can't just chuck the ball 15 yards forward to your team mate - you have to run there fighting.
The best thing about it is after every challenge the players just get up and are good to go again, cuts/scrapes/blood/mud notwithstanding while you just touch a football (soccer) player and they go down clutching their leg for a minute.
The fans are also nicer but I guess we all know that never having heard of Rugby supporters starting a fight after a match.