v Lions Sat 2nd of April

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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby doedin on Fri Apr 01, 2022 5:27 pm

The reality is there is never a point in the season when Blair will have a fully fit and available squad to pick from so the debates about what is the strongest team is interesting but moot. It is more about ensuring we have a strong squad with cover for all positions and then picking the strongest team from the pool of players available. The team we fielded last week wouldn't have been rated by some as our 'strongest' but beat a good Sharks team easily in the end.

In my eyes we have as strong a squad depth as we have ever had and a great balance between established players and youngsters fighting for a place plus a group of new players who have come in with a point to prove and have hit the ground running - Immelman, Bofelli, Moyano, Phillips, Young, etc have all increased quality and put pressure on some of the existing squad who were perhaps in cruise mode. Blair has also done a great job in developing the squad, rotating players, coping with 6Ns and keeping everyone happy and getting a chance on the pitch. The Edinburgh camp has seemed a happy one and every team we put out seems to really dig in to get a result. OK sometimes they haven't won but there has been no lack of effort from anyone.
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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby TheSmidge on Fri Apr 01, 2022 6:38 pm

I think the pleasant surprise is that, at this stage of the season and so soon after the finish of the 6N, we are able to field such a strong team AND one that is so close to our strongest starting XV. The fact is that the injury list is coming down and there is probably only one player on it who would be an automatic first choice (Ritchie) and one who we could argue about (Toolis).
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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby Weegie on Fri Apr 01, 2022 6:47 pm

TheSmidge wrote:I think the pleasant surprise is that, at this stage of the season and so soon after the finish of the 6N, we are able to field such a strong team AND one that is so close to our strongest starting XV. The fact is that the injury list is coming down and there is probably only one player on it who would be an automatic first choice (Ritchie) and one who we could argue about (Toolis).


Mata?
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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby TheSmidge on Fri Apr 01, 2022 7:19 pm

Weegie wrote:
TheSmidge wrote:I think the pleasant surprise is that, at this stage of the season and so soon after the finish of the 6N, we are able to field such a strong team AND one that is so close to our strongest starting XV. The fact is that the injury list is coming down and there is probably only one player on it who would be an automatic first choice (Ritchie) and one who we could argue about (Toolis).


Mata?


Oh, yeah, forgot for a moment about him!
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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby TheSmidge on Sat Apr 02, 2022 3:19 pm

Now THAT was a kick!
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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby The Feral Goat on Sat Apr 02, 2022 4:35 pm

Need the bench to make an impact here.
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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby The Feral Goat on Sat Apr 02, 2022 5:02 pm

Ffs shafted with a couple of decisions there at the end but prob not done enough to win that. Too conservative I thought for large parts.
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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby TheSmidge on Sat Apr 02, 2022 5:07 pm

Some "interesting" officiating throughout that game. We were possibly helped by the lack of angles for the TMO in the first half for a couple of clear outs by Schoeman, but there was a few other incidents in the 2nd half where it just seemed that the officials were not in control of the game. Yellow card was harsh as it was clumsy more than deliberate.

The incident right at the end was simply wrong. The high shot clearly showed Boff touch the ball just at the 22 and it land inside, i.e. it went backwards. No wonder he was raging.

On the whole, a much better 1st half than 2nd. Kinghorn through quite a few wild passes in the 2nd and we lost fluidity. Seemed to lose a bit of aggression when Mish went off and the Lions 7 is clearly a rising star, so we really started to lose the battle of the breakdown. Drop-off from Vellacott to Shiel was noticeable as well.

However, stand up Mark Bennett. Absolutely superb in attack and defence. Has become such a key player for us.
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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby Pitfitter446 on Sat Apr 02, 2022 5:28 pm

A game of ‘ifs and maybes’ ref and TMO not working together although we lost more than we gained, another case of never having ‘home’ officials, removes most doubts on decisions. The remaining games are vital now, we need max points and others to stumble, be good to be back at Dam H stadium again instead of in front of the telly.
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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby TheSmidge on Sat Apr 02, 2022 6:03 pm

By the end of the weekend, assuming Leinster beat Munster with BP and Stormers do similar to Os, table should be:

Leinster 60
Ulster 50
Glasgow 50
Munster 47
Edinburgh 44
Stormers 43
Bulls 42
Sharks 41

Next is Connacht on 32, but odds are these the play-off teams. Stormers, Bulls and Sharks have a game in hand. Realistically, at least one of the Saffer teams is going to win the game in hand, so that puts us down to 6th and probably needing to overhaul two of the sides currently ahead of us to make the top 4. That really means Ulster, Munster and Glasgow. So, after this weekend.

Ulster: Munster (H), Edinburgh (A), Sharks (H)
Glasgow: Stormers (A), Bulls (A), Edinburgh (A)
Munster: Ulster (A), Cardiff (H), Leinster (A)

The last 3 games are all winnable for us, if we reduce the error count (passes to nowhere, daft penalties at the lineout etc). On current form, we can likely assume Ulster will beat Sharks and Munster will beat Cardiff with BPs, but Munster lose to Leinster. That takes them to 55 and 52 respectively. I think Glasgow will be lucky to return from SA with anything, so they stay on 50. We should comfortably beat Zebre, so we're on 49. It all comes down to the games between us all.

There are quite a few variables, but I think if we do win the last 3 games then we should make the top 4. We would almost certainly finish above Glasgow and probably above Munster. If Munster beat Ulster, we could finish above them all.
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Re: v Lions Sat 2nd of April

Postby Trophyhunter on Sat Apr 02, 2022 9:44 pm

We should have edged that one just like we should we could have got more out the Glasgow Game bar two giveaway tries and a loss to f control at half back. Again today control was flakey as was the reffing . We have a more European games to play than Glasgow and there will be a need to rotate and rest. Thus need long like les of Currie , Blain and Savala to raise current levels of performance beyond the ordinary as Kinghorn and others will need spared.
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