Barry John talking about the Lions -' At this moment I would say England will be the nucleus of the squad'

First topic message reminder :

The squad selected for 2013 will be the players in form, whatever nationality they are.

Warren won’t be affected by nationality and he will have a criteria that he will want from his players.

People talk about the last time the Lions were in Australia with Graham Henry and how he picked too many Welsh players.

There was confusion in selection but I think Warren is too shrewd to fall into that trap.

There could be a record number of Welsh players on the tour because there are more players selected for a tour. But that is only if they are performing at the time.

At this moment I would say England will be the nucleus of the squad and maybe even the spine of the team.

It will be the Six Nations when every match will become an unofficial Lions trial because every British and Irish player will want to go on that tour and get one over on their opposite number. The Lions auditions will start with the autumn internationals but this will be early days.

Wales will have a more pressing situation as they look to finish in the top four of the IRB world rankings at the end of the year in order to gain the best draw for the World Cup in 2015.

Rob Howley will be in charge for the opening couple of matches where they face Argentina first.

Wales will hope the Pumas are tired after the end of their first southern hemisphere Rugby Championship campaign.

But it could swing the other way because Argentina will have been together for a long time.

Samoa will be no mugs and if you just go back a year they perhaps could and should have beaten Wales and knocked them out of the World Cup if it had not been for a bit of magic from Leigh Halfpenny.

Wales have to start these two matches well before they face the two big southern hemisphere superpowers Australia and New Zealand and look for that elusive scalp when Gatland will be back in charge.

Home advantage will hopefully help and Wales are a competitive side now.

But they still have a tendency to give away silly penalties at crucial times and they lose concentration for five or 10 minutes and get punished.

New Zealand and Australia don’t drop their guard and you could see that on the summer tour where Wales lost three Tests to the Wallabies to the combined total of 11 points.

One key player who Wales were missing Down Under was Lions centre Jamie Roberts and it was great to see him back in action and scoring last weekend for the Blues.

Jamie has been in the headlines because his regional contract is up at the end of the season and he has been linked with a move to France.

As a player, Jamie has to go overseas and the regions can’t compare with their French rivals.

Jamie has no option because he is an intelligent young man and once he has all his medical certificates he can go over there for three or four years.

The life of a top rugby player is getting shorter with all the physical demands and the top stars need to maximise their potential.

I was approached by an Italian club when I was playing but back in those days the power base was Wales and any international ambitions you did have you had to be around here.

I would not criticise any player for going to France in fact I would applaud it because they have to have earned the right.

I would not be worried about Jamie. I would be more worried about players like George North and Alex Cuthbert going after him.

We are now a breeding ground for the French clubs because the regions can’t compete with the Euro because there is no money in the kitty.

We are still finding out the outcome of this review but I think it is a waste of time and money because there is nothing they can tell us that will change the situation and the pot of money won’t increase.

Welsh rugby supporters just have to accept that now.'


Some interesting comments there.

Washed down .. I can recommend this one.. a pint of Doom Bar from Rock, Cornwall. A fine pint .. Cornish vocab to remember AWOP.

anotherworldofpain wrote:I work hard at it Smirnoff! Foreign Vocabulary is a passion and hobby of mine!

as well as utter B S

He is trying his best to BS in several languages.