Blues v British & Irish Lions, 7 June

First topic message reminder :

Blues v British & Irish Lions
7 June 2017
KO: 19:35 NZST (8.35am BST)
Eden Park, Auckland

Live on Sky Sports, Sky Sports HD and SkyGo

Referee: Pascal Gaüzère (France)
Touch judges: [tbc]
TMO: [tbc]

A. FORM:

19 June 1993: Auckland 23 - 18 British & Irish Lions

18 May 1983: Auckland 13 - 12 British & Irish Lions

23 June 1977: Auckland 15 - 34 British & Irish Lions

B. TEAMS:

Blues 
15 Michael Collins
14 Matt Duffie
13 George Moala
12 Sonny Bill Williams
11 Rieko Ioane
10 Stephen Perofeta
09 Augustine Pulu

08 Steven Luatua
07 Blake Gibson
06 Akira Ioane
05 Scott Scrafton
04 Gerard Cowley-Tuioti
03 Charlie Faumuina
02 James Parson
01 Ofa Tu'ungafasi

16 Hame Faiva
17 Alex Hodgman
18 Sione Mafileo
19 Patrick Tuipulotu
20 Kara Pryor
21 Sam Nock
22 Ihaia West
23 TJ Faiane/Melani Nanai

British & Irish Lions

Halfpenny; Nowell, Payne, Henshaw, Daly; Biggar, Webb; McGrath, Owens (captain), Cole, Itoje, Lawes, Haskell, Tipuric, Stander

Replacements: Best, Marler, Sinckler, Henderson, O'Mahony, Laidlaw, Sexton, L Williams

C. PREVIEW

It was a thing of beauty

Short break for halfpenny to reapply some mascara

Lawes absolutely flattens the Blues young FH. Nice close up of Tana Umaga wincing in the box when he saw it!

Good call to take the points

10-5 Lions

If I have to see Dan Biggar re-adjust his hair one more time I will fly to NZ and shave his head...

Sounds like a much better Lions performance?

RDW_Scotland wrote:Sounds like a much better Lions performance?

Much better, look a lot more balanced in the midfield and Tipuric has been immence.

Scrum a lot better this week
Get out the way Payne!

How was that a maul?

Lions get away with one there

Sounds like we're lucky to have a NH ref who is willing to actually give scrum penalties!

Jeez, according to Barnes, Haskell can do no wrong. Its everyone else.

Haskell has made one good break but for the rest, he was at fault for the first try and seem lost in defence. He looks to be trying too hard to make a name for himself in this game, needs to just calm down a little.

Tuperic is absolutely everywhere, he is really putting a shift in, it must be his scrum cap as all I can see is him buzzing all over the place.

Much better than Warburton.

Webb seems to be going for distance on box kicks - which is giving the Blues good counter opportunities. Happening all the time so looks like an agreed tactic.

Better balance in midfield billy or the ball actually getting to the midfield?serious question.not watching it til tonight.

Dan Biggar, WTF was that... Gifted try

What was Dan Biggar doing!!!

gotta feel for biggar there that was unlucky

No 7&1/2 wrote:Better balance in midfield billy or the ball actually getting to the midfield?serious question.not watching it til tonight.

Better in defence, Payne is really controlling the midfield beautifully. Webb has been outstanding at 9 but I cannot speak highly enough of Tipuric, he has been everywhere and playing superbly.

Thank goodness for that Sexton on for Biggar who has had a mare

Lucky there, should never have taken that tackle. He got himself injured as well and Sexton is on

Sexton on for Biggar. Biggar has not been bad in all fairness.

What happened there? Talk Sport were far from clear...

BigTrevsbigmac wrote:Thank goodness for that Sexton on for Biggar who has had a mare

Are you for real ?

Biggar has not had a bad game.

LordDowlais wrote:Tuperic is absolutely everywhere, he is really putting a shift in, it must be his scrum cap as all I can see is him buzzing all over the place.

Much better than Warburton.

If you have enough physicality elsewhere in the backrow, I'd rather have Tipuric at the moment for sure. Honestly he was more important than Moriarty against England.

Of course Thugga Umaga would be confused at an illegal tackle being penalised.

Webb is playing a stormer as well.

This Blues team have made so many mistakes. Not a particularly good side.

Lions doing ok but no real spark.

Tipuric is just a class act. Hope gatland sticks to his word that Warburton is guaranteed a start just cos he's captain. Stander Tipuric faletau could be brilliant.

Why don't they practice kicking in NZ?

LD, are there any non Welsh players on the field? Just wondering

BamBam wrote:LD, are there any non Welsh players on the field? Just wondering

Oh here we go, the forum troll is out.

BamBam wrote:LD, are there any non Welsh players on the field? Just wondering

They're all just Lions mate. No need to mention nationality.

Biggar has had a good game.. FAR better than Sexton against (so called) lesser opposition last Sat.

Now we'll see, if Sexton can grab back the first choice badge, or whether he will find himself in the mid-week setup fro the rest of the tour.

IMO - Think Sexton is on the way out. No longer the form he used to be.

Stupid tackle by Stander.

and Stander gives away a silly high tackle penalty to give the Blues a three pointer.

Not a great first half but a much better performance.

Tipuric has been the stand out player
Webb has provided very quick ball and has been at the heart of all good Lions work
Payne has controlled the midfield brilliantly and has shown good attacking intent
Halfpenny, my biggest doubt, has looked very comfortable at 15.

The Blues kicker is terrible

that was knocked on

This could be a try

eirebilly wrote:Not a great first half but a much better performance.

Tipuric has been the stand out player
Webb has provided very quick ball and has been at the heart of all good Lions work
Payne has controlled the midfield brilliantly and has shown good attacking intent
Halfpenny, my biggest doubt, has looked very comfortable at 15.

Got to agree with all this, one word on Payne, he has been like an unsung hero in this first half, he has gone about his work to a very high standard.

That should be a try to SBW

Boom

Knocked back by Halfpenny there

Try. Touch and go, but probably the right decision.

The Lions could end up losing to this shower.

It is a try. Stupid from Stander so close to half time. He has had a good game so far but that was pure lack of composure from him and indirectly leads to the try.

Any one tired of listening to the Sky team try to pretend it wasn't a try? Already decided it was knocked on then trying to claim it against pretty clear evidence.

eirebilly wrote:It is a try. Stupid from Stander so close to half time. He has had a good game so far but that was pure lack of composure from him and indirectly leads to the try.

To be fair to Stander, Luatua slipped and went to his knees when Stander got to him.

I don't think he has been great though. I still don't think he has been the same since returning from injury.

yappysnap wrote:Any one tired of listening to the Sky team try to pretend it wasn't a try? Already decided it was knocked on then trying to claim it against pretty clear evidence.

Yep. Stuart Barnes is really annoying.

Try to the Blues, a bit lucky there but it evens out in the end.

12-10 Blues at HT

Shocking for the attacking team to get anything out of a ball kicked into the post. Sloppy.