thats made me smile. hook er

h o o k e r is the word try it .

since when has @#$% been a censored word then ????

Glad to see BOD as captain, love his passion and­ spirit, O Connel lacks it for me. Roberts and BOD what­ a centre pairing, Stephen Jones will give a more solid­ platform for the team to play off, O Gara looked­ mediocre last Saturday. Would have liked to see Powell­ have a blast , his speed off the back with go forward­ momentum will be needed in the tests. Gethin will show­ his all over the park skills , Vickery is a few levels­ lower lm afraid. i like Mears sniping runs for a @#$%,­ Croft hope he plays better than he did in the Hienekin­ Cup Final. He was immense against the blues , more of­ the same please Tom. The Lions need a reall convincing­ performance , not just for the knockers but for the­ team spirit too. Go LIONS...............

One game and the knives are out already.­ Typical!
O'Connell showed great leadership to keep­ that team cool on Saturday. They did what needed to be­ done to grind out a win. In the second half the Lions­ dominated the game and would have ran in 8 or 9 trys­ but for a few teething problems. O'Connell is a­ fantastic leader and will show that throughout this­ tour. O'Driscoll would have been just as good a­ selection but McGeechan went with O'Connell so lets­ all get on board and support him and the boys like the­ great players they all are.

The man in the street is right Oconnel was not very­ inspirational on Saturday. Not much time to gel the­ test team but their all professional players who know­ how to perform at this level. Looking forward to seeing­ this new team on wednesday, the pack looks a lot­ lighter and more mobile. Lets be positive and i wish­ them all the best, come on you lions!!!
Gwynnie,welsh­ ex pat in England!

Watched the Super 14 final and season, and couldnt help­ being in awe of Pierre Spies. The guy is a train. He­ gets going and not even a tree-cutter like Joe Worsley­ can stop him, coz he can sidestep like Shane. The­ back-row will win the tests for the Boks, so this is­ the area we MUST get right before the first test. Each­ position must be nailed down before hand, be it, Martyn­ Williams, David Wallace or Worsley at 7 and Heaslip or­ Powell at 8. I would go for Croft on the blindside, but­ he needs a run-out before that obviously.
Good decision­ to rest Lee Byrne, hes already earned his test place.­ Good decision to rest O'Connell, and a good­ decision to make BOD interim captain. if ur rite gary­ about th 97 team, then we need the other leaders in the­ side to stand up and help O'Connell, as u alluded­ to about Keith Wood. Mike Blair, scottish captina shud­ be motovating the backs, as shud stephen jones whose­ played everywhere in his career. and the other forwards­ will be backing up O'Connell. In the end though,­ the only thing the captain can do against world class­ oppostion is to carry out the Lion and pick spirits up.­ Hopefully the LIons wont get in a postion where they­ need their spirits lifting.

Dave, the difference is on the last tour there was­ johno and keith wood running the show.....woody had a­ huge roll in motivating the fwds, I do not see that­ this time, hope I am wrong.

Martin Johnson doesnt strike me as the most charismatic­ person in the world yet he was a pretty decent Lions­ captain.
Can't read too much into 1 game, new­ partnerships and an awful lot of nerves.
Hard and fast­ pitches, i'll be suprised if B'od survives the­ tour intact.
Powell and heaslip are going to have to­ play out of their skins if they are going to get close­ to Pierre Spies if the Bulls destruction of the Chiefs­ in the Super 14 Final is an idication of form.

Good point, well made. The Lions had a chance to run­ that team ragged and all we saw was O'Connell­ charging aimlessly into contact time after time after­ time. Does the guy have shares in rent-a-ruck ? With­ Bod running the show well run the ball hopefully.

Should have been tour captain anyway, one of the few­ players guaranteed his place. Pack a bit more mobile,­ hopefully they'll do better. Would have started­ with Powell at 8, successful lions teams have always­ had big ball carriers in this position...this tour is­ no exception. Hope the leicester boy does well.

It was always a mistake to not make O'Driscoll tour­ captain and O'Conells lack lustre performance in­ the opening game did nothing to change my opinion. The­ Lions need a big heart with charisma not just a big­ man. O'Conell is a fine player and undoubtedly­ deserves his place, but captain? I don't think so.­ There appeared to be little of no leadership on­ saturday and when they come up against the full bok­ test side, they will need a real leader!

Not a bad side at all . I would also like to see Riki­ Flutey/O'Driscoll pairing as i thought Riki done­ well for the short time he was on. They are both strong­ and very creative which is what we need against the­ Box.

it'll be intersting to see how hook play's of­ the bench, also hope powell gets a run

O'Callaghan snubbed again?

That's a good side. They're obviously trying­ out the O'Driscoll / Roberts combination out early.­ I already thing that could be the Test pairing.