markear1 I stand corrected - its a good job the Irish­ boys turned up or else we would have a problem. My­ point is that McGeechan will pick the side that he­ thinks will do the business, irrespective of their­ Nationality. A Lions tour is something special and­ brings out the best in the players. This time round­ everyone has been given a chance to claim a shirt and­ most of the boys have risen to the challenge. As a­ Scot, I suspect that we will have little if any player­ on the park but I will still be shouting from the roof­ for the BRITISH & IRISH LIONS.

Re jdm dunlop: I hate to be pedantic but I think you­ will find that it's the British and Irish­ Lions.I'm pretty sure if I started calling them­ the Irish Lions someone would correct me. Anyway I­ think most people here are having a discussion rather­ than arguments.

Re jdm dunlop: I hate to be pedantic but I think you­ will find that it's the British and Irish­ Lions.I'm pretty sure if I started calling them­ the Irish Lions someone would correct me. Anyway I­ think most people here are having a discussion rather­ than arguments.

Problem last night was the ineffectiveness of the back­ row together with Shaw. Hines, Shaw and Worsley (slow,­ slower and clueless) cannot seriously have any hope of­ a Test place now while Powell demonstrated even more­ he's just a one-trick pony. Croft worries me as he­ seems likely to make a Test place and anytime I've­ seen him in big games he's gone missing - Heineken­ Cup final and with the Lions. I'd thought he'd­ gone off injured in the HC final as he wasn't­ visible at all. For all his athleticism he needs to­ front up against the Boks.

I think many Lions fans have forgotten, that this is­ not about England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland - its­ about playing for the 'British Lions'! Ask any­ player who has had the honor of wearing a Lions jersey­ and he will tell you it sits there above playing for­ his country. Can we stop slagging each other off and­ hope that the team on Saturday, who ever it is does it­ for all of us!!

Fairmanmatt

Your comment on no sportmanship is truly­ uncalled for, you don't know what you are on­ about!!!!! Rugby is a physical game mate, not a game­ for whoosies!!!!! Wake up and smell the coffee­ please!!!! Just a little bit of respect for the World­ Champions mate!!!!! all we ask!!! and then please­ keep an eye on the final score on Saturday!!!!

Let's face it - despite best efforts of the media­ POC is first man to be picked and rightly so.

Loved­ all the comments about the late, high, shoulder tackle­ without any attempt to wrap the arms around on Flutey­ which deserved the yellow card if not red.

Anybody­ got any memories of the late, high, shoulder tackle­ without any attempt to wrap the arms around which­ deserved a yellow if not red BY Flutey on BOD in the­ Six Nations which was universally missed by the British­ media and the referee???

Post 42 - Those are next to impossible questions to­ answer, without appearing jingoistic. All the negative­ comments from either Brits or Boks are understandable. ­ As a fair-minded Welshman, I think the game will be won­ or lost either in the tight 5 or at 10. I was as­ pleased as I was disappointed to hear that Berger may­ not play at flanker. If we win, it will only serve as­ an excuse for the Boks supporters, you always want to­ beat their best team. That said, I think it will be a­ low scoring, tactical game on Saturday, and the­ deciding factor will be who handles the kicking game­ best. We have a massive pack, but are they as mobile­ to the breakdown as the Boks will be???? Naturally, I­ am going for a Lions win. But not by much!!!

just watched the game on tape

why when being coached­ by a Kiwi can the fwds nae ruck properly ie get proper­ height and blow away "retriever" over the­ ball

far too many penalties in defence and too few­ players in attack

disna help though when players­ charge off on their own and get ambushed by 2 or 3­ opponents thats crazy

I have just TWO questions. Who will win the first test­ and why ? All answers are welcome to this response ? I­ look forward to reading them all.

Have to play as well as the french against the all­ blacks south africa are good but not unbeatable.

Great selection, but I see a major problem..

I can see­ at least a dozen yellow cards if that team played­ today, and 11 of them would be for JPR, but it'd be­ fun to watch

my team

15. JPR
14. J.ROBINSON
13. BOD
12.GIBBS
11.­ JJ.WILLIAMS
10. B.JOHN
9. G.EDWARDS
8. M.DAVIS
7.­ F.SLATTERY
6 R.HILL
5. G.BROWN
4.M.JOHNSON
3.J.­ LEONARD
2. WOODY
1. T.SMITH

there you go .. sorted..­ the boks would cack themselves & can you imagine­ the booze up after??

I think Monye's a shoe in, fitzgerald just­ hasn't performed as well as him. I reckon the­ second row should be Jones and Hines. There performance­ together, in the second game i think, was far superior­ to any other pairing so far tried out on tour. Having­ said that i think Shaw has played very well and is in­ with a shout! POC just hasn't been at the ball­ game. He's a great player on his day but, like­ Shane Williams, his form hasn't been apparant.
I­ think the referee did very well in comparison to­ certain others (wayne barnes). They all do seem to let­ every team get away with feeding in the scrum, which­ was picked up once today. What really bugs me though is­ how they allow players to just dive onto the ruck to­ clear the opposition away from the ball. They stamped­ this out of the game at the start of the season and it­ allowed for free flowing rugby but it has gradually­ crept back in thus, slowing the ball down.

Re bmuirboy: I'm pretty sure nheavy is only having­ a laugh.