ROG is a class act and against another team he might be­ a better choice, but the Boks will run from the back­ row against his channel, you cannot afford have a fly­ half who will wait for contact and only 50/50 to make­ the tackle by himself. The Boks would have spent the­ first 40 hitting that channe, ROG wouldn't have­ survived the half. Jones and Phillips won't need­ the backrow to cover them,or the channel. If it turns­ out that the boks play 3/4 rugby then pick him, but­ they are going to large it and that needs tacklers.

vickery against the notoriously dirt springboks? hello­ yellow cards

Good team, looks far better already than Sir­ Clive's! Hopefully the speed in the pack will catch­ the Boks cold - if not it could be a case of returning­ to plan B, and bringing in the heavy mob.

o connell will show on sat what he dose best .good team­ picked the boks arent as good as people are making them­ out to be.

Feeling a bit sorry for big nathan hines. Thought he­ might make the bench simply because of his flexability.­ He could replace a second row or flanker. And he has­ played well on tour so far.

sugruejames55: crawl back under that rock that you came­ from. You are obviously spawned from the the late­ orange2tuf. You are a disgrace to your country.
on a­ different note, where is all this negativity coming­ from towards O'Connell. He may not have been­ brilliant but you don't become a bad player in two­ weeks and he is the strongest player we have in the­ forwards and the best line out jumper.

this will be the best chance the lions will have to win­ a test match, the boks have not had a game for months­ so let's catch um cold then who knows what will­ happen in the next two tests

After his intial error of judgement in selecting the­ captain Geech has bottled it; o'Connell is just not­ good enough either as player or captain he has no­ presence. Likewise for his club mate o'Callaghan­ who has who seemed completely lost. Wyn Jones will have­ an immense amount to do to make up for either of this­ pair. Simon Shaw has been immense when he's come on­ what does he have to do?

why do people keep saying they wish williams was in the­ team and o callahan, they are on the bench... that not­ count as being in the team anymore?

Jones is totally the right call over O'Gara. Far­ superior all round player. O'Gara would have been­ targeted and pulverised by the strong Sth African­ runners. Can;t tackle you see! If Hook had been fit,­ i'd have had him on the bench ahead ROG.
Suspect­ the Sth Africans will be v pleased not to see Shane­ Williams in the line-up. He's the IRB player of the­ year, and the one who really puts the fear into the Sth­ Africans. Imagine Sth Africa not picking Brian Habana­ cos he's off form? They just wouldn't, because­ they'd back him to produce the goods when it­ matters.

Nice Strong Team , Suprised to see a few players not in­ the team like Martin Williams and Andrew­ Sheridan.

O'Connell is only in the team because­ he's captain , had a bad tour so far lets hope he­ comes good on Saturday

Dont think the Boks will be­ losing to much sleep over Saturday , i got the Lions­ winning by 5 points.

Lets stop argueing over the­ selection and behind the Boys

Sheridan is a great scrummager but lacks a little­ around the park and those books will be playing a fast­ game.

Glad to see Gech has picked the test team on players on­ form and not reputation, Croft deserves to be in the­ side but I believe we will miss Williams fighting for­ the loose ball on the ground something Wallace is not­ capable of doing so well, perhaps he should have played­ No6? and Williams No7, whatever happens i'm sure it­ will be a great test and lets all get behind the lions­ whatever nationality.

buff is full of barf