I'm with 'LEE R' - much impassioned,­ irrational & mindless bias!

Being in deepest S­ France I watch 'pay games' at an 'Irish­ Pub' full of wee green folk on holiday, thanks to­ Ryan! Each match has been marked by frenzy when an­ Irish player gets a touch, but zero interest for others­ - weird! (Just because of a 1st Grand Slam in 60­ years!?)

They should remember that their team beat­ England 'by default' in '09 - England, like­ the Lions, ran out of time! - BUT -

I'm not saying­ that English players acquitted themselves brilliantly­ in the Test, ANY MORE than the rest - Centres­ apart!

The hard truth is that the Lions pack, no­ matter who is there, is really 'lightweight'­ (not necessarily in Kg) by comparison with the Boks at­ their best & most brutal.

The Lions CANNOT win the­ series - they just don't have the firepower up­ front to gain the ascendancy & ball necessary to­ enable their backs (any picked, I reckon) to rip the­ bu...rs to bits as they showed they could do!

Had they­ won this Test it would have been a travesty, brought­ about by the weird SA 'ease up' in the 2nd­ half. The totality of the inevitable defeat at­ half-time was so complete & depressing, I have­ seldom been more without hope when watching any rugby­ team I support in a big match - it WAS all­ over!

Sheridan (if fit) & Shaw may introduce a bit­ more brute force & savagery to things (NOT­ O'Callaghan - great player for 6 Nations but not­ what's needed here!) - but - the scrums will NOT be­ remedied, I fear, & that's where it will go to­ hell - probably lineouts too - NOT the thrower's­ fault - in Matfield, the Boks have the best (for the­ past 20 years, at least, as a lineout winner, even­ better - a good deal better - than Martin Johnson or­ Willie John, I reckon!)

Finally, there is NO ONE to­ replicate the devastation wreaked by (wee) Neil Back,­ Hill & Dallaglio (or F Slattery) in th

Lee R - superb comment wish everyone would think like­ that. June / July 2009 WE are The LIONS end of story.

It wasn't all Vickerys fault, there wasn't much­ grunt behind him in second row from Jones. Mears was­ too small and didn't give him enough support, also­ Mtawarira didn't srumage square he came in at an­ angle and was able to screw Vickery and Mears. When­ Jones came on he had O'Callaghan and Rees to­ support him so his job was easier.............Thats the­ first time I've ever defended Vickery and I'm a­ Paddy

The english players where found out.Vickery was a­ joke,uho moyne has to be replace by like fitzgerald,rob­ carney has to start,jones must be replaced by o­ gara..the english left everybody down once more

The Lions are simply not good enough. Croft, Moyne,­ Vickery, Jones, Mears and Byrne were all out of sorts­ and need to be replace. Wyn Jones is too light weight­ and the Lions need an enforcer at second row -­ O'Callaghan! Phillips dithers too much at the break­ down and needs to speed up his delivery to the out­ half.

We won't win but at least six of the team­ must be changed for next week.

Post #23, For your information Ryan Jones spent 2 days­ with the squad before being sent back home due to­ concussion he recieved in the USA game. Please keep up.

Paul O'Connell's pick and drives deliver­ excellent quick ball for the scrumhalves. He never gets­ turned over and rips the ball from the opposition quite­ often, and he's excellent in the lineouts (with­ decent throwing/lifting). How anyone can still question­ his place is beyond me.

With a couple of Changes in­ the front row and Hines in beside POC for test 2 and­ the boks will have to work an awful lot harder!
With­ Rees throwing in and Jones doing a better job lifting­ we won all our lineouts. The scrums turned in our­ favour immiediately, before the Beast and Smit were­ taken off remember, the bulk of Hines will only help­ this and he'll help more around the fringes which­ also improved greatly after the­ substitutions.

O'Gara should get his shot now with­ Jones on the bench. Hook will only delay the ball from­ getting to O'Driscoll and Roberts. He has a go­ himself far to often, which is too dangerous against­ the Boks who are experts at turning ball over.­ O'Gara will have the ball flung out wide long­ before they get to him.

Fitzgerald in for Monye and­ Kearney to start at full back. If Byrne is injured­ I'd have Earls on the bench as cover.

I think the­ Lions players will be licking their lips thinking about­ the next test. If they start the next one like they­ finished the last one the boks are in for a torrid­ time!
C'MON THE LION!!!!!

lol-lost control of me computer!!! The lions simply­ won't fair any better next week cause we can't­ compete with the fit forwards on available. POC­ should'nt be picked regarless of the fact that­ he's the captain. He aint got over the gain line­ once to my recollection in any of his games. A wet­ pitch in Ireland is different gravy to the hard fast­ tracks of SA. Next week will be worse than this week­ due to altitude and the boks are more match hardened.­ Its a shame cause we've got the back to really push­ them
Just my thought before i get savaged!!!!

Is it time to have no Englishmen in the Lions team. An­ all welsh front row is needed. Hines or Wyn Jones in­ the second row with P. O'Connell. (Could have S.­ SHaw on the bench toa dd a bit of grunt in the last­ twenty minutes). Croft did score two tries but was­ anonymous for most of the game. The second try Croft­ was nowhere near where the hard work was being done by­ the rest of the forwards. Martyn Williams could of done­ the same thing. \Williams even won lineout ball­ which croft failed to do. Monye should of scored two­ tries. Is that why England would not have picked him­ this year before the other wingers became injured?
It­ would be a sad reflection of the English game. The only­ change I would make would be for a good out half.­ Cipriani could really make the space for the LIons­ backs.
From Keith W. SUn. 22 June 2009

The lions were simply no match in the contact/collision­ with the boks, Vickery is a good prop(and i'm welsh­ saying that!!!) you could clearly see the SA prop­ pushing across instead of straight, mears aint big­ enough to support Vickery making him look terrible.­ Adam Jones looked better cause he had Rees(bigger)­ alongside most of the time he was on the pitch. T

why do all these message boards end up at the same­ point time after time after time.....?!?!?! What is it­ that makes discussion of a sport we all profess to love­ end up in petty pathetic name calling and trading of­ ridiculous insults about our respective home­ countries?!?!? Am sick and tired of reading that c@%p.­ I am Welsh and am a huge fan of the whole­ history,ethos,of the lions, embodying everything that­ is good about bringing the best players from four­ countries together and pitting them against the best­ teams in the world. I watched the game on saturday with­ goosebumps( thats the little bumps on the skin, not the­ nickname of one of my mates!).Being honest i think­ South Africa just about deserved the win.To the­ impartial fan it must have been fantastic to watch, as­ for me it aged me 10 years!! The Springboks were­ immense in areas and had weaknesses in others, stangely­ enough the Lions were immense in areas and had­ weaknesses in others.Both coaching teams made tactical­ blunders, Mix it all up in massive couldron of fervent­ supporters and wait to see whats dished up. the answer­ was that it had everything, a concoction of sublime­ play, dismal play,misplaced overconfidence, guts and­ tenacity etc... Dont know about anybody else but i am­ looking forward to the 2nd test even more than the­ first having seen the potential for an amazing­ encounter. Will not pretend that i dont want the lions­ to win, but if they dont the springboks will have­ proven to be the better team and should be applauded­ for that. So lets all just enjoy it as fans and have a­ bit of friendly banter, it is a game after all.

well done the boks, must admit, some of the comments­ about the BEAST, yeah he had a field day with vickery,­ but when the hairbear (Adam Jones) came on he was more­ like a @#$% cat, oh yeah Smit the only time you saw him­ was scoring the first try and going off,no change from­ Gethin Jenkins,typical boks fans we didnt see at any­ time SA looking like scoring from the backs, all SA­ have is heave Ho again.. we bigger we stronger
V. good­ set of forwards, the wingers on about lack of play time­ for the boks, substitutions,lions been together 6 weeks­ never played with each other, only goes to show that­ as usual EXCUSES come out when things go wrong!! every­ time the Lions backs had the ball they made ground and­ threatend the line.. not so the glorius SA, rolling­ mall try..(Yawn Yawn) rule change cant bring it­ down...miss throw from Lions @#$% mears and try number­ one stoppable..altitude and a dodgy ref orderd for the­ next test match, oh no what are we to do.... try thats­ it lets all have a good game and stop kicking the poor­ ball to death, amd play rugby in the way it was ment to­ be played open and entertaining not just the bish bash­ game of big men, but speed of thought and gile and team­ work.. creates trys.. written at altitude on top of­ sand dune in blackpool.. oh to be in SA !!

Since when did subs become the b players? Or are the­ boks subs just so bad thats what you call them? I seem­ to remember the lions brining on o'callahan, jones,­ kearney,rees, same amount as you lot or 1 less maybe­ cant remember. Its irrelevant to say we played your b­ squad, actually just discriminating your own squad:L­ and when the lions pick the right pack next week(ie­ rees, jones, and hines to deal with Botha) you will­ need to use your subs as you couldnt cope when we heald­ the ball and ran you lot ragged! Then you will have to­ put on your 'b' players where as we will have­ quality subs to make an impact, face it we outplayed­ your A team, we just made some wrong starting picks,­ whereas de villiers has probably knowen pretty much his­ best 22 for months. Hope that smile is wiped off your­ smarmy south african face next week!! COME ON LIONS,­ TIME TO ROAR!! Roberts and O'driscoll have you­ @#$%ting yourselfs!! as de villiers is cr*p and that­ sub fourie is it? was no btter!!

Replying to lassiestevens, even I (as a bok supporter)­ agree that Jamie Roberts and B O'Driscoll played­ exceptionally well on Saturday, destroying the SA­ midfeld. But to say Jean de Villiers is a weak link is­ not quite fair, yes maybe Adi Jacobs is, but de­ Villiers made a try saving tackle on Monye. In my view­ it should be Jean de Villiers at 12 and Jaque Fourie at­ 13 with Wynand Olivier on the bench, Adi Jacobs is­ simply not good enough all-round. Lets hope Peter de­ Villiers doesn't make a pigs ear out of it in­ Pretoria!

fact of the matter is the lions crossed the boks try­ line SIX times - shd really have beaten them by 10­ points - fair play to the boks forwards tho especially­ at the scrum - was reminsiscent of the Lions of 74­ which murdered all South African scrums- hopefully two­ good tests to come

As a BOK supporter living in the UK ,the newspaper­ articles today praising the Lions
are a little bit­ blinkered in the Lions favour. The Springboks had not­ played a competitive match since november 2008, the­ Lions have played 6 in recent weeks, come off it who­ pays these sports reporters.AND GUESS WHAT WHO WON THAT­ IS THE BOTTOM LINE IN

Notice how none of us are abusing the Bokkes, calling­ them names or displaying a childish immature­ behavaiour. Remember its only a game will you, no­ wonder the rest of the World didn`t want to be involved­ with you for so long with that kind of attitude, no­ doubt still upset that your ancestors aren`t allowed to­ run the country like they used to. Take it out on the­ blogs here, real brave in hiding.
WELL DONE BOYS­ GREAT GAME TO WATCH IT HAD IT ALL , EXCEPT THE­ FAIRYTAIL ENDING, GET THE SELECTION RIGHT AND WE WILL­ DISTROY THE SUPERIOR RACE.