The Lions' rout of the Queensland and New South Wales Country XV yesterday had about as much point as the number of points actually registered by the host team. Another example, I'm afraid, of the Lions committee getting the tour schedule badly wrong.
I'm not saying that these wholehearted amateur club players shouldn't get the chance to play against the Lions - perhaps they could have played against the dirt-trackers in the week between the tests for instance - but as preparation for test match rugby it was woefully inadequate.
Brian Moore's suggestion that the Lions should be playing warm up tests in Australia against the Pacific Island teams definitely has merit - something to think about, then, in 2025?
On a slightly different note, what has James Hook done to upset Warren Gatland so much? With various Lions backs suffering a variety of aches and pains I would have thought Hook, who has played international rugby at 10, 12, 13 and 15, would be the ideal replacement to fly out to Oz as cover. And yet instead Gatland has called up England's Billy Twelvetrees from Argentina.
Don't get me wrong - I am, as readers of this blog will testify, a huge fan of '36' but it's still a bizarre decision assuming Hook is not injured and I can't imagine he'd be overly impressed by the judgement of his former (and possibly future) national coach.
I must also admit I'm a tad miffed that '36' will miss England's 2nd test against Argentina given how well he linked with Freddie Burns last weekend. I'd much rather he helped England to s series win against the Pumas than got splinters in his arse warming the bench down under.
Wednesday, June 12, 2013
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