Lions Rugby Team- Who Will Make The Lions Rugby Team?

Technorati Tags: British Lions, British Lions Rugby, Lions Rugby, Lions Rugby Team, Lions Rugby Tour

Is Super Rugby getting "watered down"?

I ask this question upon hearing that the much maligned Southern Kings, a Rugby franchise based in Eastern Cape, South Africa, has been granted provisional entrance into the 2013 addition of the Super Rugby tournament. The Southern Kings will be based around South African provincial sides that do not even play in our top flight division, the Currie Cup.

Now, I am South African and embarrassingly, a Lions fan, and I’ll be the first to admit that the Lions are not Super Rugby material and have become a joke. And after looking promising, the loss of their Wallabies has turned the Western Force into a basement team. And then New Zealand has the Highlanders. They are much better than the Lions but for years now, they have literally been "champions of the basement", beating out the Lions, Reds and Cheetahs. And, besides the Lions and the impending arrival of the Kings, Australia has their Melbourne franchise coming in. The alarming thing about the Melbourne franchise is, is that they have been heavily recruiting South African talent to bolster their ranks, proving that Australia lacks the depth to front more than 3 competitive Union sides while facing competition from League and Aussie Rules.

So, by expanding within the SANZAR nations, do you think Super Rugby is getting watered down as non of the expansion teams have actually made any impact nor do they look like it? And is it time the SANZAR boys start looking at inviting franchises/teams from outside of South Africa, New Zealand and Australia?

yes. But you’re being short-sighted here. The extra franchises will develop talent and it will lead to growth of the game in Oz, I hope.

Folau set to switch to AFL: report?

Giant rugby league centre Israel Folau will inform the Brisbane Broncos on Tuesday he is accepting a massive offer to switch to the AFL.

The 21 year-old, who has played eight Tests for Australia and six State of Origin games for Queensland, will sign a three-year deal with expansion AFL club Greater Western Sydney, who enter the competition in 2012.

The deal is worth a reported $3 million.

Folau will be the second big name Bronco to make the leap to AFL after another of the club’s superstars, fullback Karmichael Hunt, signed a big deal with the Gold Coast Football Club which will debut in the code next year.

Hunt said on Monday he thought Folau would be able to make the move from the NRL without any problems.

"He definitely has the skill set to make the transition," Hunt told a packed press conference on the Gold Coast.

Folau, who is 195cm and 102kg, is very similar in build to Brisbane Lions full forward and AFL juggernaut Johnathan Brown.

His high leaping exploits in rugby league have excited fans but there are concerns he may not have the kicking game to make a success in the AFL.

With Brisbane winning their last three NRL games to surge back into the top eight and Queensland winning the opening State of Origin game in Sydney last Wednesday night there was a pool of thought Folau may have been wavering about leaving the code.

Folau said on Monday he would seek some advice from Hunt about his decision after ruling out a $600,000-a-season offer from Melbourne’s new Super 15 franchise, the Melbourne Rebels.

It’s understood he will speak to Broncos coach Ivan Henjak on Tuesday about his move, ending months of intense speculation about his future.

Earlier this month he failed to take up a two year option on his Broncos contract for season 2011-12.

There’s been speculation Folau, whose family live in Brisbane, wants to get some independence and moving to Sydney as the face of a new franchise gives him that opportunity.

Folau is understood to have undergone extensive AFL "testing" with GWS.

Unlike Hunt, who will have just two or three games to prepare himself for his greatest sporting challenge, Folau would have 12 months of playing in the VFL competition to ready him for his debut in 2012.

Folau’s place in Queensland’s Origin side for the second game of the series seems safe despite his switch after Maroons coach Mal Meninga had a change of heart from his initial stance against selecting him if he was leaving rugby league.

But former Queensland State of Origin great Gorden Tallis said he should be barred from selection.

"If he’s going to go you just put Brent Tate in or you put in a young winger or a young centre," Tallis told Fox Sports.

"If he does (sign to play AFL) you don’t let him play in our showpiece, something that he loves."

Tallis said Folau’s high price signing would create jealousy within the team and the franchise would struggle to attract crowds once the novelty wore off, particularly if they started losing matches.

"They are actually ruining their own game - it is going to be a novelty act," he said.
_______________________________________

Are you surprised?

Yet another act of greed.. Turned down $600,000 in union for $1,000,0000 in AFL.. Pretty obvious if you ask me. Him and Khunt will be so happy together rolling in their bags of money… that is… until they realise they don’t know how to play AFL..

What is with AFL and Union trying to build themselves rugby league teams.. Have they finally come to realise that we are better then them?

Good riddance. If all he’s interested in is the money then he can go wherever he likes, I don’t care.

I’d laugh if he can’t kick a ball.

Team changing, is it ok?

Hi people,

I know this is bad to even be thinking of doing, but hear me out.

I have followed Brisbane since I was 8 and began footy ( I’m now 15) but lately the club has been pi$$ing me off. Here are a few reasons.

1. I can’t stand their new jumper, nor can I stand the fact that they got rid of the fitzroy lion.
2. The player that I’ve always hated the most is fev, and they tried to get rid of braddy for him, and now braddy is gone anyway mainly because of the attempted trade. I’m not exactly sure if I would be able to barrack for fevola… (seriously, I hate him more than collingwood or rugby league)
3. I know this was almost 2 years ago, but bushy copeland was by far my favourite player and a soon as vossy came in he delisted him.

These are just a few things that have made me angry at the club, but my question is, what you do in this situation, and is it a bad thing if j wanted to barrack for another team.

The team I like is hawthorn, I already follow them every week, but the lions have usually been my team.

Sorry for the lengthy question, but what do you think?

I reckon if you followed a real mans sport like rugby league then you wouldnt be bitchin so much you bloody bogan.

Afl team changing, your thoughts?

Team changing, is it ok?
Hi people,

I know this is bad to even be thinking of doing, but hear me out.

I have followed Brisbane since I was 8 and began footy ( I’m now 15) but lately the club has been pi$$ing me off. Here are a few reasons.

1. I can’t stand their new jumper, nor can I stand the fact that they got rid of the fitzroy lion.
2. The player that I’ve always hated the most is fev, and they tried to get rid of braddy for him, and now braddy is gone anyway mainly because of the attempted trade. I’m not exactly sure if I would be able to barrack for fevola… (seriously, I hate him more than collingwood or rugby league)
3. I know this was almost 2 years ago, but bushy copeland was by far my favourite player and a soon as vossy came in he delisted him.

These are just a few things that have made me angry at the club, but my question is, what you do in this situation, and is it a bad thing if j wanted to barrack for another team.

The Footy team I like is hawthorn, I already follow them every week, but the lions have usually been my team.

Sorry for the lengthy question, but what do you think?

It sounds like you’re just upset at the moment and so you should be. You have made valid reasons why you would want change clubs/ But, do you really…I mean REALLY want to change clubs? or is it that you are p*ssed off?

I once followed North Melbourne, but once the Crows joined the league, I switched clubs. I am now a full on Crows supporter and proud to be one. But, my reasons differ from yours, I still have a keen interest in North Melbourne, I will not stop following North, even though I support the Crows.

If you follow Hawthorn every week, well thats telling me you have made up your mind. All I can say is follow your heart….support the team you love.

Have you met anyone famous?

If so who?

I’ve met The British Lions Rugby team, Busted and McFly and Lulu. That’s it. Nobody really special.
Can I also add on Charlotte Church. Sorry dude but MJ doesn’t count if you were that far away from him. If that were the case I met P!nk cos I touched her, Gwen Stefani and Avril Lavigne too. But I only mean talk to face to face.

I have met Busted, westlife, the cheeky girls, cilia black and daniel radcliff, only kidding about the last one

Next EA Sports Rugby game?

When is the next EA Sports Rugby game coming out? There was no rugby game in the 09 series and there doesn’t seem to be a Rugby ‘10 either.

And what would you like to see in the next edition of EA Sports Rugby? I’ve made a list of what I’d like in the next rugby game (in no particular order):

1: Get rid of the "Star Players" option. Nobody likes it.

2: Make sure players are labeled with the right positions (eg: Piri Weepu and Hernandez to have "Fly-Half" as one of their positions, which they don’t in Rugby 08. And Tamati Ellison to have "Fullback" and "Wing" etc…)

3: Be less harsh when players are out of position (Because in Rugby 08 when a player is "out-of-position", their name goes red and they make lots of handling errors. This is a problem because many players do not have all of the right positions equipped to them, and it stops you from playing them there.)

4: Get more licences for teams and competitons. (Especially for the Heineken Cup, Magners League and Top 14). It’s annoying playing with ficticious teams like "Neath Swansea" (unregistered Ospreys), "Paris" (Stade Francais), and "Brescia" (Rugby Calvisano).

5: Better player and stadium accuracy (Stephen Donald looks nothing like his animated character, Cory Jane doesn’t have a bald patch and Wynand Olivier should have long blonde hair, not short brown. Westpac Stadium has its tunnels in the wrong places. Just a bit more accuracy, please, EA Sports?)

6: Francois Steyn’s Kicking Power > 95 (He’s rated a pathetic 74 or something…).

7: The Hurricanes are NOT the Super 14 wooden spooners. They need a rating much higher than 69. At least make them better than English second-division relegators Bristol. Please.

8: New Zealand Rugby World Cup 2011 stadiums. (Or at least have North Harbour Stadium, Rotorua, Yarrow and Invercargill)

9: Bring back the B&I Lions and the NZ Maori.

10: More stadiums from the Pacific, Japan, Namibia and the European minnow countries (eg: Russia and Romania). Give each International team a stadium from their own country.\

11: More competitions (eg: Pacific Nations Cup, Air New Zealand Cup, Magners League, Top 14, Currie Cup, European Nations Cup and the Top League). I’m not demanding ALL of them, but it would be nice to have more tournaments in the game.

Well, that’s about all (I just realised how long my list is)… I was wondering if anyone had anything to add to that list or that they disagreed with, so all comments welcome!
Yes, I do have Rugby 08 on PS2. I think its great game so don’t let my criticism put you off it.
Yes, I do have Rugby 08 on PS2. I think its great game so don’t let my criticism put you off it.

I agree with everything that you have said, I have some other additions to make:

Firstly make the game a lot harder, clashes between SA and NZ are way to easy, and to score a bonus point (4 tries) is way to easy!

Player ratings must be improved, any player that has represented his country and is part of the top 5 ranked team should have no players with a rating below 80. Impact players should lose the star but should have impact player as a bonus ability (besides Ronan O’Gara, he made one hell of an impact on the 2nd test Lions Test :P)

I agree about Frans. Steyn, he should be able to slot goals from 60m out, however players (like Johnny Wilkonsin) shouldn’t be allowed to kick a ball from their own 5m line and land the ball near the opponents 5m line, its very unrealistic…

Defensive organisation must be better. The drop goal thing must be made way harder, but easier for players like Morne Steyn and Johnny Wilkinson. There should be at least 3 players standing back to catch the ball when kicked by a flyhalf (how often does a flyhalf in a real game, kick a ball perfectly into space and turn the fullback? Once maybe?) And they should obvisouly catch the ball..

Fetchers and rucking etc must be made better, McCaw even with his star doesn’t fetch balls like he does in reality. Combiniations must be made, like Bakkies Both and Victor Matfield.

Oh! And fix the things like a penatly for a bad throw in at the lineout and scrums must be more competitive. I wanna see the ref in the game as well, not just in replays etc…

Players with more than 50 caps for their country should have ratings of over 85. And side stepping should be a lot lot harder, even Habana doesn’t step that great in real life, bouncing players and handing off must be made harder and dive tackle as well as high tackles must be fixed (how many times, in reality, does a player dive tackle the flyhalf as he kicks…… uh never! And this close line high tackle! I wasn’t aware I was buying NFL!?)

Overall there are a lot of things to fix! All and all its actually, a very s**t game if you think about it. I don’t mind if they take 3 years to bring out the next game, just make it waaaaaaay better! There was like no improvement between Rugby 06 and Rugby 08, hardly any of the players ratings changed.

AFL Most Popular Team Competition - Round 1?

Ok I saw this idea in the Rugby League section and it’s a cool idea. What you have to do is pick your favourite team from each match. Not who would win, but your favourite of the two. Then we go to Quarter Finals, Semis and the final to work out which is the most popular team on Y!A. So of these ‘matches’, who wins in terms of your favourites? Voting closes on Tuesday at midday.

St. Kilda vs. Geelong
Collingwood vs. Western Bulldogs
Carlton vs. Brisbane Lions
Adelaide Crows vs. Essendon
Port Adelaide vs. Sydney
Hawthorn vs. West Coast
North Melbourne vs. Richmond
Fremantle vs. Melbourne

BQ for B/A - Total number of combined games played by Richmond’s top 10 players with most games (number between 1400-1500)…whoever is closest gets B/A
OK RFC is right that was a huge calculation error on my part. But you are also incorrect as I just did a re-calculation on a more reliable site/calculator and the answer I came up with twice was 2969. So Best Answer will go to the answer with the number closest to the one I’m thinking of between 1400 and 1500.
*the actual current AFL ladder.
It’s just a coincidence that no interstate teams play each other.
For dani_tha_rockstar: The matches are based only on the ladder atm.
1 vs. 2, 3 vs. 4, 5 vs. 6 and so on.

Geelong
Western Bulldogs (my second fave team)
Brisbane Lions (not by much)
Essendon!
Sydney Swans
Hawthorn
North Melbourne
Melbourne

Richmond Top 10 - 1435

S.A vs NZ Maori team - Your thoughts?

Red-tape threatens to stand in the way of the New Zealand Maori side making an historic tour of South Africa.

Springbok coach Peter de Villiers said earlier this week he wanted his side to face the Maori team in the lead-up to this year’s tour of South Africa by the British Lions.

The match had been pencilled in for Soweto.

However, SA Rugby has issued a statement saying that while discussions had begun over the possible New Zealand Maori/Springbok clash, significant work behind the scenes still had to be done.

That included working around a political stand to not allow the Boks to play against racially-selected teams.

Ironically, race is one of the selection criteria for the World Cup-winning Boks, with an accepted number of non-white players having to be named in each squad.

"SA Rugby would like to advise media on the background to speculation that a match is being arranged against the New Zealand Maori," the statement read.

"We can confirm that the New Zealand Rugby Union has inquired if there was an opportunity for the Maori team to appear in South Africa.

"SA Rugby is examining the possibility but no decision has been taken on whether the offer will be accepted and there are several obstacles to overcome should we wish to pursue the offer.

"They include the financial viability of the project, logistics around venues and player availability and the fundamental stumbling block of a long-established President’s Council resolution forbidding the appearance of SARU teams against opponents selected along racial lines.

"A final decision is not expected until the end of March."

The match would give New Zealand Maori a reprieve for this season.

The side looked set to be sidelined for 2009 after the NZRU cut them from its calendar as part of its cost-cutting moves.

de Villiers then revealed that the South African Rugby Union was in negotiations to bring the Maori side to South Africa to play the Springboks in June.

The match would be the Boks’ final warm-up match before the three-test series against the touring British Lions begins on June 20.

SARU has already confirmed a warm-up match against Namibia.

"We are playing them (Namibia) on May 29," de Villiers told Rapport.

"The game in Soweto is, however, subject to certain conditions and has not been finalised, but I hope it will happen.

"It will help me a great deal for my preparation. We can’t take on the Lions without warm-up games."

New Zealand Maori won last year’s Pacific Nations Cup.

They had previously taken part in the Churchill Cup, normally played in North America.

C’mon, people, you are being way too serious (and *way* too political) about this. NZ Maori is a mechanism to allow some more of the lads a chance to play very high-quality, representative rugby, thereby upgrading their experience, keeping them in the eye of the selectors, and generally improving competetive rugby overall in NZ. And high-quality rugby it is: they beat B&I Lions during the last tour, and regularly win the Churchill Cup in North America against the "A" sides from ENG, IRE, SCO and the national teams for Canada and USA. They would be a very good hit-out for the Boks, and provide high-quality, entertaining rugby for the RSA fans.

It also honors a long tradition of contribution of the Maori people to rugby in NZ; call it a cultural thing. But don’t get too hung up on the racial aspect - the qualifications are pretty loose: if I remember correctly, Christian Cullen - now there’s a old, traditional Maori name - lined up with them once or twice.

If you can round up a Kiwi with no Maori background, he’s still got proportionally more high-level rugby union available to him (ABs, Junior ABs, Super-14, and ANZ Cup provincial) than any other population on Earth. That’s not a racial situation that needs protecting in order to redress historical mistreatment or to calm our politically-correct nerves.

I’d like to see NZ Maori (now that they have lost NZRFU funding) operate a bit like the Barbarians - become a barn-storming, all-star team that everyone wants to play against. Maybe they modify the Barbaraian tradition (of one uncapped player), and select one non-Maori.

And then let’s all go out and and have some fun playing rugby.

Mark L.

anyone else embarrassed to hear Paul O’Connell being asked was the Lions victory?

today his proudest rugby moment.

Like cringe worthy , how woeful is that. Does the rugby commentator expert not knew he won the grand slam this year, and the Heineken cup last year. The lions won today, against a SA B team, and lost the tour.

I admired O’Connell’s answer, just saying any win is something to be proud of, and not asking the man, "are you for real?"

I think he replied correctly. The South Africans won the series. It doesn’t matter that the Lions scored the most tries and points over the three matches, the fact is it’s three separate matches. He handled it well but it was a stupid question.