Official Lions selection, moaning and bitching thread

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Baxter has been feeding on us against the world snippets for a long time, which presently is coming across as dangerously stupid, but it's hardly a new thing, it's just some small part of the media can get more attention for stories written about it in present circumstances. Hardly a media superstar though, I doubt many people even know Exeter has a top rugby club, still less would have any idea who Rob Baxter is

[JM2K6]

His output has increased dramatically.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

What's reported has gone up sure. I doubt Baxter is now saying twice as many things

[Kawazaki]

Exeter are perceived as the top club now. Ergo, they will get more attention and people hate winners.

[Sandstorm]

Can two Poms arguing constantly constitute a Swarm?

[Kawazaki]

Saracens will be back in the Premiership next season. As soon as they start doing well then we all know what certain types will start screeching.

[JM2K6]

Yeah - same thing happened with poor Lance Armstrong

[Kawazaki]

And as if by clockwork...

[JM2K6]

Everyone knew who you were talking about, don't be coy.

This whole bollocks about hating winners is really shitty trolling - people dislike Exeter recently because of the shit they've been saying, which isn't what they were doing when they were actually more dominant (and in Europe, too). They could be the bottom club and the entitlement, conspiracy theories, and general bleating would still piss people off.

Miles away from being massive cheats though, so there's that

[sockwithaticket]

Yep. Some of Baxter's and the players' utterances during the covid era on testing, vaccines and high tackles/bans have definitely eroded the good will.

Dislike of Sarries started with Saffacens and fucking skull numingly dull rugby and kept rolling with on pitch antics like all the whooping and hollering at winning any slight decisions, rumours of cap breaches swept under the rug (that we'll likely never know the full extent of), confirmation of actual breaches and the completely unapologetic comments that came out of prominent figures. Some of whom seemed to want to play any ill will as jealousy of success.

[Kawazaki]

Everyone knew who you were talking about, don't be coy.

This whole bollocks about hating winners is really shitty trolling - people dislike Exeter recently because of the shit they've been saying, which isn't what they were doing when they were actually more dominant (and in Europe, too). They could be the bottom club and the entitlement, conspiracy theories, and general bleating would still piss people off.

Miles away from being massive cheats though, so there's that

You made a comparison to Lance Armstrong. A drugs cheat.

What's interesting with that comparison is remembering that everyone else was also cheating just the same as he was.

[Biffer]

I started disliking Sarries at a Leicester game against them in 2011. The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights and generally being a complete shower of cunts. They were there with the clubs blessing, financed by the club. My view from that has been further coloured by encounters with their fans. Some are fine but they have a far higher proportion in f complete fucking tools following them than any other club I've met.

[Kawazaki]

Yep. Some of Baxter's and the players' utterances during the covid era on testing, vaccines and high tackles/bans have definitely eroded the good will.

Dislike of Sarries started with Saffacens and fucking skull numingly dull rugby and kept rolling with on pitch antics like all the whooping and hollering at winning any slight decisions, rumours of cap breaches swept under the rug (that we'll likely never know the full extent of), confirmation of actual breaches and the completely unapologetic comments that came out of prominent figures. Some of whom seemed to want to play any ill will as jealousy of success.

The current Sale squad has about 3x as many South Africans as the 2012 era Saracens squad did. And worse, the Sale ones are already capped so no chance of them playing for England like many did at Saracens.

[Big D]

I don't think he's been bad, might have been a training incident or something.

My one concern with Hogg for a while is he wants to play every game. Whilst admirable, I would bet that since the end of lockdown 1 when rugby started back he has missed less than a handful of games he could have played in. A fall off in form is inevitable and it has happened since the 6N IMO. Hopefully once he gets into the Lions environment he will get back to his best.

[Kawazaki]

I started disliking Sarries at a Leicester game against them in 2011. The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights and generally being a complete shower of cunts. They were there with the clubs blessing, financed by the club. My view from that has been further coloured by encounters with their fans. Some are fine but they have a far higher proportion in f complete fucking tools following them than any other club I've met.

Leicester fans complaining of arsehole fans.

[JM2K6]

I don't think he's been bad, might have been a training incident or something.

My one concern with Hogg for a while is he wants to play every game. Whilst admirable, I would bet that since the end of lockdown 1 when rugby started back he has missed less than a handful of games he could have played in. A fall off in form is inevitable and it has happened since the 6N IMO. Hopefully once he gets into the Lions environment he will get back to his best.

Yeah, I suppose. There's something weird going on with the comments about Nowell though, so I expect there might be some sort of rift there and Exeter are publicly backing their local boy or something like that. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

[sockwithaticket]

Yep. Some of Baxter's and the players' utterances during the covid era on testing, vaccines and high tackles/bans have definitely eroded the good will.

Dislike of Sarries started with Saffacens and fucking skull numingly dull rugby and kept rolling with on pitch antics like all the whooping and hollering at winning any slight decisions, rumours of cap breaches swept under the rug (that we'll likely never know the full extent of), confirmation of actual breaches and the completely unapologetic comments that came out of prominent figures. Some of whom seemed to want to play any ill will as jealousy of success.

The current Sale squad has about 3x as many South Africans as the 2012 era Saracens squad did. And worse, the Sale ones are already capped so no chance of them playing for England like many did at Saracens.

I don't like what Sale have done. At all. I don't know what the future of the Kolpak rule is post-Brexit, but I'd have thought one of the few advantages of the whole shambolic endeavour is that South Africans will now contribute to foreign player limits. Pacific Islanders too. Although I'm more sympathetic to their presence in the league due to a lack of domestic opportunity the Saffas don't face, it is a problem when (historically) a disproportionate number have been concentrated in positions like number 8.

On having too many South Africans, I didn't like it when Glaws seemed to be stocking up in the pack nor that Leicester have apparently gone a similar route (Brink, De Bruyn, Liebenberg and Wiese plus Taute and van Wyk in the backs with another forward joining next season)

[JM2K6]

Yep. Some of Baxter's and the players' utterances during the covid era on testing, vaccines and high tackles/bans have definitely eroded the good will.

Dislike of Sarries started with Saffacens and fucking skull numingly dull rugby and kept rolling with on pitch antics like all the whooping and hollering at winning any slight decisions, rumours of cap breaches swept under the rug (that we'll likely never know the full extent of), confirmation of actual breaches and the completely unapologetic comments that came out of prominent figures. Some of whom seemed to want to play any ill will as jealousy of success.

The current Sale squad has about 3x as many South Africans as the 2012 era Saracens squad did. And worse, the Sale ones are already capped so no chance of them playing for England like many did at Saracens.

Why do you do this?

Sale have 11 Saffers. Saracens squad for the 2011/12 season - 11 Saffers. But yes, Botha and Barritt did play for England, leaving plenty who didn't.

[JM2K6]

Anyway, this should be an England rugby thread argument, not a Lions one - this is nothing to do with the Lions at all

[Biffer]

I started disliking Sarries at a Leicester game against them in 2011. The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights and generally being a complete shower of cunts. They were there with the clubs blessing, financed by the club. My view from that has been further coloured by encounters with their fans. Some are fine but they have a far higher proportion in f complete fucking tools following them than any other club I've met.

Leicester fans complaining of arsehole fans.

Who says I'm a Leicester fan? I'm not. Went to a few games when I lived in Nottingham for a year.

But keep deflecting, it only makes Sarries fans look better.

[Kawazaki]

Yep. Some of Baxter's and the players' utterances during the covid era on testing, vaccines and high tackles/bans have definitely eroded the good will.

Dislike of Sarries started with Saffacens and fucking skull numingly dull rugby and kept rolling with on pitch antics like all the whooping and hollering at winning any slight decisions, rumours of cap breaches swept under the rug (that we'll likely never know the full extent of), confirmation of actual breaches and the completely unapologetic comments that came out of prominent figures. Some of whom seemed to want to play any ill will as jealousy of success.

The current Sale squad has about 3x as many South Africans as the 2012 era Saracens squad did. And worse, the Sale ones are already capped so no chance of them playing for England like many did at Saracens.

Why do you do this?

Sale have 11 Saffers. Saracens squad for the 2011/12 season - 11 Saffers. But yes, Botha and Barritt did play for England, leaving plenty who didn't.

Nils Mordt declared and played for England 7s.

Melk, Du Plessis and Jouber all declared for England but didn't get picked. Jono Ross declared later.

Think only about 3 or 4 capped in the squad with no chance of ever playing for England.

[JM2K6]

Have replied in the English rugby thread

[Rhubarb & Custard]

Yeah - same thing happened with poor Lance Armstrong

I very nearly spat mouthwash over my phone

[Sandstorm]

I started disliking Sarries at a Leicester game against them in 2011. The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights and generally being a complete shower of cunts. They were there with the clubs blessing, financed by the club. My view from that has been further coloured by encounters with their fans. Some are fine but they have a far higher proportion in f complete fucking tools following them than any other club I've met.

No dog in this fight, but "The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights" sounds like a conspiracy theory up there with UFOs from Neptune or Mog actually played tighthead.

[JM2K6]

I started disliking Sarries at a Leicester game against them in 2011. The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights and generally being a complete shower of cunts. They were there with the clubs blessing, financed by the club. My view from that has been further coloured by encounters with their fans. Some are fine but they have a far higher proportion in f complete fucking tools following them than any other club I've met.

No dog in this fight, but "The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights" sounds like a conspiracy theory up there with UFOs from Neptune or Mog actually played tighthead.

I know what you mean, but this was actually reported pretty widely at the time - it pissed a lot of people off. Sarries management & PR made some really odd calls back then.

[Sandstorm]

I started disliking Sarries at a Leicester game against them in 2011. The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights and generally being a complete shower of cunts. They were there with the clubs blessing, financed by the club. My view from that has been further coloured by encounters with their fans. Some are fine but they have a far higher proportion in f complete fucking tools following them than any other club I've met.

No dog in this fight, but "The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights" sounds like a conspiracy theory up there with UFOs from Neptune or Mog actually played tighthead.

I know what you mean, but this was actually reported pretty widely at the time - it pissed a lot of people off. Sarries management & PR made some really odd calls back then.

Wow! That's mad. If Sarries didn't get points deducted by the league then there was something rotten going on. Bribes and stuff probably. And juice.

[Biffer]

I started disliking Sarries at a Leicester game against them in 2011. The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights and generally being a complete shower of cunts. They were there with the clubs blessing, financed by the club. My view from that has been further coloured by encounters with their fans. Some are fine but they have a far higher proportion in f complete fucking tools following them than any other club I've met.

No dog in this fight, but "The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights" sounds like a conspiracy theory up there with UFOs from Neptune or Mog actually played tighthead.

I know what you mean, but this was actually reported pretty widely at the time - it pissed a lot of people off. Sarries management & PR made some really odd calls back then.

Yeah, there was a bit of a stink afterwards. I’m amazed nothing really kicked off that afternoon, it got pretty close to happening.

[Saint]

I started disliking Sarries at a Leicester game against them in 2011. The club had basically bussed up all sorts of radges, most of them not rugby fans, given them a selection of t shirts and hats and got them a bit plastered before pushing them to onto the terrace at Welford Road. Shower of absolute arseholes that were trying to start fights and generally being a complete shower of cunts. They were there with the clubs blessing, financed by the club. My view from that has been further coloured by encounters with their fans. Some are fine but they have a far higher proportion in f complete fucking tools following them than any other club I've met.

Similar experience for me at Saints - especially for Mrs Saint. It think it was a cup semifinal that Saints drew at home - entirely as per the cup rules. Sarries got in a strop that Saints fans would be far superior in number, so decided to bring air horns to try and drown out every "Oh Wendy" that got started. It made the stands to be an extremely unpleasant place to be, especially if you just wanted to go to the match, have a pint, enjoy the game, and support your team like a regular person would.

When the Sarries project started I was a big defender of them - I was of the opinion that anything bringing money into the game and reviving one of the big clubs was a good thing. That was massively naive on my part

[Jock42]

I don't think he's been bad, might have been a training incident or something.

My one concern with Hogg for a while is he wants to play every game. Whilst admirable, I would bet that since the end of lockdown 1 when rugby started back he has missed less than a handful of games he could have played in. A fall off in form is inevitable and it has happened since the 6N IMO. Hopefully once he gets into the Lions environment he will get back to his best.

Yeah, I suppose. There's something weird going on with the comments about Nowell though, so I expect there might be some sort of rift there and Exeter are publicly backing their local boy or something like that. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Nowell has said

“I didn’t see the team (named) but Stuart saw it and he was the first person to text me and said, ‘It’s awesome to see you back. I know you have had a bit of a shocking year but it’s awesome to see you back on the field’.

[OomStruisbaai]

Wanted to open a BIL tour match thread but suppose we keep this one going.

Looking forward to the tour starting today. A few Saffers in both teams , to keep an eye on.


Well lets keep this going!

[sockwithaticket]

I'm really interested to see what Japan can muster. I thought that their world cup performances were both massively over-hyped and didn't reflect their performance norm between world cups.

Its interesting to hear how much the comms team are bigging them up. Of course they'll want to boost the status of this game, but that could've been done without declaring Japan to be among the best teams in the world.

[JM2K6]

My one concern with Hogg for a while is he wants to play every game. Whilst admirable, I would bet that since the end of lockdown 1 when rugby started back he has missed less than a handful of games he could have played in. A fall off in form is inevitable and it has happened since the 6N IMO. Hopefully once he gets into the Lions environment he will get back to his best.

Yeah, I suppose. There's something weird going on with the comments about Nowell though, so I expect there might be some sort of rift there and Exeter are publicly backing their local boy or something like that. Maybe I'm reading too much into it.

Nowell has said

“I didn’t see the team (named) but Stuart saw it and he was the first person to text me and said, ‘It’s awesome to see you back. I know you have had a bit of a shocking year but it’s awesome to see you back on the field’.

I meant between Hogg and Baxter but yeah that's good to read

[Kawazaki]

Is AWJ out of the tour?

Broken wrist?

[Begbie]

Is AWJ out of the tour?

Broken wrist?

Dislocated shoulder.

[Lobby]

Is AWJ out of the tour?

Broken wrist?

Dislocated shoulder

[Begbie]

Who do we all fancy to replace AWJ then?

[Kawazaki]

Who do we all fancy to replace AWJ then?

I'd call up Kruis. He works well with Itoje. And he's very fit according to reports.

[sockwithaticket]

Cowan-Dickie's just thoroughly sparked himself making a tackle in the Prem final...

[Big D]

Who do we all fancy to replace AWJ then?

Will be Ryan or Gray. Both have pluses and negatives.

The fact that Hill and LCD are already touring may help Gray. Assuming LCD is OK to fly tomorrow.

[ASMO]

Who do we all fancy to replace AWJ then?

Will be Ryan or Gray. Both have pluses and negatives.

The fact that Hill and LCD are already touring may help Gray. Assuming LCD is OK to fly tomorrow.

He looked fine after the game.