The Lions have tonight beaten Wellington 23-6 in the capital. The Lions scored two tries to nil and never looked like losing this game, but they will still be frustrated at their performance. Given the dominance they showed in territory and possession they could have easily scored more points than this, but handling or continuity errors let them down.
The English super star Johnny Wikinson made his tour debut in this match and got through the match well, although he did look short of a gallop. The most impressive player on the park, though, was the titanic Welsh prop Gethin Jenkins. The Welsh behemoth dominated his side of the scrum, was prominent in the tight work and somehow found time to score a try and generally turn up all over the park, making tackles and supporting breaks.
The Lions once again seemed to struggle with the refereeing of Paul Honiss and several times captain Brian O Driscoll was left scratching his head at the ref’s rulings.
In a forerunner of what we may see in ten days in the first test, the final twenty minutes of this match had Wilkinson at second five partnered with Stephen Jones at first.
I agree with you about Jones/Wilkinson at 10 and 12, especially as JOnes looked quite shapr and gave the Lions some go forward when he came on. I would be a little worried about Wilkinson at 12 because I don’t think he would give as much pnetration or threat, his goal kicking aside, as say a Henson.
I think Thomas played himself into the Test side, although he did get posted a serious warning when he got skinned for pace on the outside by Nonu. There’ll be plenty of that to spare out wide for the AB’s in 10 days time. Dark horse for me at either 11 or 14, as Lewsey has 15 sewn up, is Murphy: He is a thinker and a footballer, so might be a useful foil to Gear.
yeah, that 14 is a great player. Actually, all the Lions backs look ok, but to me they seem a little anxious, they snatch at the ball and almost try to do too much with it?
Once they relax and things start to flow, then we might see something. NZrs recognise real rugby talent, and O’Driscoll, Henson, Wilkinson, Thomas and Lewsey certainly fit that bill.
But that guy Jenkins in the front row tonight…man, you could build a team around that kind of size and talent. Bloody great to watch!
I haven’t seen the game yet but I heard that Wilkinson was missing tackles - seems to be a weakness now that he is coming back from so long off.
I can’t see them playing Wilkinson and Jones at the expense of Henson - I think it is either/or (and remember Henson has a huge boot also). Wilkinson at his best is totally world class but you have to look at where he is now - maybe they will go for Jones.