Manawatu 6 Lions 109

well it was always going to be the easiest assignment for the Lions on tour.. against a Second Division NPC side that wasn't even one of the best - 6th behind Hawkes Bay, Nelson Bays, Counties Manukau, North Otago and Marlborough, they ran in a million tries, with Shane Williams getting half of those..

thankfully SCW has wisely chosen to name his test squad after looking at tonight's performance.. and it looks like O'Callaghan, Cusiter, Bulloch, Martyn Williams should be in the mix.. and i reckon Shane Williams should be in there somewhere.. his form on tour has been p decent esp since the Otago game..


let's face it, the English players on tour, apart from Josh Lewsey, have just made the Lions look as miserable as they have been.. dour and dominant were attributes that made the English World Cup champions, but only because they had the leaders with the maximum amounts of those attributes in Martin Johnson and Lawrence Dallaglio.. both are gone and we're just left with dour and dominant individuals who offer not much in creativity.. Hill and Back are superb players but are just not young enough to offer the agility that most of the Welsh grand slammers have this season.. i do hope for the sake of the Lions fans and tradition, that they throw out those English players who having won the World Cup, have less regard for the hallowed Lions jersey and what it means, and for heaven's sakes, put those Welsh players where they should be and get that flair back in where it's meant to be.. and from the looks of things, that flair should be back in massive amounts at the Cake Tin..

so what can the Lions learn from this game? well at first glance, u can say absolutely nothing coz really there just was no competition on the night.. but i think SCW can learn that there are players that are willing to step up to the fray and do a better job than those English buggers did on Saturday night.. let's home SCW finally has some sense and picks form players like Ryan Jones, Easterby.. and perhaps with the superb form of Ryan Jones that we might finally see the form and confidence that saw Martyn Williams become 6 Nations Player of the Tournament..

to the All Blacks squad, changes - which would make sense considering the backlash expected this weekend from the Lions - have been made.. Mils Muliana, Rico Gear, Byron Kelleher all replacing McDonald, Howlett and Marshall respectively.. it's interesting as McDonald and Marshall have played well, but of course they did play in front of their home Crusaders and Canterbury crowd.. could their impact be diminished outside the Crusaders boundaries? it remains to be seen, but Muliana, Gear and Kelleher are excellent players with excellent form.. and hopefully it's a measure to stave out complacency which cost the All Blacks the 2nd test in 1993.. and it's just great to see that there is always someone out there who can step in the role and play as well and say e.g. Justin who? Rokocoko?