Red wrote:He's picked a squad to win. To him the best shot at that given the short time frame they have to work with the players is
1. Keep it Welsh, he knows the Welsh
2. Forget any fancy stuff, that takes too long to gel, keep it simple for simple minds
3. Play the numbers (Roundtree admitted as much), use the stats, make the hard yards
4. Try and outmuscle them from 1 to 15. Smash up the relatively small Aussie backline with big units like North, Cuthbert, Bowe, Tualagi, etc
It's not the BaaBaas, it's the Lions. Gatland isn't looking to entertain, he's looking to 20 years hence when he can look back and say he took a squad to Australia and won. The history books will omit that they didn't play much rugby and just dug out the results, if that indeed happens.
I'm disappointed and uninspired with the squad, but I understand his reasoning (with the exception of Best's ommission). I think he needs more leaders, more character and WAY MORE flexibility in his squad (Hogg at 10, mental ...). He thinks he needs to keep it simple and overpower them.
Woodward went with his tried and tested and was a disaster from day one.
I appreciate the BaaBaas comment but I think you may have misconstrued what I was saying.
I am not talking about flair in the players selected but flair in the selection itself in terms of boldness and courage of bringing some talented players the Aussies wont know too much about.
it has to be a relative combination of the tried and tested with the potential shooter.
Look what history tells us.
The success stories of the tour are not necessarily the seasoned test players who rise to the occasion but the talented rookies that coaches were prepared to gamble on, who bring something of the unknown to the party.
On previous tours players like Bentley, Millar, Guscott, Greenwood, Davidson, Paul Wallace, Richard Hill, Johnson, Leonard, Tom Smith, Jason Robinson were all players who starred despite limited international experience at the time.
Hardly all Barbarian type selections.
All their reputations were forged on the back of Lions tours.
I think its only a few who catch the eye for this reason,Hogg, Maitland,Tom Youngs, Vunipoloa and Tipuric that could be considered under the same category.
I maintain that the likes of Zebo, Launchberry, Twelvetrees, Ken Owens, Visser, Madigan, Henderson are the types of player who thrive on a tour like this.
Like I said other than this and the half back selections and Hartleys inclusion I can have little complaint.
We know what to expect from the squad so as sure as heck the Aussies will know.
Whether they can do anything about it is another question that Gatland is banking on they cant.
To Deckard
About the Welsh, Wales have come within a whisker of beating Australia each time they have played them recently.
Throw in the likes of BOD, Sexton ,SOB and POC and it would have been good enough to beat them on each occasion.
I get his logic and I expect a series win-no excuses.
