The UAFC

... or is there anyone else out there who is not the slightest bit interested in the Lions ... from the big mega huge ... don't you miss it Jim Megaw style build up for a whole bloody hour before kick off, including the Post Code Lottery man dirtying himself on camera on the half way line ... then ... suffering a major excitement drought of 80 minutes only punctuated by a few OMG moments of WTF is he doing here by Mako Vunipola, then followed by an in depth puerile review by mental midgets trying to tell me the King is wearing clothes? Then it's repeated every 20 minutes on Sky ...


... or is it just me?

Bar the last 10 minutes I thought the match on Saturday was utter cack...

Also getting increasingly p***ed off at the idolisation of Mr North - this is the same guy booed off the pitch by his own supporters at his last home game and who looked like a total nob end v Ulster in the Rabo playoff...

I guess it takes a Lions series to show how much I love ( yes, love ) Ulster

Bring on the next season!!!

Its ok Ulster Rugby preseason starts tomorrow..

A Lions tour is one of the very few rugby events to be mainstream news.
If you love rugby you should embrace the Lions.

Almost any event in life it seems must be surrounded in razzmatazz and hyperbole, if the Lions tour is to succeed in capturing the public's imagination it has to follow suit. Sometimes it does look like a mass marketing ploy played to squeeze as much profit as possible with the side effect of bringing rugby to the attention of the philistines, but the public know and expect nothing else.

Ulster rugby has slowly built up in the consciousness of our public and a Lions tour adds to rugby legend and interest. Keeping the appetite whetted over the summer in preparation for Ravers again in Sept.

The Lions are a massive force for good in rugby and Ulster can only benefit.

I wasnt bothered but now its on im definitely loving it. The last match was great. I loved that it was so close for 80mins. Sometimes I like that type of game instead of fast free flowing with loads of tries.

Im really excited for the match this weekend.

Pip we need more pictures please.

Load of commercialised crap fleg in my opinion, doubt that I would even go to watch it if it was played in the urinal in D4

For the record - I'm all for for reasoned debate on an forum, and everyones view carries equal weight ... however I feel that I must take issue with the following remark - as it obvioulsy needs correcting or rewording ...

KingLuba wrote:If you love rugby you should embrace the Lions.

I love Rugby - I think the Lions tour is a waste of passport stamps. Maybe you could ammend your claim King as it is deeply flawed.

KingLuba wrote:A Lions tour is one of the very few rugby events to be mainstream news.
If you love rugby you should embrace the Lions.

Almost any event in life it seems must be surrounded in razzmatazz and hyperbole, if the Lions tour is to succeed in capturing the public's imagination it has to follow suit. Sometimes it does look like a mass marketing ploy played to squeeze as much profit as possible with the side effect of bringing rugby to the attention of the philistines, but the public know and expect nothing else.

Ulster rugby has slowly built up in the consciousness of our public and a Lions tour adds to rugby legend and interest. Keeping the appetite whetted over the summer in preparation for Ravers again in Sept.

The Lions are a massive force for good in rugby and Ulster can only benefit.

Utter nonsense oul'han' - it's just the SKY way hype hype hype. Sadly Auntie is on the same route though still a tad restrained.

Don't you ever feel you are being taken for a sap when they tell you you are watching history in the making and all your brain tells you is "this game is rubbish", tense if you can be bothered but pure crap in terms of quality and from the Lions, no attempt to play rugby.

With Gatlands plan it was good for Rugby that they lost.

Well said Baggy


Can't wait for the Simpsons to do an episode on the Lions ... I bet it will look very like this ....


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYUa7DpPses

Is the problem then with Sky Sports coverage or The Lions?

It could be my age, or it could be the professional era, but I was expecting to be much more stoked about this tour. It's fine and I've enjoyed what I've seen, but I was out of the country for the first test and missing it didn't really worry me. I'd be more worried about missing an ulster match.

While the points about Sky-hype are justified (I can't wait to see what Sky will do for the Pro12 when they cover it from 2014... ) IMO the Lions do bring some much-needed variety to the rugby calendar which largely consists of the same-old playing the same-old and that goes for club/provincial rugby as well.

I'd be bored with rugby if Ulster were the only team that held any interest for me.

My wee buck's school side ... Malone ... Ulster in the Pro 12 and Heiny ... Sharks in S15 and CC ... that'll do for me ... plus the Ashes are starting soon - yeah. I really feel that international rugby is getting almost ... dare I say it as boring as soccer - midfield traffic jams, equalise before the other team score ... hours of hype and hasbeens with microphones needing to change their underpants ever few minutes. Life's too short.

Actually SKY are outdoing themselves with the Lions, from teh opening credits with a cloud like Lions devouring all it sees, when we all know that Lions series wins are almost as rare as hen's teeth, bullshit about history & The Post Code Lottery outdoing himself - the Quinnells were always an excitable bunch mind you.

I don't dislike SKY, their coverage of many sports is superb, I even enjoy long build-ups if I'm in the mood & in fairness I love their Heiny coverage. They just sadly have gone ballistic with the hype this tour doesn't deserve, mismatches from the start barring the notable efforts of Queensland & Brumbies.

As for the tests, they have been interesting only in a car crash sort of way & only the tightness of the games has prevented them from being crushingly boring. The quality has been poor with Oz not close to their most inspirational without a 10 & the Lions as poor a group as can ever have been sent to represent the 4 home unions, zero inspiration from a moderate group of players with a few notable exceptions, very few.

Can't wait for the Ashes myself. Team sports only work well at international if they are the main focus as in Cricket. Used to be the case in the old amateur days of rugby but it is no longer so. Even more so with the Lions concept - I'll be glad when it's put to bed next Saturday, hopefully with an Aussie win to render this historical anomaly even more obsolete.

History my Brennan - no wins in 16 years and struggling to bate an average Aussie team. Nothing sorhort of a joke. If that Warren Gatland, Warren Gatland was Japanese he'd be sharpening his sword.