Well done Aussie and congrats to NTA, Barbs etc. Your boys showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight across all three games and I feel only lost two halves of rugby overall; but that was enough for the BILs to take the series.

As others have already said, there were some odd selections on both sides that may have a made a difference to how things turned out.

For all the pre-tour talk about all places for the Lions test team being up for grabs, it was once again shown not to be the case and there was a level of intransigence in some of the selections. I get that when it is a 50/50 call, a coach will go with what he knows. Much has been said about the high number of Irishmen selected but that was expected on merit, they have been the most successful of the home nations for some time. However the evidence has been there for all to see, both during the tour and before that the 6N, that some were either no longer at the required level or were not quite there in the first place. Add on some risky bench selections and were are left wondering what could have been.

I'm guessing the Aussie fans would have a similar "what if" feeling too.

Henry Pollock's non-selection for any of the Tests, given his consistently excellent performances in the other games, was clearly the wrong call.

@NTA said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

Williams has had good involvements since coming on

Did you notice Parling on the laptop with Frost and Williams during the weather break? You can bet they were analysing the BIL lineout, and then those two picked them off a number of times.

It will be interesting to see the outcome of Sheehan's citing review. History tells us that the rules are different for the Irish.

@Bovidae said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

It will be interesting to see the outcome of Sheehan's citing review. History tells us that the rules are different for the Irish.

6 week sentence.

Discount for record - 2 weeks.

Discount for doing an AR course - 2 weeks.

Discount for being a jolly good chap - 2 weeks.

Discount for being Irish - 2 weeks.

Result: lynagh banned for 2 weeks for daring to headbutt Sheehan's shoulder

@sparky said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

Henry Pollock's non-selection for any of the Tests, given his consistently excellent performances in the other games, was clearly the wrong call.

Perhaps for test 2, but Curry and Morgan made every game a winner.

Tough on Pollock, agreed.

@NTA actually LOL’d at that! So true!!

@NTA said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

@Bovidae said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

It will be interesting to see the outcome of Sheehan's citing review. History tells us that the rules are different for the Irish.

6 week sentence.

Discount for record - 2 weeks.

Discount for doing an AR course - 2 weeks.

Discount for being a jolly good chap - 2 weeks.

Discount for being Irish - 2 weeks.

Result: lynagh banned for 2 weeks for daring to headbutt Sheehan's shoulder

Justice!

Great win. I could count on the one hand the amount of times in the last decade we've beaten top tier opposition and it not come down to the final minutes as we cling on for dear life.

I really like how Joe Schmidt has extracted every ounce of talent and effort from this side. They are just well drilled, do the basics pretty well and generally pick the right time to attack wide.

It was such a historical outlier Wallaby performance. We managed the game expertly, kicked really well from hand, didn't concede any dumb penalties and just played smart rugby in horrible conditions. The selection of White was inspired, he was the perfect man for that occasion on multiple levels.

It was a surprisingly enjoyable, competitive series. At the 50 minute mark of the first test it was looking very dire indeed, but the Wallabies stepped up and the Lions somewhat bafflingly dropped a couple of pegs over the ensuing 2.5 tests.

I was at the ground and it was a fantastic vibe considering the conditions. Lions fans happy to win the series, Wallabies fans happy we were playing well. Hope to do it again in 12 years time.

@NTA said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

@Bovidae said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

It will be interesting to see the outcome of Sheehan's citing review. History tells us that the rules are different for the Irish.

6 week sentence.

Discount for record - 2 weeks.

Discount for doing an AR course - 2 weeks.

Discount for being a jolly good chap - 2 weeks.

Discount for being Irish - 2 weeks.

Result: lynagh banned for 2 weeks for daring to headbutt Sheehan's shoulder

Sheehan gets 6 weeks.

No wait it's only 4 weeks.
Reduced to 3 with a coaching intervention

Not accepting that it was foul play should hve resulted in a doubling of the 6 weeks, not "not halving". Idiocy.

I didn't see the clean out in real time and have only just managed to track it down. First thought was it looked a bit of a soft collision - ie Sheehan wasn't going full on, but having said that Lynagh failed his HIA so it couldn't have been as soft as it looked. Second thought, according to the laws an absolute stone cold card and couldn't really complain if the colour was red.

@Catogrande said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

I didn't see the clean out in real time and have only just managed to track it down. First thought was it looked a bit of a soft collision - ie Sheehan wasn't going full on, but having said that Lynagh failed his HIA so it couldn't have been as soft as it looked. Second thought, according to the laws an absolute stone cold card and couldn't really complain if the colour was red.

Can't see how you could mitigate to even a yellow.

@Tordah said in Wallabies vs Lions III:

Not accepting that it was foul play should hve resulted in a doubling of the 6 weeks, not "not halving". Idiocy.

Yep, I originally thought that too Tordah, but if he accepted it was foul play, wouldn't that suggest he did it on purpose so that would be more reason to double it?

that's genuinely very good

Superb

One of the highlights of the series

Just for @NTA

He's an interesting dude. Would love to sit down with him over a beer to talk scrums, or have him at our club to run a session