By Zippy
July 9 2005

Player ratings for the Lions 38 – 19 defeat to the NZ All Blacks at Eden Park this morning that completed the 3 – 0 series whitewash. For details read on

15. Murphy (5) – Few decent touches and a talented player, didn’t want to know when push came to shove and keeps his fancy dan reputation.

14. Cueto (6) – Didn’t do anything wrong and didn’t have the ball to do anything right, a symtom of the huge problems on this tour.

13. Greenwood (1) – A joke.

12 Alfie* (6) – Lead from the front, didn’t look like he was 100% and looked like a player who hasn’t had much rugby in the centre recently. Amazed me he was replaced and Greenwood left on the field.

11. Lucy (3) – Couldn’t do the basics, missed tackles, looked a player trying to hard.

10. S Jones (7) – Steady as a rock and a big difference today was the tactical kicking which was spot on, it truly amazes me he was not considered first choice by a country mile going into the test series.

9. Peel (6) – Shocking platform once again but looked sharp, gave away a sloppy try.

8. R Jones (7) – Did a lot of carrying work and made the tackles, the scrum was not good enough to show his skills from the base.

7. Moody (8) – A committed, passion filled performance rounded off with a try, what he lacks in class he makes up for in pure effort.

6. Easterby (6) – Not the impact of last week but a more than useful option at the back of the lineout.

5. PoC (7) – Improved as the game went on, has the potential to be the best 2^nd row in home nations just needs to tighten up on certain areas of his game.

4. DoC (5) – A very basic limited player who plays with his head down, did his best but not really up to this.

3. White (6) – Decent game, once again failed to impose himself in scrum but not bad by any means.

2. Byrne (8) – My Lions MOTM, the line out was first class and from the maul he really lead and gave direction.

1. Jenkins (6) – Good support play but should have done more in the set piece.

 

Subs of note:

Horgan – Direct and committed

Dawson – Slow service

Rowntree – Made an impact in the set piece

 

Overall Comments:

 

A hugely committed and passionate display from the British and Irish Barbarians as this tour party should be known, defensively so sloppy it made me want to scream, they didn’t know how to play and it was only through sheer effort that they stayed in the game.

 

SCW, Andy Robinson and Eddie O’Sullivan go home with reputations in tatters, they categorically failed in every single aspect to bond this squad of the most talented players in the four home nations, this tour was doomed from the outset and lessons have to be learned from the Lions committee.

 

NZ are good don’t get me wrong, but they are not that good, the level of this Lions side is that they couldn’t to beat Tucamen and Rosario 3rds and then they got worse from that. Glimmers of hope were shown from the legend “Geech” in mid week. The Lions tactics looked so dated and Lions tours are supposed to progress rugby in the UK unfortunately this tour has not and overall has to go down as an unmitigated disaster.

 

NZ Stars:

Umaga – Still a cheat but a great rugby player

Gear – A skilful bag of tricks that I hope to see more of

 

Match Summary:

New Zealand: (24) 38
Tries: Smith, Williams, Umaga (2), Gear
Cons: McAlister (5)
Pens: McAlister

Lions: (12) 19
Tries: Moody
Cons: S Jones
Pens: S Jones (4)