Lions v Queensland

[Dipper]

Anyone going to tommorow's game at Ballymore?
Should be a great game as it will be the Lion's first decent opposition of the tour & some of the big guns are getting their first run out.
WCE2000 I hope you'll be able to see Johnny Wilkinson in action on the TV & I'd be interested in your thoughts after watching him play.

 

[Ms.Storm]

I would LOOOOOOVE to be there...

Why can't these games be televised into Victoria. I get so cheesed off with the lack of coverage Victoria gets when it comes to League and Union games.

Ths should be a great hit out for the Lions.

Dipper are you off to the Test at all??
The game in Melb. sold out in 18 minutes...and people in Victoria say rugby is not popular here .....that's crap.....the afl want people to believe that however.
Cheers.

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

Ms Storm

Rugby Union has always been a popular game in Victoria, and I don't even think the AFl would deny that one !

League however has always struggled South of the Border, and probably always will.

How about the Lions huh ? They cruised through the Queensland and look pretty, um, ominous actually.

... and their skipper reckons they can play alot better - hmmmm. I'm beginning to see where DIPPER Has been coming from these last few weeks, the Lions CAN play, or so it seems.

Can't wait for the Test Matches to start.

DIPPER - do you know if the Lions are moving on to NZ after they have toured Australia ?

cheers

 

[Dipper]

Ms Storm,
Nah I'm not going to any of the Tests (unfortunately) as I'm actually over here in England.(have to get my drinking head on early as the games kick off at 10.30 am over here-LOL)
That's pretty impressive how quickly the Melbourne test sold out, it shows the people down there do appreciate top quality rugby-it's just a shame they couldn't have played it at the 'G'.

BSA,
I'm glad to see that you enjoyed watching the Lions at the very least it should have convinced you that it won't be the cake walk for the Aussies that a lot of people assumed.The 2nd half display was a bit dissappointing & the key to the Lions team is going to be selection-there's still probably about 6 jersey's up for grabs for the 1st Test & I hope the coach Henry (whose one of your mob gets it right).
The Lions won't be going to NZ after this but straight home,it's the shortest Lions trip in history-they used to play about 20 games before professionalism but this tour there are only 6 games outside of the Tests.The fact is that unlike down there our season is so long that the players only get about 6 weeks off in the summer, which in a big impact game like Union just isn't enough.Fear not though the Lions will be going to NZ in 4 years to thump the All Blacks & gain revenge for the 93 defeat!

Cheers

 

[OutKast]

Re: I would LOOOOOOVE to be there...

Originally posted by Ms.Storm
Why can't these games be televised into Victoria. I get so cheesed off with the lack of coverage Victoria gets when it comes to League and Union games.

Ms. Storm you should invest in Foxtel...every Lions tour match has been televised live, and so will their next matches. On Saturday they had All Blacks vs Manu Samoa, followed by the Lions vs Qld, and then South Africa vs France all LIVE. It might be a bit expensive but it's worth it for the live sport alone as far as i'm concerned.

 

[Bloodstained Angel]

yeah DIPPER - the Result from the Queensland game has made alot of Aussies suddenly sit up and take notice. Now a few people are starting to say the Lions could at least take a test off the Wallabies, if not win the series outright.

Queensland fielded 9 current Wallabies on Saturday night and the Lions barely got out of third gear when brushing them aside.

Its a shame they are not touring longer, I remember vividly the great Lions Tours of NZ in 1971, 1977 and 1983 and they were all really epic affairs where the Touring party was 30 players and the lasted for 2 or 3 months at a time. They would play the All Blacks in 4 tests plus a Maori Selection, a Juniors or Universities slection and then all the top provincal sides as well.

Hope you are old enough to recall the 'good old days' when Rugby was amateur and a Lions tour down under was little more than a booze-soaked junket. They were great games though and both New Zealand and the Lions fielded some of the greatest Rugby teams in the history of the game on those tours.

cheers

 

[Dipper]

Well BSA I'm not really old enough-I was born in 1972-but I'm more than aware that these tours were basically drinking trips with some rugby thrown in-LOL.
I rememeber the last one to Australia in '89 which was still amateur & a big drink up for the Lions as well as winning the series.
I think rugby has improved enormously under professionalism with the players much fitter & some really big hits go in now but what I do miss more than anything (perhaps wrongly!) is the all in brawls that every game would throw up- you know if any one of your players took a cheap shot then then both packs would be in straight away to have a big ding-dong & the ref just had to stand there & wait for it all to finsih.In England we still revere Colin Meads for being one of the hardest blokes to play rugby & the rucking that all NZ teams used to dish out was frightening.
Personally for me the All Blacks are the ultimate in rugby & to beat them means more than any other series or international even when the team is relatively weak they're still always one of the top 3 in world rugby.I don't know if you saw that France beat the Sprinboks in SA on Saturday but I would use this as furhter evidence that the gap between northern & southern hemispehere rugby is pretty close as France were appalling in this year's 6 nations tournament, England beat them 48-3 (I think) but in reality it could have been much worse.
I've just finished watching the Lions/Australia A game so I'm gonna do a seperate post on that so I hope you'll have something to contribute to that.

 

[Ms.Storm]

OutKast,
I have Optus, which unfortunately does not cover any of the Lions games in Oz. Originally I got Optus for rugby league and of course soccer/union, etc. so I am really disappointed about it. I am going to make the effort and go and see some of the games at the Sports Bar at the casino if I can.
I hope Ch.7 will cover the other 2 Tests ..I am sure they will.

I really hate living in Victoria because its all AFL ANDas much as I love it too, I want to see other games on FTA TV... The AFL will do other codes no favour it seems!!

WCE2000
What comes first, the chicken or the egg.? This scenario of whether league is popular or not here in Victoria is dictated by the fact that AFL IN some form or other have a say in the televising of other codes here in "Victoria." The AFL DO not want competition from other codes, consequently with exposure, other codes may gain recognition and popularity.
If League is thrust in the early hours of the morning on tv who wants to watch it. ? The more other footy codes are exposed to people, the more people begin to like and follow these codes.
Cheers