ok - the bastard football has twisted the knife one last time for this season...

time to relax and anticipate a Lions Tour!

fully welsh 1st XV, anyone? if not fully - then pretty much mostly!

Struggling to see why Ulster's Rory Best was left out

The Lions teams are usually less than the sum of their parts. Hard to see why things will be different this time particularly with some of the strange selection decisions Gatland has made.

Just throwing it out there.

If one team finishes above another in the 6 Nations why have they less players picked for the Lions, than a nation that they beat and finished below them?

Picking on reputation rather than form is going to cost Gatland. I will try to muster some sympathy. [/chippy]

I was under whelmed when I first found out about the squad.

The obvious ones are Matt Stevens, Rory Best and Sam Warburton.

Dylan Hartley in front of me is a total wtf? Best would be the number 1 hooker, although he is currently off form. Hartley is a walking yellow and thinks that he is far better than what he actually is.

Matt Stevens was coming along great prior to getting busted for drugs. He is a strange selection in that he was omitted from the England squad. In his favour though is that he will hold his own against the Australian scrum, very good at rucking and carries the ball very well.

Sam Warburton, out of form and wasn’t the Wales captain. A strange one this and the one probably been most discussed in most rugby clubs. Whilst being away I have been fortunate to be in the presence of Sir Ian McGeechan during a questions and answers session hosted by John Bentley. Geech basically said that a Lions tour is like no other and the team can evolve in a totally different way that the coach expects and due to this the coach and captain have got to have total respect for each other and be completely honest with each other, hence Warburton being the captain.

Gatland has picked a side that he believes will intimidate the Wallabies and be very succesfull at getting over the gain line, the squad is full of big men. Expect crash ball and the specific targeting of Aussies. The Lions can pick a 15 of very good ball carriers.

What does worry me though is the lack of out and out pace. Nobody can throw the ball around like Australia and that lack of pace at line breaks and out wide might just hurt us.

Australia have hit very good form, last year I would have said 3-0, now I think we will win 2-1. The first test is crucial.

I don't know, jaffka, I suspect that you are overrating the Wallabies. At the moment I'm relying on local press reports as I haven't seen a game for ages. Ne'er the less I agree that they have improved (a little) but am not convinced that they have as yet found a proper combination. One of their weaknesses was in the scrums where they didn't seem to be able to counteract the opposition and were continually being penalised for collapsing. The other weakness in my eyes was that they were not throwing the ball around. That wonderful fluidity of yesteryear seemed to have flowed away with the players' sweat.

Undoubtedly they will try very hard but I doubt very much that they'll succeed. 2-1 to the Lions, as you suggested, or, more likely, a 3-0 result.

From reading today Deans has said he has no feud with Cooper. He and Genia are a wonderful half back pairing.

Your front row is a problem but that is nothing new as they have been at best average since at least 2007.

You need to remember that the lions are a scratch side and nobody knows if they will gel and if the supposed key players will perform.

My apathy comes from the fact that the welsh dominate the squad but they are piss poor against Southern Hemisphere teams and also have a reputation of being poor travellers.

Your pessimism knows no bounds, jaffka! Every national side is a 'scratch' team. As far as the Welsh are concerned I wouldn't be particularly worried - they did win the six-nations didn't they? That's got to indicate some sort of consistency, surely?

At the moment the Lions are enjoying a break in Noosa (Queensland) away from the hustle and bustle of the cities. I'm sure they'll be fine.

Wales did win the six nations, they demolished England in the second half in the deciding match. It doesn't hide the fact that Wales record against Southern Hemisphere top tier sides is poor.

Not quite sure about your reasoning on scratch teams as the lions are made up from the four home unions and not just one country like Australia. I would be very surprised if you did not know that.

History is also against the lions having only won three series in the last ten. Two against South Africa including the great invincibles in 1974 and the famous '99' call and against Australia.

What ever happens it will be a great series and in I am really looking forward to it.

No, jaffka, you misunderstand my meaning regarding 'scratch' teams. Invariably national teams (or in the current case The Lions) are drawn from players who, whether they play for teams in their home country or not, mostly play for different teams at the club level. OK, not all of them but certainly many of them. This means simply that many of the players could have played against each other in local competitions and, in your case, the six-nations, but have never played with their now fellow team mates. It must be something of an headache for the selectors and then the coach in forming a cohesive unit from the personnel he his given.

Are you saying that the Australia team which is drawn from a 30 man pre-selected squad who all share one trait... being Australian, will have the same amount of familiarity and cohesion from a touring side that is formed every 4 years and is made up from four different unions?

We might have to agree to disagree, jaffka. I think that I can see your point of view but I don't think it's valid. Unlike the British and N.I. Lions the Wallabies do play as a team far more often and on a sort-of regular basis. However, the change of personnel (form/injuries/illness/retirements) is quite rapid resulting in the selectors and coaches having to reconstruct the team and its combinations on a regular basis. Basically the Wallaby players are drawn from five teams - those that play in the SANZAR Super 15 competition. The same applies to N.Z. and S.Africa.

I will grant you that it's probably true that the Wallaby camp has a slight advantage in that certain players might well have played together in international games more often than the crew of the good ship Lions. How much an advantage that is I'm not sure as I am also sure that many Lions players have also played together in their own national teams. The Lions have four country international teams from which to choose, each of them well versed in the game, whilst the Wallabies have five club teams.

Let's leave it there, jaffka, and settle back to enjoy the series.

Shame you feel like that Dujon as I am quite enjoying our chat.

Your point of view is quite common within the southern hemisphere and one which I have encountered numerous times, at least you understand what I am trying to get across. There is no other side in international rugby like the British and Irish Lions.

Sorry, jaffka, my brain plays up from time to time. The British and Irish Lions. Fixed.

No other side like the Lions? I've always thought of the Barbarians as a motley crew.

Really looking forward to this now, with the football season ending its great we have this coming up.

Quite interesting that you mention the Baa-Baa's who are a club, who invite their players to represent them providing, they can play rugby to a decent standard and behave themselves on and off the field. I remember seeing Phil Waugh get sinbinned against England.

Also when wearing that famous black and white hooped jersey players 'enjoy the camaraderie of the game and play attacking, adventurous rugby without the pressure of having to win. '

So nothing like the Lions really.

*Dons Australian cork-adorned hat for a moment*

Pshaw! "nothing like the Lions really"? If your quote from the Barbarian code of conduct paused at "game" and restarted at "without" then I'd say you'd be correct.

*Removes Australian cork-adorned hat*

I don't know what's going on in the Wallaby camp at the moment, jaffka, but if all the gumpf one reads in the press is true (which I doubt) it's a hive of intrigue filled with Machiavellian individuals and the odd Cassius or two.

Quade Cooper not in the squad

A further 6 to be named though...he will be in. Although due to joining the training camp late I dont think he will feature in the first game.

An Aussie made me laugh by giving Folau the nickname tampon...one week in three weeks out

George Smith is a big loss.

The premliminary 25:
Ben Alexander, Berrick Barnes, Nick Cummins, Dave Dennis, Saia Fainga'a, Israel Folau, Will Genia, Liam Gill, Scott Higginbotham, Michael Hooper, Rob Horne, James Horwill, Digby Ioane, Sekope Kepu, Christian Lealiifano, Stephen Moore, Ben Mowen, James O'Connor, Wycliff Palu, Benn Robinson, Rob Simmons, James Slipper, Sitaleki Timani, Joe Tomane.

Maybe Dujon you could give us the run down on the squad.

Probably best to look at the official web site: http://www.rugby.com.au/wallabies/TheTe ... files.aspx

There is more information there that I could possibly post here - and most of it I wouldn't know anyway.

Any reason why Quade Cooper has been left out ?