No tinkering can deliver Lions backlash

There seems to be a lot of expectancy doing the rounds of a Lion’s backlash against the All Blacks next Saturday in Wellington. A lot of fighting talk from Irish fans consumed with rage over the taking out of Brian O’Driscoll. It’s all going to come to naught though, as the Kiwi’s will probably run rampant over the Lions in dry weather.

The problem for the Lions, is, Clive Woodward. The way he has set up and prepared the team to play is fundamentally wrong. And if the fundamentals are wrong against sides of the calibre of the All Blacks, then cricket scores can be expected.

Changing the personnel in the starting Test 15 for the second test isn’t really going to cut it. It needs to be done all the same, but, the combinations won’t work.

The Lions looked like, were and still are a side that haven’t played the right amount of rugby together in the key positions to turn this Test series around.


Putting the right team out, will surely see an improvement to the tourists game, but, they were so far behind the New Zealanders in terms of basic play last Saturday, that it would be nigh on impossible for them to get within 10 points of the ABs next Saturday. Remember, the ABs are traditionally slow starters when it comes to Test series and they will get better.

Spudnik’s 15: [Two of these I nicked from the Guardian along with the style, but as I couldn’t put it better myself, I’ll decided to go with them]

Full-back
First Test Jason Robinson
Second Test Gareth Thomas

Robinson is out of form. There is a case for picking Geordan Murphy here, but it’s easier to Captain a side from 15 than the wing.


Right wing
First Test Josh Lewsey
Second Test Josh Lewsey

Not a bad performance the first day out, but not his best either. Could be used as an interesting option at outside centre, though that would be too radical for Woodward and maybe too knee-jerk.

Outside centre
First Test Brian O'Driscoll
Second Test Gavin Henson

A risky option as I have Henson to partner Shane Horgan to give the right blend of braun and brain. Woodward won’t risk it and the Irishman could start on the wing with wilko at 12.

Inside centre
First Test Jonny Wilkinson
Second Test Shane Horgan

No complaints about Horgan on this tour. Has adapted to the style and pace without too much bother. Partnering him with Henson is problematic as it’s a new combination and neither is a born leader. Risky, but could be worth it.

Left wing
First Test Gareth Thomas
Second Test Geordan Murphy

Surprised he doesn’t seem to have been considered at all. A Genius with the ball at close quarters, the type of thing you need in New Zealand

Fly-half
First Test Stephen Jones
Second Test Stephen Jones

If Wilkinson's all-round game were in better shape he would undoubtedly be a fixture at No10. Instead Jones should remain at fly-half with Jonny on the bench.

Scrum-half
First Test Dwayne Peel
Second Test Dwayne Peel

Got bullied by Byron Kelleher when he came on and will face him again on Saturday now Kelleher’s been picked. Lacked command and didn’t communicate with hooker or jumpers at lineout time. Still better than Dawson who is unreliable.

Loosehead prop
First Test Gethin Jenkins
Second Test Andrew Sheridan

The Lions need more power in the forwards to tie up the Kiwi backrow.

Hooker
First Test Shane Byrne
Second Test Steve Thompson

Byrne missed two throws and the darts he hit on target had kiwi’s all over them. Not all his fault, but as Thompson will supply the same lineout success rate he’ll get the nod for his all round play.

Tighthead prop
First Test Julian White
Second Test Gethin Jenkins

Moving Jenkins across to the other side of the scrum is one hell of a tough ask but these are desperate times.

Lock
First Test Paul O'Connell
Second Test Paul O'Connell

The next Martin Johnson? He really needs to earn his stripes down under. Will never play the ABs for the Lions again. Needs to show more leadership. Well beaten last Saturday.

Lock
First Test Ben Kay
Second Test Donncha O'Callaghan

Offers much more aggression. Loves to contest the opposition lineout. Will be a major nuisance. Could be the making of him in the big time.

Blindside flanker
First Test Richard Hill
Second Test Simon Easterby

Offers a real good lineout option at the back which would nullify Williams and Jack jumping all over one and two in the lineout. Loves the destructive ground work at the breakdown, but, doesn’t carry well and Woodward will go with Corry here.

Openside flanker
First Test Neil Back
Second Test Neil Back

A lot of calls of Lewis Moody here, but, Back was playing with a pack going backwards last week and had a decent game. If Moody plays here you’d have to go with Easterby at 6 for the balance.

No 8
First Test Martin Corry
Second Test Ryan Jones

What can you say about the Welshman. The only Lion to take this tour by storm. Go on son!

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A gamble on Wilkinson is too much of a risk

So after months of bar room squabble and newspaper column inches, tomorrow will see the end to the great ‘who’ll make the test team’ Lions debate.

For the past six months, pundits and armchair fans alike have had Jonny Wilkinson - albeit with the rider if he was fully fit - playing at outhalf.

Now, with only four days to go to the first test in Christchurch, nearly all of those who previously backed the Englishman to start believe he is the wrong man for the job. Most believe that he is neither match fit or playing anywhere near his best form.

Too muddy the waters even further there is now talk of Wilkinson playing at inside centre with Wales’ Stephen Jones playing at 10. This was prompted by Clive Woodward’s bizarre decision to take Gavin Henson off against Wellington and replace him with Jones and move Wilko into the centre to partner Brian O’Driscoll.

To play an outhalf at inside centre against the All Blacks in their own back yard would be madness. To play an out-of-form ring-rusty one is surely even beyond Woodward’s eccentricities.

Common sense - and no small amount of hope - would suggest that Woodward is himself trying to muddy the waters. Including Wilko in the 22 would not be a bad move if the game was tied or going into the final quarter and you needed a pressure kicker to come on and close out the game. The problem is though, he’s not at his best.

If common sense were to prevail, then Jones would start at 10 and Shane Horgan would be drafted in at 12. Horgan’s inclusion here would at first seem a surprise choice, but, the Bettystown man has partnered O’Driscoll in the midfield for years and quite successfully at that.

If we’re to believe Woodward that those who played against Southland earlier today were to be excluded from selection for the test, then, that only leaves one other proven centre beside Horgan who could partner O’Driscoll, Will Greenwood. Surprise, surprise he’s also out of from also.

The so-called smart money says Woodward will stick with his tried and trusted and play either Wilkinson or Greenwood at centre. The smart money says he’ll ignore the pool of talent that’s open to him and the advice of the Eddie O’Sullivan and Ian McGeechan brain’s trust.

Surely even he can’t be that mad? Surely? Yikes!

Mad Clive’s possible test team: Josh Lewsey (England); Gareth Thomas (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland, capt), Jonny Wilkinson (England), Jason Robinson (England); Stephen Jones (Wales), Dwayne Peel (Wales); Gethin Jenkins (Wales), Shane Byrne (Ireland), Julian White (England), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Ben Kay (England), Richard Hill (England), Neil Back (England), Martin Corry (England). Replacements: Steve Thompson (England), Graham Rowntree (England), Danny Grewcock (England), Ryan Jones (Wales), Matt Dawson (England), Shane Horgan (Ireland), Will Greenwood (England) or Shane Williams (Wales).
Common sense Clive’s possible test team: Josh Lewsey (England); Gareth Thomas (Wales), Brian O'Driscoll (Ireland, capt), Shane Horgan (Ireland), Jason Robinson (England); Stephen Jones (Wales), Dwayne Peel (Wales); Andy Sheridan (England), Shane Byrne (Ireland), Julian White (England), Paul O'Connell (Ireland), Ben Kay (England), Richard Hill (England), Neil Back (England), Ryan Jones (Wales). Replacements: Steve Thompson (England), Gethin Jenkins (Wales), Danny Grewcock (England), Martin Corry (England), Chris Cusiter (Scotland), Jonny Wilkinson (England), Geordan Murphy (Ireland).

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Microsoft helps China to censor bloggers

FROM THE GUARDIAN: Civil liberties groups have condemned an arrangement between Microsoft and Chinese authorities to censor the internet. The American company is helping censors remove "freedom" and "democracy" from the net in China with a software package that prevents bloggers from using these and other politically sensitive words on their websites.

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Flip flop McDowell fumbles cafe-bar ball on Prime Time

Justice Minister Michael McDowell showed on RTE's Prime Time last night just how out of touch he is with reality - and probably how much political pressure he is under - when he refused to admit that he climbed down from his plan to introduce plans for cafe style bars.

He insisted his plans for liberalising alcohol regulations for restaurants instead of introducing cafe-bars had nothing to do with pressure from 40 Fianna Fail - the publicans party – backbenchers. He said the new plans – climb down – were more radical than his original proposals which were aimed at stopping the culture of binge drinking among Ireland's teens and 20-year-olds. Really Minister?

How many teenagers does he think are going to be jumping for joy at the thought of being able to buy a wider range of alcohol products from restaurants. The point he fails to grasp is that teenagers binge drink because they want to get drunk and his original plan for “continental style” cafe-bars was flawed because this would have only really appealed to older adults who wouldn't necessarily want to binge drink anyway.

He said his new plans could mean that a young couple could go to a pizza parlour and be able to have a beer, vodka, brandy or whatever they wanted to drink while there. However, he said that restaurants such as McDonalds would not be allowed to serve alcohol even though they do so on the continent. Wasn't this all supposed to be continental style? Can you smell a McDonalds law suit coming on about being discriminated against?

It's interesting to watch McDowell as he does what the Americans call flip-flopping. It's clear that FF are going to dump the PDs and the Minister is clinging on for political survival.

Memories are long in FF and many won't have forgiven him for climbing up a lamppost at the last general election and announcing that FF couldn't be trusted to be on their own in Government and the country needed him and the PDs to be the watchdog in coalition.

Under pressure from FF and last night from Labour's Brendan Howlin McDowell, somewhat uncharacteristically it must be said, has made a number of gaffs.

While trying to argue that many claims from asylum-seekers are bogus on last nights programme, the Minister haphazardly produced a document from the Department of Justice that showed that one asylum-seeker wanted asylum in Ireland because he was a king in his village in Africa and he didn't want his son to be king after him.

At a stroke, he ridiculed all the claims from people who fear genocide, rape, incarceration and other human rights abuses in their country of origin.

Between garda corruption and showing a lack of political guts to introduce a garda watchdog, flip-flopping over cafe-style bars, Asbo's and his record on asylum, the Minister faces a rocky road to get himself re-elected to the Dail.

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McDowell accused of playing blame game over McBrearty affair

Justice Minister Michael McDowell has been accused of trying to play the blame game by claiming that the McBrearty family should receive an apology not only from the current government but also from the Rainbow Coalition government of the mid-nineties.

McDowell today confirmed the McBrearty’s - whose members were found to have been framed for the murder of cattle dealer Richie Barron by certain gardai in Donegal - "were owed a solemn letter of apology by successive governments including the Rainbow Coalition in the mid-1990s."

In response, Frank Frank McBrearty Jr said: "Mr McDowell is playing the blame game now, blaming everybody except himself. He's trying to blame the Opposition," said Mr Mc Brearty.

Labour leader Pat Rabbitte, a member of the Rainbow Cabinet of the mid-nineties, said evidence to the Morris Tribunal showed that no minister or senior official was properly briefed on these issues until almost two years after the Rainbow had left office and Fianna Fail and the PDs were in government with Mr McDowell as Attorney General.

Mr McDowell has also been accused of trying to stop the setting up of the inquiry into the events in Donegal when he was the Attorney General.

Mr Rabbitte claimed that Opposition parties tried three times to have the tribunal's terms of reference extended in 2001 and 2002 but Government TDs defeated the proposals each time.

"If the minister is really serious about the dirt he is now seeking to throw at Opposition parties, he should welcome an impartial investigation. I therefore invite him, for a fourth time, to widen the tribunal's terms of reference so as to include an investigation of the role of the Department of Justice and of successive Ministers for Justice. "If he does not accept the invitation, then his present charges and threats levelled against the Opposition can be dismissed as worthless bully-boy posturing," said Mr Rabbitte.
Judge Frederick Morris said in last week's second interim report that the garda investigation of Mr Barron's death in 1996 was "prejudiced, tendentious and utterly negligent in the highest degree".

Superintendent Joseph Shelly and Detective Superintendent John McGinley, senior officers who were heavily criticised in the findings, will resign at the end of next month.
McBrearty commented: "That's not good enough. Those two gardai should be sacked. The person who is making them retire - [Garda Commissioner] Noel Conroy - should go along with them."

"I'm calling on the Government to set up an international taskforce to come in and investigate all these cases where false statements of confession were taken over the last 30 years."

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