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This week covers Australia, planning and a curious coaching situation.

All of the latest news surrounding the British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.
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Comments
lyndonmac says...
Poor John doesn't seem to have too many friends! Never met the man myself but I always liked his style --- gave his all for Waikato,was a very good foundation coach for the Western Force, and but for that ridiculous pass by Carlos Spencer to Stirling Mortlock in the Sydney semi-final, he might have been a World Cup hero instead of a zero.
Reckon it may be a fine line between being a hard task-master and letting the inmates run the asylum ---- player-power never sat well for me, nothing worse than bigheads putting themselves ahead of team unity. I feel sorry for all concerned with the Lions --- the political situation over S.A.'s fifth super team seems very, very messy indeed.
Posted 11:42 25th June 2012
BackingBlackNZ says...
I suspect John Mitchell has a similar coaching approach to Laurie Mains - Laurie Mains would often work a team very hard till they were in peak physical condition, and that superior fitness in itself was often enough to carry teams that he coached that were average (in terms of talent) to victory.
Of course, not many players in this modern era are receptive to being worked to their limits, even when it gets good results for their team.
Posted 00:04 25th June 2012
Kiwikev says...
@ melkdave
Gavin Henson? Seriously, have you paid any attention to what he done the last two time that he tried to play first class football? He has spent more time off the pitch than on it in the last three years. GH is more interested in being a reality tv star than a serious rugby player...
Posted 01:00 24th June 2012
three6three6 says...
Let us all hope that this may be amicably resolved.... JM is a much better coach than the results this year would suggest. But the situation can not have been helped with the announcement from SARFU that the lowest placed SA team in Super Rugby would be replaced.
Posted 03:44 23rd June 2012
isthatrightref says...
@ Sasquatch... winning, perhaps?
Posted 00:36 23rd June 2012
JayStarr says...
I think they should combine the Lions and the Bulls and call them the Lulls...
Posted 22:36 22nd June 2012
Sasquatch says...
I'd like to know what the "unreasonable demands" are?
Posted 16:31 22nd June 2012
hellovanite says...
What ruggaluva said!
Posted 14:21 22nd June 2012
melkdave says...
Got to feel for the Lions players and staff,after a very good Currie cup,SARU really took all the momentum ,and hope out of the franchise with its Kings pronouncement imho.I personnally feel they where on the verge of improving in the S15 ,and maybe hanging onto their best players for once,and maybe even getting some NH players down to bolster the squad.Gavin Henson would be one example of a class player who could maybe have sparked them.Now their futures are unclear ,and the will to really fight in every game ,maybe just isnt there.Given that JMs demands for improvment ect would eventually rankle ,and blow up ,as its so much easier to blame the coach ,rather than look at your own short commings .I do hope they can survie ,even if its just part of a reborn CATS franchise from a merger with the cheetahs.In my opinion still the best option for both franchises to get improvement and start to challange in the S15
Posted 13:43 22nd June 2012
startledwombat says...
These cracks took longer to appear than I thought.
Posted 12:27 22nd June 2012
ruggaluva says...
Can the Lions.... let them assimilate into the Bulls franchise and the Bulls can play home matches in any of the stadiums in the Gauteng area.
Posted 10:53 22nd June 2012