New Zealand v British & Irish Lions (3rd Test)

Saturday, 19:35 NZT / 08:35 BST

If Warren Gatland was bold with his selection ahead of the second Test, then Steve Hansen has met him head on for the decider at Eden Park.
The All Blacks coach's hand has been forced slightly, due to Sonny Bill Williams' four-week ban and Waisake Naholo's concussion, but in handing first international starts to both Jordie Barrett and Ngani Laumape he has shown his confidence as New Zealand attempt to seal the series at a ground where they have not lost since 1994.
The All Blacks boast three changes to the side that lost in Wellington. Jordie Barrett and Laumape come in for Naholo, who has failed to recover from concussion, and the suspended Williams. The other change sees Julian Savea replace Rieko Ioane on the left wing, with the latter dropping out of the 23-man squad altogether.
Malakai Fekitoa, who was omitted from the original squad, is included on the bench for the third Test.
Lions coach Gatland has named a completely unchanged 23, meaning that Mako Vunipola keeps his place in the front-row.
Courtney Lawes must be happy with a place on the bench as Alun Wyn Jones becomes the first man in the professional era to win nine consecutive Test caps for the tourists.

All Blacks:
J. Barrett, Dagg, Lienert-Brown, Laumape, J. Savea, B. Barrett, A. Smith;
Moody, Taylor, Franks, Retallick, Whitelock, Kaino, Cane, Read (capt).
Replacements: Harris, Crockett, Faumuina, S. Barrett, A. Savea, Perenara, Cruden, Fekitoa.

Lions:
Williams, Watson, Davies, Farrell, Daly, Sexton, Murray;
Vunipola, George, Furlong, Itoje, Jones, Warburton (capt), O'Brien, Faletau.
Replacements: Owens, McGrath, Sinckler, Lawes, Stander, Webb, Te'o, Nowell.

my thoughts ........

the conditions will be a lot better than last Saturday when they must have influenced Hansen to keep a full pack when Sonny Williams was red carded.
The Lions wings Daly and Watson have played well in attack though suspicions about their ability to face a rampaging All Blacks exist.
Sexton and Farrell are a little limited in attack in fine conditions and both kick too often.
If Sexton is as poor as earlier on the tour perhaps Farrell will move to 10 with Te'o coming in at centre.
Jonathon Davies has been outstanding as has Te'o.
Sinckler and Standen have shown up well while no place has been found for Leigh Halfpenny who was the outstanding Lions player when Australia were the opponents in 2013

Liam Williams has been struggling with an injury in training but has shown up well previously.

a different game in the conditions seems likely. I fancy over 4.5 tries at 1/1.
The driving maul always a good option for the Lions if that get the chance so gone Jamie George first Lions try @ 12/1

Morning Northanlite,I agree.I've already had that Try bet along with AB's to score more than 29.5pts.

GL lads !!

Hard to argue with the match prices.

No bet at the moment.

he'll get another dozen attempts

holy sh1t BB is at it again. That is so poor!!!

All Blacks getting the usual help from the French referee.

Jul 8, 2017 -- 8:40AM, Autocue wrote:

All Blacks getting the usual help from the French referee.

All Blacks were seriously unhappy about another French ref.

2 big mistakes by ref so far... not that I'm biased.

Farrell has been shocking all tour

well executed kick there

Farrell is clearly beyond criticism on Sky. They must be scared of his Dad

POOR DEFENCE BY DALY

Farrell

kiwi handling errors determined to keep this game tight
could've should've already been GSM

Kiwi errors keeping the Lions in this, I make that 3 good chances squandered. Not good for my wager

amazing the lions are still in this

well in it courtesy of the ABs

less in it now

wtf were watson & williams doing at that try??? answer: not much.

Jul 8, 2017 -- 9:08AM, northanlite wrote:

Kiwi errors keeping the Lions in this, I make that 3 good chances squandered. Not good for my wager

Too true score should be 30 odd.This game - the standard of handling and kicking is abyssmal. Errorfest

"Farrell keeping the Lions in it" 

superb kick

12-09, how???

and another chance goes begging

bowden bartett the lions best player

commentators trying to make out its an amazing game. Its been awful with so many errors.

card coming? what colour?

unfortunately only yellow
c*nt knew exactly what he was doing

ref says "no speed & no force" having watched in slo-mo???
enough force for AWJ to have to leave the field

tw ats

have to capitalise on the sin bin
ABs play better a man down

How was that a forward pass?????

Useless French bastard of a referee.

f*cked up again

ave it..kicking really well boys..vamos

LIONS FORWARDS OUTSTANDING

farrell has kicked very well, the rest of his game has been very sketchy tho

GTFI..brilliant clutch kicking

ffs

so cruel

reprieve..vive l'entente cordiale

wow ref changes mind shocker.

whoa..Lions done well to snatch the draw
ABs will have some self recriminating
awesome clutch pen kicking..respect

feels like an anti climax tbh

Am on at 30 for the draw

think Lions may have nicked it if kiwis were allowed to play with 16 men

Nice result for anyone on draw, frustrating for supporters of either side. I had no money riding on the game but in the end it was a relief for Lions fans to draw. Farrell awesome kicking but they never quite managed to threaten the try line. Last week it was 2-0 to Lions in tries, this week 2-0 to NZ.

Listening on radio. The ref deffo said pen after Tv review then seemed to change his mind. Weird .

Listening on radio. The ref deffo said pen after Tv review then seemed to change his mind. Weird .

seems a bit wrong that the ref asked to see a replay about the challenge in the air by Read then ends up ruling
on the offside incident which under current laws he could not have asked to be reviewed

Farcical finish to what's been an outstanding series. In the end there wasn't a lot between the two teams. ABs fielding a very depleted backline by game 3 but they had plenty of chances to wrap that game up but just not good enough.

BB probably would have missed that shot at the end anyway

Won't be losing my Phobia of French referees any time soon. Two of the biggest games in years and somehow all the chat is about the refs.


On more important matters my son's team won 37-19.

SOB and Jonathon Davies my best for the Lions.

fair shout for best players but I don't think anyone really stood out from either side.
If Barrett could kick like Farrell and Farrell could play like Barrett you would have the
perfect 10.

Farrell was bloody awful yesterday, kicking aside, so I'm forced to eat my words. Sexton is some tough bugger isn't he,  he takes it up himself a little too often for my liking

Faletau and Itoje were the other Lions stand-outs. Anthony Watson too actually. How many times did he get us out of trouble after a neatly placed kick into the corner this series?

Had another look at the closing stages of the game otherwise known as Poites' slow descent into madness. What I hadn't noticed at first with the off side penalty was that there was no advantage played. ALB I think it was scooped up the ball and had one to beat to get to the tryline when the ref blows his whistle. Very poor.

Apart from goal kicking, Farrell was mostly poor.

I don't rate him much. He is a world class KNOB Head. The difference in goal kicking between him and BB proved absolutely crucial in this series though.

Jul 9, 2017 -- 11:03AM, The_KAMIKAZEE_DRINKING_MACHINE wrote:

Had another look at the closing stages of the game otherwise known as Poites' slow descent into madness. What I hadn't noticed at first with the off side penalty was that there was no advantage played. ALB I think it was scooped up the ball and had one to beat to get to the tryline when the ref blows his whistle. Very poor.

Poite was terrified of getting in a Joubert situation so exploited the big grey area in the TMO protocols.
He asked for the challenge in the air to be reviewed but wasn't really interested in that. In general I'm
all for getting to the right conclusion by any means although of course it is debatable as to whether he did.

I agree 100%. Poite didn't want to decide the match by a penalty to the ABs. Earlier strictness on scrums just went out the window in the last five. Ironically by not giving a penalty he has concentrated attention on the decision x1000 than if he had given a fairly obvious penalty.