Opinion seems to be divided over whether Danny Cipriani should be selected for the British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa this summer.
It’s three weeks until Ian McGeechan names his squad to take on the Springboks, and the Scot has been hailing the fly-half’s recent performance for Wasps – where McGeechan is a coach of course.
Speaking to many knowledgeable people about whether he should travel, roughly half are in favour whilst the other half are certainly not, so what do you think?
Some say he should travel as a fly-half whilst offering cover at full-back, but others argue that with Ronan O’Gara, Stephen Jones, James Hook, Lee Byrne, Rob Kearney and Delon Armitage, there is really no shortage of talent in these two positions.
So answer this poll and let us know what you think.
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I would take him to be honest because he definitely has talent. I’d include him ahead of Delon Armitage probably seeing as Lee Byrne and Rob Kearney are both ahead of him.
Then if Luke Fitzgerald is in the squad, he can also cover 15.
He should go mainly because there is nobody else at 10 one of the lions weakest positions; ‘jones is number one at the moment, closely followed by O’Gara but Cipp or Hook will go as a more attacking option, flood is just a poorer version of hook or O’Gara so te third spot is between Cipp and Hook, Cipp is playing better and he has the arrogants to go ther and think he will win, the lions need that confidence eve if he doesn’t play the test matches.
Give him a couple of midweeks and see what he can do, we need a 10 with speed, it gives more options. I agree Armitage should not go Byrne and Kearney are good players and that is enough.
The Lions will need a miracle something that SA haven’t seen, Cipp could be it, could not; we have nothing to loose.
Cips did himself no favours this weekend with a poor performance vs Newcastle. Still managed a couple of flashes of brilliance (55m drop goal directly from the 22m restart from a failed penalty attempt and one searing turn of pace in a counter attack) but he needs one big MOM performance in the remaining two prem matches to have a hope.
Jones and O’Gara are on the plane . So one more outside half at most , I can’t see Goode making it and Flood is basically “Hook-lite ” .
Looking at a different option to the steady charms of Jones and O’Gara then its down to Hook and Cipriani.
To be fair I haven’t seen enough of Cipriani to comment too much apart from a storming 55 metre drop goal last weekend , his baggage one presumes would be ignored by McGeechan .
Hook had brilliant patches against Gloucester in the EDF the lack of support wasn’t his fault but his game control in the second half was noticeably absent.
Seems like its all to play for so with Wasps out of the play offs and everything else it could hinge on how the Ospreys manage in Munster this weekend .
Anyway I would agree with taking one flair ouside half at least.
They need a few “faces” in the squad to sell the shirts that fund the jaunt.
No one is going to buy a shirt that makes them look like adam jones.
If We are going to take either Hook or Cipp then at the moment Cipp wins, Jones has, like the majority of the Ospreys, been a disaster this seasan and while his teammates have strong performances in the welsh team to help their causes, Hook doesn’t. Cipp can also cover fullback, allowing the lions to only take Byrne and kearney leaving more positions with three spots open. I think we have to take 3 8′s, 9′s and 10′s they are the key positions and ones that the lions are tremendously weak. Powell, Hislop and R, Jones as the 8′s, Blair, Phillips and Peel as the 9′s. At the moment Blair is N1 because he is better than Scotland were, Peel offers a faster service and experience Phillips has the talent but has had a bad year, he will have to play for his place on tour. Jones, O’Gara and Cipp as the 10′s. This will give more options and allow the tour for players to make the positions their own.
The centers are also a problem area with only BOD being an obvious selection and he can get injured, if he does it is all open with nobody having made the positions theirs. Roberts, Shanklin, Fluety, Henson are all on par as far as I’m concerned, so take them all, plus BOD.
The front five looks good with good cover in most positions, Flankers should be croft, Ferries competeing for 6 and Williams and Wallace for 7, if the two young 6′s don’t make an impact wallace can play 6 as well, the back three looks just as comfortable and could be an area where we have the advantage, maybe, but the problem in the midfield is chronic, there is a real lack of class and will probably be our downfall.
For the Lions to stand a chance of winning BOD had to stay injury free and Henson has to turn up, he has the capabilities, Wales attack looked average this year largely because Henson was not there, he is powerful yes but can pick a line, could create all sorts of space for BOD to show his true style. Jones or O’Gara will play 10, neither are line-breakers so we need a creative influence at 12 Henson is the only one with the potential to do this at this level.
NO WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!