"Richie Gray is THE greatest second row in the world" - Stuart Barnes, The Rugby Club, Sky Sports 2, 30/08/12 20:30 GMT
He actually said that. Me thinks that a certain Mr O'Connell, Matfield, Botha and Becker would have something to say about that!
"Richie Gray is THE greatest second row in the world" - Stuart Barnes, The Rugby Club, Sky Sports 2, 30/08/12 20:30 GMT
He actually said that. Me thinks that a certain Mr O'Connell, Matfield, Botha and Becker would have something to say about that!
"The Munster fans are probably the best fans in Europe in any sport" - John Hayes. 26/12/2011 after his last ever match.
Matfield is retired.
Sam Whitelock, IMO, would be the best lock in the world.
Stuart Barnes also thinks that Poite refs the scrum properly so his knowledge of the activities of the front five would not exactly be classed as extensive. And nothing he says should be taken any more seriously than the musings of Alan Partridge to whom he bears a more than passing vocal resemblance.
He was a crap OH and is a crap pundit! He is full of sh!t.
I've seen better centres in a box of Black Magic
Ah come on lads Gray is a class act best lock in the world not yet. 23 yoa 6ft 10inches 21 stone lighting fast the kid is only going to get better.. Lions 2013 No 4 Gray No 5 POC two best locks in the works packing down together......think the aussies will need a few nappies cos me thinks they will be sh**ing themselves!!!
Richie Gray is awesome, nailed on starter for Lions............Himself and Whitelock are the top 2 at the moment hands down!!
Have to give new lad Eben Etzebeth a shout out too, is gonna be a springbok for the next 10yrs no doubt!!
As we were discussing on the Leinster thread the other day (are you lurking Stuart 'Gordon' Barnes?) Richie Gray is very good for his age. Better than a fully fit Paulie, hahaha!! Agree Etzebeth is going to be some player. Closer to home, if T78 is right and Nagle has bulked out over the summer and he enjoys a good run without injury, I can see Ian Nagle coming to the fore this year.
richie gray gets more mentions in here than Larry.
"Lads, your not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died" Frank Leahy
At the risk of veering this thread into a Lions starting XV, while Gray is most certainly a good player, I would not hold him out as the best 2nd row in the world! Lions starter? Possibly. Lets see how Donnacha Ryan and Bradley Davis get on this year aswell as if Paulie and Alun Wyn are on their last legs before we start picking that team!
Point is that, Gray's credentials aside, Barnes is making these sensationalist claims AND THE SEASON HASNT EVEN STARTED YET!!!
"The Munster fans are probably the best fans in Europe in any sport" - John Hayes. 26/12/2011 after his last ever match.
Etzebeth is one scary beast of a man: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZCHFsHlKpooOriginally Posted by Bromance
The power and strength for such a young guy is phenomenal.
I am Flsghujslkuo, and I approved this message.
Wait, so you're telling me that a Sky Sports pundit reckons a recent import to a Sky Sports English team in the Sky Sports licensed English rugby premiership is now, all of a sudden, world class without playing a game for his new side? That sounds about right.
To The Brave and the Faithful, Nothing is Unpublishable.
Parochial nonsense.
THE IRISH WOULD HAVE RULED THE WORLD, IF THEY NEVER INVENTED THE PUB
I was about to reply and then saw this - Joe saved me the trouble, and very well put it was too....but now that I'm here....
These guys always have a vested interest - it's PR, it's spin, it's advertising....it has nothing to do with fact.
Secondly, why is this in the Munster forum? It has nothing to do with Munster - any chance it could be moved to 'Oppostion and other clubs' or similar?
Trust is good; control is better. V I Lenin.
Remember what I told ye about Lions-year Sweatie-hyping?
Vorsprung durch Pfennig.
Elisabeth and Gray are two super young prospects, when you get into the worlds best, world class etc debates its all down to pure opinion and often whether you saw them at their best or worst
David Wallace, James Coughlan - Heroes, Jonathan Davies
Its a Lions year, prepare for the Hyperbole over the marketable fellows from the murdoch empire.
Gray is the one top class Scottish player, for marketing reasons and keeping the Scots interested its very much in the Lions / Skys / Murdochs / Barnes interest that Gray is hyped up to the extent of being seen as an automatic selection.
He was tipped for lions before he joined sale/murdochs league/English pship ...so its a nonsense to state he's been hyped after the fact.
this rubbish stems from the croft/quinlan /cullen saga.
"Lads, your not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died" Frank Leahy
This is a ridiculous thread. It's not as if he said Deven Toner or Chris Wyatt for christ sake, Gray is a force of nature on the rugby pitch, an incredible player.
The preciousness about our top players in this country is embarrassing. When people try to make the pretty well founded points that BOD can hardly run anymore, that ROG can't run/link/break tackles/make them properly, or that POC is about as effective an open field runner as Devin Toner is, its as if its a personal slight against the country.
POC, as i alluded to above, has some blatant enough playing weaknesses that are rarely commented on, primarily that he focuses far too much on carrying the ball when he's not really very effective at it, and tends to kill/slow down good attacking moves. Its rarely commented on because he always such a major player for Munster and Ireland that his other attributes make up for it. But when talking about the 'best lock in the world' you have to recognise the weaknesses in his game.
Seeing as a Ryan/POC partnership now looks like being the settled one, i'd much prefer POC to become more of a Brad Thorn type of lock and concentrate on ruck work, and leave the more dynamic and skilful Ryan focus on carrying. He would be of much more benefit to the team in that role.
"There are probably more annoying things than being hectored about African development by a wealthy Irish rock star in a cowboy hat, but I can't think of one at the moment"
Paul Theroux
No. It stems from the experience of the exact same hype for Scott Murray in 2001, Cusiter in 2005, Blair in 2009, and watching them all utterly fail to live up to that hype.
Vorsprung durch Pfennig.
Gray is very talented, no doubt about that. He has yet to reach POC's level though.
The Munster gameplan of giving the ball to POC made POC's ball carrying look bad because it was so predictable. What player is going to make ground off slow ball against 3 defenders? Lets see how his ball carrying is this season.
Would Miller fit into that bracket or was it the tour that ruined him?
Miller is a perfect example of the opposite to hyped - a bolter who came through on the tour to deliver.
Vorsprung durch Pfennig.
again nonsense....he is none of those players...he will be there on merit himself regardless where he is from....a number of scots will go but he will be first Scots name.in lions squad....
3/4 of the squad will pick itself ...there will always be conjecture on who makes up final 25% regardless of who where they are from.....picking out Scots from previous tours who didn't perform is as easy as picking out English Irish and Welsh who fits same bill....
but no its easier to say sky ramp up the reputation of Scots in a lions season....
"Lads, your not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died" Frank Leahy
And what happened afterwards?
Because it's true. As it is of English players, by the way. Murray and Vickery ahead of the Bull and Adam Jones; proven folly. MiniMears: ditto. Blair. And that's ever before we get to the 2005 debacle. Sky Spurts hype is a blight on Lions selection.
As for Fatty Barnes, the only second row he understands is the one above the till with the sticky, 25%+ drinks.
Vorsprung durch Pfennig.
Bad luck, with no connection with that tour (that, plus getting sent off for kicking Axel in the nuts). Still went to the 1999 and 2003 RWCs. Jesus, Jeremy Davidson finally crocked himself slipping while fishing: are you going to claim it was a Lions-inspired muddy patch?
Vorsprung durch Pfennig.
so sky sports are hyping up who? specific players or the players who you think shouldn't go? makes no sense
criticise marginal players who are picked who don't perform is fair ...but aligning it with sky sports is folly imo...
more Welsh and Irish have gone in last few series than has had in long time... wheres the sky sports English pship biase there?
"Lads, your not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died" Frank Leahy
Sounds obvious to me!?!
The original point here is whether or not Richie Gray is "world class". I would define World Class as follows: there's a best in the world exhibition match where two teams are squaring off featuring a selection of the best players in the world - if you start for either of these teams then you're World Class. Is Ritchie Gray one of the four starting locks if the game was played tomorrow. If the answer is "no" then he's not world class, let alone "the greatest lock in the world" as stated in the OP.
Is he a good player? Certainly. Will he tour with the Lions? Probably. Is he the best lock on the planet right now? No. That doesn't mean he won't be at some point.
Last edited by joeriddick; 1st-September-2012 at 18:58.
To The Brave and the Faithful, Nothing is Unpublishable.
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