Score: The Lions 64 - 00 Combined Country
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12:39: Paul Wallace wants Gatland to start Roberts and O'Driscoll again this weekend, ahead of the first test.
12:24: Sunday Times journalist Stephen Jones gave a frank appraisal of Rory Best's throwing.
12:22: Here is the final try of the day with O'Driscoll's sublime kick through.
12:18: TRY LIONS! On the final play of the game O'Driscoll dribbles through a pinpoint grubber kick for Davies to pick up and ground. Halfpenny converts and the Lions win 64-0. Combined Country defended well in the second half but the Lions will be unhappy with their second half.
12:16: None of the substitutes have distinguished themselves really. Although Matt Stevens has, in terms of being particularly subpar.
12:15: The Lions have won the half 19-0 but that won't make Gatland happy. Sloppy handling has been a recurring team of the half.
12:06: Rory Best has lost another few lineouts. That is surely his test chance gone. Meanhwhile, Combined Country have a scrum on the Lions 5m line.
12:02: TRY LIONS! Sean O'Brien blasts over from close range after a 5m scrum. The Combined Country defence was never going to be able to stop the Carlow Cannonball from such close range. Lions lead 57-0. Will need 3 converted tries in the last 13 minutes to cover spread.
12:00: There are some interested spectators in the stand as the Lions look to add to their tally.
11:58: Only two tries for the Lions over 20 minutes into the second half. Gatland will be furious as Faletau and Stevens both make errors when tries were on.
11:53: Here is the great line Halfpenny cut for his try.
11:50: TRY LIONS! Hogg thows a pass to Halfpenny who cuts a perfect line from fullback to go over. Halfpenny hit the line at the perfect time for a nice try. He converts his own try and the Lions lead 50-0.
11:49: Toby Faletau replaces Heaslip who will be unhappy with his day. He didn't play badly but wasn't as dynamic as he has been in other outings. Didn't get much ball in fairness.
11:48: Here is O'Driscoll's try, one of the less flashy scores of the day.
11:45: TRY LIONS! Sean O'Brien takes a quick tap near the CC line and after a few phases the ball goes wide and O'Driscoll is one of three players who could have finished it off. Halfpenny misses his first kick of the tour and the Lions lead 43-0. Alun Wyn Jones, Ryan Grant and Rory Best come on for the Lions.
11:41: Sloppy start to the half for the Lions with 3 knock ons already. They will need to tighten up if they want to cover the 77 point spread.
11:40: This time Will Greenwood says Hogg is "a kid in a sweetshop" followed by Miles Harrison saying "a lot of kids and a lot of sweetshops for the Lions." What the hell is going here?
11:39: Halftime change: Leigh Halfpenny replaces George North but Maitland stays at fullback. Gatland exploring his options before the first test.
11:22: Lions lose a lineout on the 5m line and CC kick it out for halftime. Lions lead 38-0.
11:21: O'Driscoll has been very sharp so far. He finds space in midfield, steps a man and delivers a magnificent offload but CC turn the ball over and clear.
11:16: Here is North's second try. Whatever about the defence, the quick hands were superb.
11:14: TRY LIONS! From a Lions scrum the backline execute a lovely move with Cutbert looping around Roberts. He feeds O'Driscoll and after a brief stopover with Maitland, North is over in the corner. Hogg misses and the Lions lead 38-0.
11:11: Set your excitement levels to 11! Here is Richard Hibbard's 5m maul try. Will Greenwood saying that Roberts will be frustrated thus far after a few knock ons. He's right, Roberts hasn't matched the levels that Tuilagi reached with O'Driscoll last week.
11:08: TRY LIONS! Lions have a 5m lineout and Richard Hibbard mauls over easily. Hogg converts and it's 33-00 to the Lions.
11:05: There is some debate in the office as to whether my North/Cuthbert tip was a good one. I maintain it was excellent and I won't here any dissenting voices on the matter.
11:03: Here is the North try.
10:59: TRY LIONS! CC havd another 5 meter line out but the Lions turn it over and Maitland make a break and streaks out of defence before feeding North for an easy finish. Only 3 more tries between North and Cuthbert for me to nail my tip of the year. Lions lead 26-00 Combined Country.
10:55: Maitland gets charged down and CC have a lineout 5 meters out.
10:54: Here are the first three tries. My fingers are going to be very busy updating I think.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pj2U4RVEg8w&feature=youtu.be
10:53: TRY LIONS! Off the top of the lineout Hogg throws one dummy before sauntering under the posts untouched. Ridiculously easy. Once again, Tipuric is involved. WARBURTON OUT! Hogg hits the post with the conversion. Lions 19-00 Combined Country.
10:50: TRY LIONS! The Lions run it out from deep and Maitland makes good ground. The ball finds itself in Cuthbert hands who takes it up to the line before offloading to Murray. for the try. Lions 14-0 Combined Country. If Cuthbert had held onto the ball my tip would be looking very good. Once again Tipuric looked lively in that move.
10:48: TRY LIONS! Justin Tipuric makes an O'Brien-esque burst. The ball gets recycled wide and O'Driscoll puts Cuthbert over in the corner. Hogg nails the touchline conversion which will settle him down. Lions 7-0 Combined Country.
10:47: According to Miles Harrison, Alex Corbisiero is like "a small kid in a lolly shop". I don't know what to make of this.
10:44: Less than 5 minutes in and we already know that CC have an apprentice plumber on their team. Expect to hear more about the jobs held down by the amateur players until it is beaten into the ground. Lions turned over in CC 22.
10:41: Action starts and the Lions already have a lineout in CC 22. Expect ten imminent tries.
10:40: TIP ALERT: George North and Alex Cuthbert to score 5 tries between them. O'Driscoll and Roberts to get two between them. Put your money down now while you still have a chance.
10:38: Who are you looking forward to seeing the most today? It will be interesting to see how Hogg copes at ten and also if Roberts and O'Driscoll can gel as well as they did in 09. Although they definitely will given the level of opposition.
10:27: The Lions are 77 point favourites against Combined Country and if you look through the teams, they look good value for it. My pick is the Lions by 90 and also for them to score over 100 points. I picked the Lions by 60 against the Force and they won by 52, so while I don't possess oracle like prediction powers I was still pretty close.
10:25: Combined Country: 15 Nathan Trist, 14 Alex Gibbon, 13 Lewie Catt, 12 Tareta-Junior Siakisini, 11 Tom Cox, 10 Angus Roberts, 9 Michael Snowden, 8 Tim Davidson (c), 7 Jarrad Butler, 6 Richard Stanford, 5 Blake Enever, 4 Phoenix Battye, 3 Tim Metcher, 2 Josh Mann-Rae, 1 Haydn Hirsimaki.
Replacements: 16 Tom Kearney, 17 Dylan Evans, 18 Rikki Abraham, 19 Rory Arnold, 20 Trent Dyer, 21 Adam McCormack, 22 Shaun McCarthy, 23 Dale Ahwang.
Lions: 15 Sean Maitland, 14 Alex Cuthbert, 13 Brian O'Driscoll (c), 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 George North, 10 Stuart Hogg, 9 Conor Murray, 8 Jamie Heaslip, 7 Justin Tipuric, 6 Sean O'Brien, 5 Ian Evans, 4 Richie Gray, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Richard Hibbard, 1 Alex Corbisiero.
Replacements: 16 Rory Best, 17 Ryan Grant, 18 Matt Stevens, 19 Alun Wyn Jones, 20 Toby Faletau, 21 Mike Phillips, 22 Jonathan Davies, 23 Leigh Halfpenny.
