You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
You nearly spoke too soon! 😬
Dubtoit was ahead if the kicker in the first place!
Yeah but South Africa.
Ken Owens is awesum.
I loves him. Total throwback as well, the players bar in Murrayfield was full of isotonic ****ers and the sheriff with a pint.
...never...ship...on...bad...ball...
Lawes MOM for me.
Did I ever mention how much I love Lawes
How good has he been? Gets one very long arm on a player and they are down.
YEEEESS!
I’m optimistically going 23-18 Lions
Not a bad prediction 😉
Satisfactory
Both sides will get better
Wolverine lasted the full 80 too, you doubted
Lawes or Itoje for MoM ?
Got to have a shout out to Alun Wyn for playing 80 mins. A real talisman for us.
Daly a weak link though? I’d put Harris in for the next match tbh
He did, ****er is actually a mutant.
Daly did good really, tough job there.
Also to be fair to Jonkers, he was straight.
Man, that was tense. Curry (aside the stupid pen), Itoje, AWJ and Lawes were immense.
Anthony Watson, Daly and Farrell have gotta go.
Superb victory after how they controlled the first half, without actually doing much.
Anthony Watson
Did we watch the same game? Apart from receiving about 2 passes to do anything with, he defended well. Farrel read the game and played well at 10, and 100% kicks at goal… 😉
Daly vs SA is the issue, he gave nothing outside of him.
I have a horrible suspicion Mish may be buying whatever the SA equivalent of Fox's biscuits are...
Did we watch the same game? Apart from receiving about 2 passes to do anything with, he defended well. Farrel read the game and played well at 10
Interesting game innit.
Tell you what though, I was so chuffed and utterly amazed when they brought Elton on. He’s rubbish! Always has been. Incredible that he’s been in the squad so long.
Queue Kryton - “He’s a rugby genius!” 😂
Actually, Watson was ok, just think there are better wingers available
Wasn't a day for wingers...centres...full backs...stand offs...scrum halves.
Who did get MoM?
Also Mako and Sinkler made a big difference, I'm not gonna slate the first front row, I think they had a tougher job.
I think we missed May, he is good in fronty games.
Itoje got MoM
https://www.lionsrugby.com/2021/07/24/pundits-discuss-who-impressed-for-lions-in-first-test-win/
Hogg...average to poor for him
Watson...did well with what he had to do
Daly.....cant decide really, he was targeted and found a little short, Aki and Henshaw may have been better today.
DvDM... Did ok.
Biggar... Did ok
Price...not a great game, no pace and kicks were a bit long but got no protection first half.
Conan...did ok
Curry...was good, daft pen aside.
Lawes...very good second half.
Itoje...immense
AWJ...solid
Furlong...very good in scrums
LCD... Did well, didn't carry enough for me
Sutherland...was outshone by Mako
I thought Price was OK, if you look at the dividends from his kicks they were good. IE lots of confusion amongst SA when they ran them back and often their return kicks just yielded nothing or went into touch.
All of our backs missed lots of tackles.
Interesting that commentators that questioned certain picks have concluded that those picks didn't play well. Price apparently had a mare and played well.
Itoje is a freak!
I have tried to avoid posting this as TJ is not around to defend him, but when Watson first came on he tried to bounce his way through Etzebeth and got completely monstered, picked up and hurled backwards towards the SA jackler's, was quite funny.
To be fair "Mish" did play pretty well apart from the fog/tip. Not many lions didn't get knocked back at some point. AWJ even took a few backwards steps in contact.
To be fair “Mish” did play pretty well apart from the fog/tip.
He was very lucky to not get yellow!! Once he calmed down he was good
AWJ even took a few backwards steps in contact.
He does regularly, he not great at carrying, he is used to reset shit ball mainly, get clattered and then go again.
I'm surprised that refs haven't spotted faf's weird berserker frenzies. He rag dolled himself into one maul in leading with shoulder and definitely not legally.
Curry and Mish should both have seen yellow.
So team for this Saturday then??
Mako
LCD
Furlong OR Sinks
AWJ
Itoje
Lawes
Curry
Conan
Price
Biggar
DVDM
Farrell
I CAN'T DECIDE.
Watson - I want to say LRZ, in attack he is amazing, but I don't know what his defence is like.
Loopy Liam just cos Hogg lost the plot.
Mako wil be chewed up and spat out by that SA front row. Which will paint a weak scrum picture to the ref.
Mako wil be chewed up and spat out by that SA front row. Which will paint a weak scrum picture to the ref.
Like he was Saturday? Hmmm.
They changed the front row at half time, he didn't face the starting line up. The lions starting front row pretty much had the SA sub front row beat (apart from marks he's an animal) whereas they struggled against the SA starters.
The lions starting front row pretty much had the SA sub front row beat (apart from marks he’s an animal) whereas they struggled against the SA starters.
Yeah and when our sub front row came on they hammered the SA sub front row.
Interesting you've not included Henshaw. Thought he was one of our better backs on Sat.
I thought the ref was pretty awful on Sat.. but as the Lions benefited from most of his crapness, we can't really complain eh?! Saw this and agree on most fronts - https://www.rugbypass.com/news/ref-watch-sorry-but-the-first-test-officiating-was-too-inconsistent/
There was also the Itoji penalty, where Boks were right on our line, Faf goes to grab the ball out of the tackle area (ruck wasn't called yet, surprise!) and Itoji gets his hands on it a splt second later and stops him. Penalty Lions for holding on! What, the scrum half isn't allowed to grab the ball? The jackler has more rights?
Found it
.
Interesting you’ve not included Henshaw. Thought he was one of our better backs on Sat.
I haven't not included him, he could have scored if he had both hands on the ball.
Agree about ref, he seemed want to keep the game flowing and made a fair few screw up, maybe he was nervous.
The TMO, kicker in front of the ball call was so marginal, however the forward pass before seemed more obvious to me and he said it wasn't.
I think my concern with SA is that they seem to know how to play the ref better.
They played this kind of chaos infringement thing, both of those disallowed tries were littered with possible infringements, offisde, forward passes knock on's etc, but they cleverly play on through it.
NH players seem to have an honesty which is a fallibility - ie when a player knocks on either him or some/most of the team put the brakes on as they expect the whistle.
I rewound a few calls on sat and you can see the clear difference - both the disallowed tries caught us napping, partly I think because we expected the whistle.
Penalty Lions for holding on! What, the scrum half isn’t allowed to grab the ball? The jackler has more rights?
You mean where he was supporting all his weight whilst kneeling on the SA player?! 🙂
You mean where he was supporting all his weight whilst kneeling on the SA player?!
Yeah, exactly, when he realised he wasn't strong enough to steal the ball from little Faf 😀
he could have scored if he had both hands on the ball
True. But he did still get tackled 🙂
But he did still get tackled
I am not sure if it was a complete tackle, he seemed to be carrying on?
Im torn on Saturday. If the Lions win wrapping up the tour after two matches would be great....but a SA win setting up a decider the following Saturday makes for a much more exciting finale.
I also think SA will come back stronger and win on Saturday anyway.
That's not the sort of excitement I enjoy! I can't enjoy a game if I'm too tense 😆
Faf's try is arguably an accidental obstruction. He takes the ball and drives into his own player who is being tackled by a lion.
Mako is set to start apparently.
I can't see huge changes in the rest of the forwards. There is some talk of Mish instead of Curry, but I thought Curry did well. Was Conan up to scratch? Is FalaTEAU good for it?
Be interesting to see what backs are selected now. Adams will probs get a nod which would be great.
Who knew that they sold such big prams in SA?
Changes; Daly out for either a crash ball centre or Harris. Hopefully Biggar and WJ fit But VP starts; God knows where he pulled that performance out from, but he has the shirt now. Sutherland is a very good scrummager normally but just met somebody he couldn't manage on Saturday, he only makes the bench if WJ is still broken. Would be tempted to start with Owens and bring on LCD second half.I said SA would gas on Saturday and boy did they,lastly we need Biggar fit as well as Farrell and Russell aren't the 10 we want for the game Saturday will be.
Oh; and as an ex ref; a red card to come this week.
2nd test team:
Lions: 15. Stuart Hogg, 14. Anthony Watson, 13. Chris Harris, 12. Robbie Henshaw, 11. Duhan van der Merwe, 10. Dan Biggar, 9. Conor Murray, 1. Mako Vunipola, 2. Luke Cowan-Dickie, 3. Tadhg Furlong, 4. Maro Itoje, 5. Alun Wyn Jones (captain), 6. Courtney Lawes, 7. Tom Curry, 8. Jack Conan.
Replacements: 16. Ken Owens, 17. Rory Sutherland, 18. Kyle Sinckler, 19. Tadhg Beirne, 20. Taulupe Faletau, 21. Ali Price, 22. Owen Farrell, 23. Elliot Daly.
Very tactical bench,bet Faletau will be used out wide in the second half when there is more space. Price as well depending on how Murray goes and a whole new front row at 50 mins as well.
As an aside I have never understood that; a prop at that level has 1.3 tonnes going through them every scrum, so you give then 10 mins at half time to stiffen up then send them out for another couple of scrums...
Quite excited by the bench.
Good that Price is still there, watching back I still think he was effective.
Daly will replace Hogg as soon as he goes wrong?
Also would like to see Faletau hand out some lessons.
Glad Sutherland is still in there too, reading Mako's interview on guradian just now he mentions how he improved by a few tweaks, I am sure Sutherland has all the goods, just needs arranging too, also assuming WJ still bad.
Team announcements on tuesday? At this rate we will have the 3rd test team on friday.
Side note, GB 7's through to Semis. Was a great game.
Will be a problem if curry gets broken, think Liam is a bit unlucky too. Daly at 15 is a worry.
Cant Beirne replace Curry?
I was expecting loopy liam too. However Daly is a decent 15, good catch, maybe not as thrilling as Hogg when he is on form but he is safe.
Cant Beirne replace Curry?
Well he could but he's a 5/6 not a 7, nor is Talupe.
However Daly is a decent 15, good catch, maybe not as thrilling as Hogg when he is on form but he is safe.
Daly, fifteen, safe...not words that should used together!
From his wiki page, it has colour pics so must be accurate:
He primarily plays as a lock, but can also play in the back-row.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tadhg_Beirne
Daly, fifteen, safe…not words that should used together!
He played there for england and was safe, if a bit pedestrian. But he caught, kicked, and defended well, counter attack was dull..
And if you want to talk about his game vs Ireland in the 6N : Everyone has a bad day, we can find days like that for Hogg and Williams, plus Hugo Keenan was better.
He primarily plays as a lock, but can also play in the back-row.
Yes we know that, the point is neither Conan, Faletau or Bierne are are any good as a 7.
Daly is a pretty poor international 15, even England fans think this.
even England fans think this.
I concur 😉
Back up 7 , Lawes it is then. Current form, why not?
Would actually do the smash a fly half bit quite nicely.
Beirne can do the jackally poachy bit.
Actually think Faletau is better bench BR cover than an out and out 7 overall. Could do a decent enough job anywhere. Would like a proper lock though.
If only Johnny may was in the squad.
Back up 7 , Lawes it is then. Current form, why not?
Because he is also a lock playing blindside, I expect Talupe will cover all 3, but he isn't much cop as a 7.
I suspect the Daly over Liam could be due to them being worried about 10, if Faz moves to 10 Daly covers centre which Liam doesn't. As a purely back 3 sub Liam is better imo.
In a case of poor planning, story of my life, this weekend I am bike pacing the King Alfred's Way...maybe we'll find a pub
Ah-ha! 13mins 30s on that vid. I was right! huh
Rassie has lost the plot!! ( Maybe, probably, I ain't actually watched more than 2mins, he's no squidge)
Rassie’s Rant was in no way, in any shape or form, official in his capacity has SA Director of Rugby. It was his own thoughts and not those of SAR. At all, whatsoever.
Pants on fire!
How long until someone send him a short video of 26 SA illegalities?
Australia rugby not impressed.
I'd say that's him pretty much sending in his resignation.
He had some good points, the reffing was terrible - a lot of the problem (like with the disallowed try for the previous knock-on by. colby) is the ref missing clear calls and having to go back to the TMO. Can really understand the Boks frustration with that first test, cos those sort of things don’t usually go our way! but ffs to drone on for over an hour on a video, that’s just pathetic.
Oof
Painfully tight innit!
Goddam video replays to make every decision is making it drag. Although due to the tension, it’s absorbing stuff.
Not quite that bad, but almost.
Good try from SA
I used to enjoy playing in games like this. Lots of tackling - not too much running!!
Failure of tactics today. got drawn into a really slow game. Need to move the Boks about more.
All the TMO stuff slowing the game down helps the Boks as I think the Lions are fitter, but Boks playing in comfort zone both tactically and physically.
Need to do some serious practice taking high ball under pressure.
Going to be tasty next week
Should've started Daly.
Not sure Hogg should start next week to be honest. I would bring in Josh Adam’s for VdM as well.
Sets it up nicely for next week. The calls def went with SA this week but far too many easy penalties given away.
What happened to Liam? I thought he was starting? Is he injured?
That's what razzle was looking for. Put doubt in refs mind of fairness so check everything slows game down.
You could see it at first lineout 1:40 played and twice that to play the lineout.kolbe lucky.
Schinkler the only player cited; what the actual??? De Klerk is the luckiest man alive to avoid his tackle reviewed and apparently landing on your head is OK if you are called Murray.
Erasmus hasn't done the game any favours with the pre-match shenanigans. The Boks would probably have won anyway as the Lions offered so little in attack, but he definitely bought them the overly cautious refereeing and the disruption to the flow of the game their big units need.
Kolbe's offence was more red than yellow, even more so when it looked like a bit of retribution on his part.
De Klerk was very lucky too. You can see him looking around thinking "oh shit" in the immediate aftermath of his head on head 'tackle' of Murray.
It doesn't help that Gatland is also a big fan of referee 'influencing'. See also Steve Hansen. Rugby is less easy to cock up as a spectacle - I.e. the interruptions etc - than football. But it is still very possible.
No one covered themselves in glory in this match. On the field and in the build-up.