And so to the second Test of the series, with the Lions in pole position at 1-0 up, having won both the rugby and reffing in round one. Rassie’s upped the ante this week and lurched uncontrollably into orbit, giving the tourists the moral high ground too. Is Rassie trying a Mourinho by taking all the focus off the players and onto his mighty shoulders, or has he simply blown a fuse and doesn’t know how to stop? I have no idea, haven’t watched the interviews and don’t really care for social media, evil that it is, he writes for a blog. To the rugby.
Wags is clearly expecting the Boks to not only throw the kitchen sink at his side this week, but possibly also the bath (whether or not there’s water or a baby in it), the TV (not ones looted in Durban) and the canape tray emptied in a single mouthful by Frans Malherbe. He’s beefed up his pack with Mako Vunipola starting, and Faletau on the bench, to the surprise of some although he’ll know what his Welsh blokes can do against the Boks better than anyone. In the backs, Connor Murray is there is to out box-kick the Boks and give McDuhan and Co lots to chase, whilst Harris is in to provide more steel in the midfield. It’s a side picked to keep parity early and ease away later.
The Boks have gone for a couple of changes too, with Ox Nche out injured, but surprisingly starting with Malherbe who looked anything but the cornerstone of the scrum last week. Looked a bit more like a Krispy Kreme donut to be honest. So the ‘Bomb Squad’ props start the match, Jasper Wiese comes in at number 8 to add more ballast to the scrum and aerial power for the restarts where Kwagga Smith was found wanting last week, as well as grunt going forward. It’s not a mobile pack by any stretch, but one designed for a single purpose: Searching, seek and destroy! With Metallica’s backing, what could go wrong?
The bench offers more mobility with Smith now on the pine and Marco van Staden in for the overhyped Elstadt and includes Big Trev, who looked good last week, Vincent Koch who knows his stuff and Marx, still a great poacher, defender and ballcarrier. The starting backs remain the same, with the only change being Elton Jantjies out of the 23 in favour of the extra forward. Willemse thus covers everything outside of 9 off the pine.
Gatland has picked a side to combat this, whilst Nienaber has picked a side to combat Gats’ combat and do what the Boks did well in the first 40 last week, but for longer this week or to get even further ahead in the first 40. It’s Combat Rock, kids! You’ll have to Know your Rights, or go Straight to Hell.
Simple plan. But there is still a disjointed feeling about the Boks. The blocks (and Boks) are not quite in place, the kicking game is metronomic, predictable and limited and requires absolute accuracy to be effective over 80 minutes. There was no real dominance up front last week and as the match wore on, the Boks were on the back foot. Having picked a pack to pulverise as his opening gambit, it’s highly unlikely Kolbe and Mapimpi will see any ball down the line in the first half at least. Hell, de Allende and Am will be lucky to see anything other than turnover ball or kick returns. So, who’ll win? If the Boks get that first half ascendancy and a big enough lead, or are able to use a more mobile pack in the second half to stop the Lions getting good momentum, they can turn the tables and sneak a tight win of their own this week. If The Lions start better than last week and have parity or thereabouts at the change – or even lead the match – they’ll be difficult to stop and will seal the series. Either way, one set of players will be heroes come tomorrow evening, keeping the series alive or winning it with two from two. Sadly, I think it’ll be the Lions by about 4 points and series over.
Lyrics by Deebee7
Onna telly this week
Saturday 31st July
| South Africa v B&I Lions | 17:00 | Sky Sports Main Event |
Ovally Balls 
Rugby is going to start losing fans by the bucket load if it doesn’t sort itself out soon. The laws are a mess, it’s almost impossible to referee fairly, it’s entirely possible for a referee’s bias (not necessarily conscious/deliberate) to influence the result and the players and coaches are acting more and more like shithouses on and off the pitch.
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………..and yet – one can watch league games (or Heini) that are terrific, in attitude, attacking intent and skills, so why the difference?
Of course – it’s the Boks!
p.s. sorry, Deebs
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Wow. Enjoying a few days on the West Normandy coast, I missed the BIL game (probably would’ve missed it deliberately after the dreadful first leg anyway) but it seems to have been worse than I expected. Not a good sign when two talented teams produce 2 poor games in a row.
With the BIL, the explanation is rather simple: Gatland is an arse and regardless of the talent at his disposal, the teams he coached were all boring to death. SA may have the excuse of being rusty but the lack of ambition from both sides is stunning.
Why play at all if you don’t… er… play? As in a… game… where fun and risk should take a huge part?
If all that matters is the score board, count me out.
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So, in summary, the only way to save rugby is for the Lions to win in gloriously free flowing style on this coming Saturday, for the boks to realise the error of their box-kicking and boshing ways, come off the ‘roids and use their pacy backs a bit more, get Faf off whatever rage inducing substances he’s on and for rassie to get a boot up the hole.
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something about Gatland too.
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TBH this tour has left me lacking in whelm. I was looking forward to it but between the runouts by weakened provinical sides, nationalistic fan (and pundit) snarking on various players, ill tempered tests, coach wankery and lack of actual rugby breaking out I can barely bring myself to cough up more cash to see the final test. I probably will but in more hope than expectation of enjoyment.
found the Oz-France tests far better.
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@chimpie
Well….Finn Russell (and Marcus Smith) are in the squad for a reason, and that reason is not to play at 10 like Faz or Biggar. I have a theory that there has been a plan B in Gatland’s back pocket all along that would be unleashed if the Lions got to the 3rd Test at least level to take the Boks by surprise. It wouldn’t surprise me if Finn, Faz, and Aki all come in.
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We’ll see. It would be great if that happened but I think Gatland’s track record as a pretty conservative coach (albeit very successful) is more likely to point to more of the same. I do feel he got the approach all wrong at the weekend and don’t think trying to do more of it is going to work next weekend.
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Two good defences against each other that’s what this series is about.
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Second-raters vs second-stringers
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Pfft
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This series will be remembered for all the wrong reasons (probably rightly so), but the context doesn’t seem to come into the equation anywhere. Both sides have been in biobubbles for weeks now, the Lions uncertain of who they’re playing against, the Boks with lack of game time and uncertainty of players through Covid and fire pit accidents. South Africa as a country is in a desperate state, probably the worst since the end of apartheid and all of this has to feed into the players and coaches minds and mental wellbeing. We applaud Simone Biles, Naomi Osaka and Ben Stokes for openly talking about the pressures of top level sports, but don’t seem to look at this tour in that context.
Any Lions tour is a massive occasion, hugely anticipated and when the Lions were here in 2009, it was absolutely festive too, with the Red Army in fine fettle wherever they went. This has been empty stadia, no mixing with fans, soulless, even and I think that’s playing itself out too. Should the tour have taken place? Probably not. Should Lions tours remain a fixture? Absolutely definitely.
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If Sinckler is banned, who is the back-up tight-head?
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Whatever Gats does, he should keep LC-D at 2; he has personified the go-forward/optimistic attitude that the squad requires.
And on that note – what has happened to George?
“What happens on Tour stays on Tour” may be so, but I bet there are some grand stories to be had after this one!
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Back up TH is Z-fags. Who hasn’t exactly set the tour alight
Liquid crystal display hasn’t done too much wrong (couple of errant lineouts aside) and puts himself about well. Owens, like the other replacements didn’t have a great time last weekend.
Hooker not necessarily an issue that needs solving. Half back combination more of a priority, maybe a bit of refreshment of a position or two in the second / back row. Back 3 had a torrid time but there’s a limit to what a back 3 player can do when the only time you see the ball is a hurtling bomb accompanied by a face full of rampaging boks.
Question is how to get around this bok defence & bomb barrage and do something constructive with the pill, which is a difficult job. Time for Gatland & co to earn their corn.
Will be interesting to see who they put out, we may yet be hailing some form of tactical genius next week.
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Canada wimins knock out the USA fitba team for the first time in 20 years. Wholesome stuff, especially hearing Megan Rapinoe whine about it.
I find her really grating.
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I forgot Fagerson – which is telling
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vd Merwe didn’t look great dealing with kicks when the Boks weren’t too close to him either. And Watson’s positing has been suss as well.
But then the Lions won the first test thanks to winning the aerial battle.
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Jamie George locked in a hotel room with room service is a lot of recipes for disaster.
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Deebs, I agree with you about the added Covid-era pressures on the players. It must be really tough for the players.
This tour and the Australian tour in 2013 also show how tough it is for provincial sides denuded of their best players to compete with the Lions.
One other thing, 2009 was a pretty bitterly fought media battle as well with some rough stuff on the field. 2017 was horrible in the media coverage. And 2005 even saw Clive Woodward do a Rassie in the pre-social media era:
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2005/jun/27/lions2005.rugbyunion
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It was in the Fat Duck that I first noticed it, around the turn of the millennium,” says Jay Rayner, the Observer’s restaurant critic. “There was a handmade goat’s milk butter with a pronounced cheesy edge to it. Then, in 2006, Stephen Harris at The Sportsman in Kent showed how he churned butter from local milk and flavoured it with salt he made by boiling the seawater from the nearby shore.
First they came for the scotch eggs, and I did not speak out…
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Deebs, sorry if I was a bit rude about your guys, had a couple of beers, watched a bit of the game and couldn’t bear to watch any more. Always like a second viewing of big games to pick up what I missed live, but Saturday was just too dreadful. I go along with Tichts comments yesterday about Faf, for example. he is a right niggly pain in the ass, and I always love watching him, except when he is playing against “my “team. Same for a lot of the others, Etzebeth, Mostert, particularly. Le Roux I have never seen angry like that, he consistently went for Hogg, and it takes two to tango, but Hogg isn’t that way either, they both normally play with smiles on their faces. Willie particularly has had the air of someone who thinks he is really lucky to be there, and is determined to enjoy every minute on a rugby pitch. Just not on Saturday.. I thought Mapimpi was MoM, I also thought that the Boks were overhyped, and in the old days it would have been a bloodbath.
If it makes you feel better I will apologise to your players on the condition that I am allowed to call Rassie a total prick and blame him for the nastiness, much as I will blame Gatland for the dreadful lack of ambition shown by the BIL.
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Hmmm, occasionally used to have a pint in the Sportsman, before and after it went gastro. That is a particularly nasty bit of seawater there, bearing in mind its not only the English Channel, but also just tucked under the Isle of Sheppey, and all the strange currents wash all the detritus along there, thats why Whitstable had good oyster beds, after all. Only ever had beer and chips there , they were nice, if the size of small cars, definitely not salted goats cheese butter. Beer was a lot better after it went gastro.
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Sbt – if you are after some top top wanky gastropub food, it’s great. Didn’t notice the butter though.
Speaking of North Kent detritus, my son asked for a metal detector for his birthday and last week we went to Lower Halstow to sift through all the centuries old pots and other crap in the creek. It was actually quite fun.
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‘wanky gastropub food’
Not sure this is food genre I want to try. Must be a Kent thing
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Chimpie – try the butter.
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I’m sure it’s lovely and creamy
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Don’t try the brie. Just something I’ve heard about the taste.
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Tomp – I did. Had a great umami quality to it.
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Barf!
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craigs, for you and me, people who seek out other ways even if only once when we’re drunk and we don’t talk about it afterwards, it’s not a problem. For a man of chimpie’s less inquisitive palate there may be a problem.
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Chimpie’s palate is always a problem.
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Players seem to be able to switch off after the game better than us fans:
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Tomp – they never switch off, just move on to bigger and better things
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That’s the Blog sorted, then…………………
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TomP, did you ever visit this bookshop when you were in Cape Town? Must admit, I’d never heard of it until this article.
https://www.news24.com/arts/literature/how-leon-trotsky-sparked-the-birth-of-a-revolutionary-bookshop-in-cape-town-20210803
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British and Irish Lions: Williams; Adams, Henshaw, Aki, Van der Merwe; Biggar, Price; Jones, Owens, Furlong, Itoje, A Wyn Jones (c), Lawes, Curry, Conan
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Vunipola, Sinckler, Beard, Simmonds, Murray, Russell, Daly
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LIONS (vs South Africa, third Test, Saturday)
15. Liam Williams (Scarlets, Wales) #833
14. Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby, Wales) #836
13. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #824
12. Bundee Aki (Connacht Rugby, Ireland) #837
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Worcester Warriors, Scotland) #841
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, Wales) #821
9. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland) #843
1. Wyn Jones (Scarlets, Wales) #842
2. Ken Owens (Scarlets, Wales) #829
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #818
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, England) #825
5. Alun Wyn Jones – captain (Ospreys, Wales) #761
6. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, England) #826
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, England) #853
8. Jack Conan (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #839
Replacements:
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, England) #851
17. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England) #787
18. *Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, England) #814 – subject to outcome of disciplinary hearing.
19. Adam Beard (Ospreys, Wales) #852
20. Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, England) #849
21. Conor Murray (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #790
22. Finn Russell (Racing 92, Scotland) #835
23. Elliot Daly (Saracens, England) #822
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Pfft. Looks weak
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Slow, craigsman, slow.
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Not sure keeping the same back 5 of the pack which got roundly spanked last week is necessarily going to work but heigh-ho.
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Should start with Finn if a bit more speed and guile is needed
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Would have had Beirne and (yes I’m biased in this regard) the Mish starting. Lawes to second row. Russell isn’t going to be able to do much if Murray does more of the 2 years to get the breakdown then have a fag break before box kicking stuff. Hopefully they all give a better account of themselves than last weekend.
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It looks like a better balanced side overall, with more national combinations – Williams and Adams is 2/3 of the Welsh back 3, Irish centre combo, 2/3 of the Welsh front row and 2/3 of the back row are English, so perhaps more settled and better communication? Wynn Jones back is a big win for the Lions.
On the flipside, you’ve got a livewire 9 starting with a 10 who has roundly been condemned for not using the ball, whilst on the bench you have the 10 who partners that 9 for Scotland and both are electric. Except that Russell (assuming Gats empties the bench) will be partnered by a 9 who is ponderous. Almost looks like Gats wants a more expansive style and faster game, but won’t release the handbrake completely. I’m not sure he trusts that strategy to be honest. That said, if Price decides on a few skip passes to Aki and Henshaw you may bypass that problem.
Bench looks ok, and you can see a gauntlet has been thrown down to the Boks to see if they can keep going for 80 minutes with a physical pack and approach, or whether they’ll need some speed themselves. What time is the hearing? Bench looks less impressive with Fagerson there if Sinckler, er, bites the dust.
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Deebee, I saw that on NewFrame over the weekend. Looks good. He only opened in May this year so a bit late for me. I liked Woodstock and Observatory, Mowbray. Some good grub there.
We stayed in Claremont, halfway between Wynberg Boys and SACS, so I’d pop down the hill to the CAFDA shop there. It was really really good and cheap as well. Wanted to go to the Sea Point one but only time I tried it was closed cos the staff were off on a demonstration against President Zuma.
Also liked Clarkes on Long Street. And was a big fan of Select Books. The owner’s a top man and knows his rugby.
Have you been to the huge second hand place on Commissioner Street? It’s called Collector’s Treasury. Truly incredible place.
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I’d’ve gone 6-2 bench. Biggar’s getting stick but the plan was working to half time. It was up front they got mashed in the 2nd half. Not sure Price slinging out a long pass to Aki will work.
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Rinse and repeat with slightly different team. Boks by 25.
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15. Willie le Roux
14. Cheslin Kolbe 13. Lukhanyo Am 12. Damian de Allende 11. Makazole Mapimpi
10. Handré Pollard 9. Cobus Reinach
1. Steven Kitshoff 2. Bongi Mbonambi 3. Frans Malherbe
4. Eben Etzebeth 5. Lood de Jager
6. Siya Kolisi (captain)7. Franco Mostert 8. Jasper Wiese
Replacements:
16. Malcolm Marx 17. Trevor Nyakane 18. Vincent Koch 19. Marco van Staden 20. Kwagga Smith 21. Herschel Jantjies 22. Morné Steyn 23. Damian Willemse
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I don’t think the plan was working till half time. The Lions didn’t want the game so slow that it took over an hour for the first forty minutes with water guys coming on after every play.
They wanted to carry on where they had been successful on this tour, playing up tempo rugby and pulling away in the second half – which is what the dominant team does in any game, as it did in that match.
This selection makes about as much sense as the last one, if you have Finn coming on he has to partner Price, Murray and Finn is an odd couple.
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TomP, Finn has obviously upset Gats, and his last act as an international coach is to throw Finn under the bus, catching a Murray pass after the Bok defense has been reset, allowing just enough time to look up as he is hit by 3 rampaging Boks. Then he can say with hindsight that he should have left Biggar on.
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