You wait bloody ages for an ATL, and then two turn up at once….
No prizes for guessing which is the work of Craigsman, and which of Deebee7.
The Glorious Series Continues
Pre/Ramble
So it’s a bit weird that, with a Lionz series in south Africa being poised with one game each, rugby fans seems quite deflated about the last match in this series. No fans, empty stadiums, accusations of biting, of slowing down the game, of racism, of influencing the referee have all played a part. But really it’s the fact that the rugby hasn’t set the world alight that’s the problem (Springbok tries aside) in this Craigsman’s opinion. Both sides seem to be playing low risk stuff seeing who breaks first. Kick, kick, kick. The Kiwis would lap this up. Form-wise, apart from the last half of the second game (and a bit in the first half of the first game) the Lions forwards have been able to get the dominance needed to win but they have been blunt in attack. Here’s hoping that rugby* wins and we get a game on Saturday. Let’s have a look at the teams innit.
LionzTM
So this makes me wonder what the feck Gats is playing at with his selection for the third test. I am but a simple accountant, unused to the complexities of rugby coaching, but I’m trying to work out some of the choices made at 9 and 10 and 21 and 22. Starting with a live wire scrum half and a … solid fly half and then ending with a … solid scrum half and a live wire fly half seems to be negating the strengths of each player. Either start with the live wire options and when the Springbok defence proves too miserly to score tries against or a nice healthy lead has been built, end with the … wise old heads who like to kick and do the game management stuff. Or, do the opposite to chase the game. What do I know? Everything else in the team seems reasonable. Courtney Lawes has done well to ignore the instructions from Dan Biggar and the rest of the pack looks solid. I would probably have Tadhg MK II in the finishers but hey ho. The back 3 look like they could negate a dastardly kicking game and we have two lumps in the centre to negate the Boks and the “amazing” Elliot Daly to come in against the tired legs at the end. So, I’m sanguine there.
Springboks
The Springboks look rubbish and will get hammered whatever happens look like a settled unit right now with the only changes have come from injury and OH MY GOD IT’S MORNE FECKING STEYNE!!!!!!!!!! Maybe it’s just more trolling from Rassie and we’ll see a last minute ‘injury’ and a proper player like Wynand Olivier will replace him. Just ignorant speculation on my part. Other than that, I can’t see anything to pick at. It’s a formidable side and Lionz supporters everywhere will have breathed a sigh of relief that Duane Vermeulen hasn’t yet come back from injury. I think they will rinse and repeat what worked in the second game. And why not? I hope that their fantastic wingers see some more ball in this game though. If only for them to be bundled into touch at the last second.
Prediction
Whoever gets the forward grunt and manages the ref will win. I really hope it doesn’t come down to the ref or some bs unseen citing or time wasting or whatever. Hopefully the ref will keep the game flowing and we’ll have a classic* on our hands. So who do I think will win?
Erm… hopefully Gats will put me in my place and Finn will catch a perfect box kick to sling an amazing pass to Sam Simmonds for his record breaking hat trick and the Lions win by a point or more.
Or… the Springboks grind the plucky tourists into the dirt and they will win by 18 points. Morne Steyne kicking the final penalty from the Springboks 22.
Or… the test never bloody ends.
Ok, ok Lions 24** – 21 Springboks. There, come at me you bastards.
Final ‘thoughts’
The real question on everyone’s lips is ‘what will this mean for England’? I’ll be btl to give my thoughts on this shortly.
* Which means the Lions win. Anything else is one for the purists.
** Have I mentioned that Siya Kolisi has a special place in my heart? I’ll have another poster to put on my bedroom wall after this series so all is not lost if the Lionz lose.
My Way, Or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb Squad
Gats and Rassie loom into view through the smoke-filled karaoke bar, each picking up a mike and ignoring the other, before launching into their tuneless non mea culpa est:
And now, the end is near, and so I face the final curtain
My friends, we’ll kick it clear, we’ll force the pace of which we’re certain
We’ve kicked a ball out full, we’ve launched the oval skyway
But more, much more than this, we did it our way
Attacks, we’ve had a few, but then again, too few to mention
We kicked what we had to kick, and soar it through without invention
I planned each scrumming force, each sideways step and passes astray
But more, much more than this, the blame is his way
The lights dim, the mikes clatter emptily to the floor, clunking soullessly as they slink to the exits, grim, with regret etched on their faces. But enough of my whisky and chocolate addled dreams last night.
The third Test. The series is alive, if not exactly kicking, if you ask many followers. The changes have been wrung, the die is cast and now we’re 80 minutes (or up to 120 depending on how things pan out) from anointing the victors with bragging rights for the next 12 years. Enough has been written about the quality (or absence thereof) of the first two Tests and the series in general, much of it accurate, much of it bilge, so let’s focus on the match to come, shall we?
Six changes in the Lions camp and 3 (one positional) in the Boks. The Lions have been roaring all week about speeding up the game, gaining tempo, running the Boks ragged and raiding the trophy cabinet in the process. In come Price at 9 to speed up delivery from the base – but to Biggar at 10 who hasn’t set the world light in ether teste thus far. Outside him, Bundee Aki, a poor man’s Damian de Allende, comes in to allow Henshaw to move to 13 in an attempt to create more space in midfield, whilst at the back, the Welsh duo of Williams for Hogg and Adams for Watson on the right wing aims to get more incisiveness in attack. On the bench, Connor Murray and Finn Russell are paired, a conservative slower 9 with a heads-up 10, seems strange, to say the least and suggests that Gatland remains conservative and not trusting of an all-out assault on the Bok defence.
Up front the Welsh duo of Jones and Owens are slotted into a front row that struggled last week, despite the Lions leading at oranges, the second and back row is unchanged, slightly surprising given the backseat they took and enormous energy expended seven days ago. AWJ, warrior that he is, must be feeling the effects, whilst Lawes was fairly anonymous last week.
The bench looks strong, but not overly stellar and there must be some concerns in the Lions camp that six new players who’ve spend much of the last month carrying tackle bags will be disruptive – if it is early one, the Lions will be playing catch up.
The Boks have two enforced injury changes, with talismanic 9 Faf de Klerk and indispensable blindside PS du Toit both out. These are huge blows, however much Bok fans will try to sugar-coat things. De Klerk is without peer at the box kicking game and all-round nuisance value, whilst du Toit is an 80 minute machine across the park. It’s resulted in considerable rejigging in the Bok side, with Lood de Jager back in the second row to partner Eben Etzebeth and Franco Mostert moving to blindside in du Toit’s place. Big moves. De Jager back is great news, adding considerably to the scrumming department and lineout, as well as carrying in heavy traffic, but is more limited out wide. Mostert has played flank, but with limited success. That said, du Toit only played 20 minutes last week, half of them knackered, and the Boks coped just fine without him. The rest of the pack is as is for the starters, and that’s good news.
The bench forwards are the same front row, which is formidable and duffed their opponents last week, whilst Mostert will slot back into the second row later on, with Kwagga – far better on the flank replacing du Toit than playing at 8 as in the first Test – and Marco van Staden coming on later to pinch ball, slow things down and add some vim to the forwards.
The backs have Cobus Reinach at 9, a different player to Faf, without the pinpoint kick accuracy, but absolutely electric around the fringes and in open play. If he brings his ‘A’ game (assuming he’s given licence) he presents an entirely different headache for the Lions – and possibly his own side. The rest of the backs are the same as the first two Tests and pick themselves. Perhaps Reinach can offer some space for Kolbe and Mapimpi to snipe down the blindside every now and then? However, an inaccurate display by Reinach could set the tone for the Lions to dictate the pace and shape of the match. It’s a critical piece of the jigsaw.
Key areas to watch, then, are:
- Whether the Lions can maintain parity up front for the full 80 (or near enough) to dictate what happens behind the scrum;
- Will six new players be too disruptive to the Lions, despite much of it revolving around national combinations – some of the guys are pretty rusty;
- How Gats introduces his bench – do Murray and Russell join the fray together, and if so, what’s the point?
- Will the Boks be able put down a marker from the get-go and dominate the Lions up front to dictate the pace (and crucially the scoreboard) to negate the threats out wide;
- Will Faf’s absence prove too disruptive to a Bok plan that has been well honed for a couple of years now and will allow the Lions to move the ball wide to their very good back three;
- Will the Boks surprise and give it a bit of width themselves earlier in the piece; they’re certainly more than capable of scoring tries whilst maintaining a mean defence;
- Will the refereeing quartet come out unscathed? In many respects, I think the last point is maybe the most important.
Prediction? I’ve gone Boks by 2 on Superbru, which portends, unfortunately, a Lions win based on the last two matches…
South Africa
15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Makazole Mapimpi, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Franco Mostert, 6 Siya Kolisi (captain), 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Steven Kitshoff
Substitutes: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Morne Steyn, 23 Damian Willemse
British & Irish Lions
15 Liam Williams (Wales), 14 Josh Adams (Wales), 13 Robbie Henshaw (Ireland), 12 Bundee Aki (Ireland), 11 Duhan van der Merwe (Scotland), 10 Dan Biggar (Wales), 9 Ali Price (Scotland), 8 Jack Conan (Ireland), 7 Tom Curry (England), 6 Courtney Lawes (England), 5 Alun Wyn Jones (captain, Wales), 4 Maro Itoje (England), 3 Tadhg Furlong (Ireland), 2 Ken Owens (Wales), 1 Wyn Jones (Wales) Substitutes: 16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (England), 17 Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England), 18 Kyle Sinckler (England), 19 Adam Beard (Wales), 20 Sam Simmonds (England), 21 Conor Murray (Ireland), 22 Finn Russell (Scotland), 23 Elliot Daly (England)
Ovally Balls 
Wholesale changes to the Bok side to face Argentina this weekend. No continuity, chopping and changing, looks weak. Actually, there are one or two areas of concern. Orie and van Rensburg at lock (starting and off the bench) are a big step down on Etzebeth and Mostert (and Snyman when he’s back), but at least Mostert is in the side at blindside flank. Don’t rate Thomas du Toit at TH. Ticht would be able to spot his deficiencies in more detail than me, but he’s just not much cop at his primary role – anchoring the scrum. Dan du Preez gets the family brain cell this weekend (hopefully), another I don’t really get excited about. Willemse has compromising pics of the coach. He had a great game about five years ago for the Junior Boks, but even last weekend was lousy under the high ball, passing, catching and kicking was sub-standard and positional play left a lot to be desired. Really is time to call that experiment a day, have Fassi at 15 and hope the centres don’t get injured. Or play Kwagga there in an emergency, if he’s in the 23.
Springbok team to face Argentina at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium:
15 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 65 caps, 60 pts (12t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Toulouse) – 17 caps, 45 pts (9t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 18 caps, 20 pts (4t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Munster) – 50 caps, 30 pts (6t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 17 caps, 75 pts (15t)
10 – Handré Pollard (vice-captain, Montpellier) – 52 caps, 502 pts (6t, 80c, 100p, 4d)
9 – Cobus Reinach (Montpellier) – 17 caps, 40pts (8t)
8 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 4 caps, 0 pts
7 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 43 caps, 5pts (1t)
6 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 55 caps, 30 pts (6t)
5 – Lood de Jager (Sale Sharks) – 49 caps, 25 pts (5t)
4 – Marvin Orie (DHL Stormers) – 5 caps, 0 pts
3 – Thomas du Toit (Cell C Sharks, 12 caps, 0 pts)
2 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 38 caps, 30 pts (6t)
1 – Trevor Nyakane (Vodacom Bulls) – 47 caps, 5 pts (1t)
Replacements:
16 – Bongi Mbonambi (DHL Stormers) – 40 caps, 40 pts (8t)
17 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 51 caps, 5pts (1t)
18 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 42 caps, 5pts (1t)
19 – Nicolaas van Rensburg (Montpellier) – uncapped
20 – Kwagga Smith (Yamaha Júbilo) – 11 caps, 5 pts (1t)
21 – Dan du Preez (Sale Sharks) – 5 caps, 0 pts
22 – Jaden Hendrikse (Cell C Sharks) – 1 cap, 5 pts (1t)
23 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 11 caps, 5pts (1t)
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Looks weak
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Boks by 20
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Chimpie, we won by 20 last weekend with a makeshift side, so I’m really hoping these guys can make a statement that wakes up Ian Foster.
Probably lose like we did against the Hugo Porta inspired ‘Jaguares’ in 1982. After thumping the largely Argentine side in the first test, Porta scored all 21 of his side’s points – a try, conversion, drop goal and four penalties – to hand the Boks their arses 21-12 in the second Test. It included his famous heading of the ball into touch as the Bok forwards bore down on him. Can’t find the footage unfortunately.
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Deebee, yes, they’re horrible and worse but we shouldn’t pretend that life is hunky dory for women in Afghanistan now. It’s a deeply patriarchal society and women’s rights are severely limited, especially outside Kabul. The Army and police were also implicated in violence against women across the society.
As for your friend, it’s perfectly possible to be of Mexican heritage and a Trump supporter. Even more so to be gay and right-wing. Not sure if it’s a sign of “schizophrenia”.
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TomP, I don’t for a moment think that life is great for women in Afghanistan without the Taliban there, especially, but not exclusively, in rural areas. You’re spot on about that. I also don’t believe that the Taliban will create a society that is in any way just, free or equitable. And how will they manage their brand of law and order? I doubt it’ll be through a benign system at any level.
I’ve got another concern, too: the growing levels of instability in places like Syria, Yemen, Pakistan and Afghanistan is overflowing into Africa. We’ve already got problems with homegrown militants, but now we’re also seeing Islamic terrorists arriving in new theatres of conflict like northern Mozambique. Usually by boat, or through Somalia and by road into Kenya, Tanzania and into Mozambique or DR-Congo or elsewhere. The greater the instability in places like the Middle East, the greater the export of terror to Africa.
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Willemse’ll be ok. He’s there as a fancier Frans Steyn at the moment. He just needs to calm down a bit.
Was interesting to see them having to defend the chance of 50/22s.
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I just think we have better options than Willemse, to be honest. Fassi is my preferred pick for 15 to replace Willie le Roux when he retires (or even before then) and can’t see Willemse ever eclipsing Pollard at 10, or even Jantjies. Maybe Elton, who is 31 already and unlikely to suddenly improve. Lot of support for Johan Goosen down here (especially in Pretoria, for some reason) to be back up to Pollard. There is so much back three talent in SA, we really don’t need him there either. Nice experiment, pack him off the France for a big paycheck and move on.
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Goosen also covers 10, centre and FB, so no need for Willemse.
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Friend of my aunt’s wrote this book many years ago. It’s very good. She had a lot of friends who were Afghan refugees.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/324560.Kabul
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Deebee, have a read of this book review: https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/lsereviewofbooks/2017/09/20/book-review-rebel-law-insurgents-courts-and-justice-in-modern-conflict-by-frank-ledwidge/
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thanks, Thaum – will read that……………….
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DeeBee
The American military leadership is showing many of the flaws of a ‘peacetime’ army. They’ve not had a challenging, proper war to clear out the dross since ‘Nam
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i.e. a war that actually gives them a serious challenge beyond sheer logistics
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they should kick off with China and Russia. that would provide some amusement
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‘amusement’
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TBH they seem to have been practising this war business in the middle east for the last 30 years or so (rather than using proxies). It’s all fun and games when blowing shit up but putting humpty dumpty back together is proving beyond these twits.
One could almost say blowing shit up in the first place may not have been a great plan.
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Depends how far back you want to take it I suppose. A lot of interventions appear to be an attempt to patch up a previous cock up caused by some sort of imperial ambition.
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Humans suck.
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Not in all cases, granted.
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TomP, I’ll have a look at that tomorrow.
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All I will say is that I desperately hope that the Taliban’s seemingly conciliatory statements are genuine. If they are and law and order isn’t based on a medieval system of barbarity, it may be no worse than the turmoil and degradation of the last two decades. Big ifs and buts though given their track record.
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Aye right. They’ll waffle a few Platitudes then get a stoning and chopping. It’s all tragic.
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Before he starts from doing horrendous things to innocent people, man from Taliban makes reasonable point about corporate hypocrisy.
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This is more up to date and uses measured language:
Click to access Rebel_rule_of_law_Taliban_courts_in_the_west_and_north-west_of_Afghanistan.pdf
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“‘Ironically went up Snowdon today on the Rhyd-Ddu path.’
I wonder how craigs managed to walk inna ironic manner”
From further down the mountain I’ve seen people on Crib Goch with umbrellas up during a thunderstorm. Comments made at the time didn’t evaluate the situation for irony.
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We’re staying at a hostel with a skate park and had a skateboarding lesson. Which was dope.
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@craigs
I think Craigs has gone to Center Parcs by mistake.
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Trafford Park, more like…………
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‘A group of about 20 protesters entered Edinburgh Castle on Tuesday evening, claiming to have “seized” the landmark under article 61 of Magna Carta.’
‘A man adds: “Treason’s been going on for that long now, we can’t sit back and let everybody perish under the stupid legislation and fraudulent government tyranny, so let’s just take it all back, not just the castle.”’
I see.
‘Magna Carta – signed by King John in 1215 – has never applied in Scotland as it predates the Act of Union.’
Bunch of wallies.
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Hancock would have advised them better:
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Really good article highlighting how the US got it wrong trying to build a competent Afghan Army here, if you have Washington Post access:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/afghan-security-forces-capabilities/2021/08/15/052a45e2-fdc7-11eb-a664-4f6de3e17ff0_story.html?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F346abb3%2F611a90b09d2fda2f47f76c1a%2F6117d15cae7e8a0d50836177%2F8%2F68%2F611a90b09d2fda2f47f76c1a
Much of it revolves around trying to develop a US-style military with all its bureaucracy and complexity in an environment that simply couldn’t handle it. Key problems included widespread illiteracy (some estimates that less than 5% of recruits could read or write at a 3rd grade level), massive corruption up and down the command chain, competing ethnic rivalries and expanding the size of the armed forces from 200k to 350k far too quickly, leading to badly trained soldiers with zero idea of what they were doing.
Makes the Edinburgh Castle invaders look highly competent!
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Sean Lock RIP.
I like the bit about halloumi.
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Ah, that’s a shame. He was good. 15 Storeys High and the radio version that I’ve forgotten the name of are both ace.
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I remember watching this and howling with laughter
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Yeah, sad to hear about Sean Lock – always enjoyed his sense of the absurb.
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“Which was dope”…………………confession – I had to look up the meaning
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OT – it was like Centre Parcs but with no pool, lake, woods or other gubbins (I’ve never been so I don’t know what these are). And was a lot cheaper too.
It had a big chess set which we didn’t play, massive diy hot tubs which we didn’t use and a big net stretched between some trees which my kids used and loved. Also had pigs and chickens which were kinda fun.
We’re now in Devon next to a field of llamas.
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Don’t worry Slade, I had no idea either, so I just ignored it.
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Slade – it just means ‘rad’. See also ‘phat’, ‘bitchin’ and ‘mega’.
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Deebs is super-rad.
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Groovy. Far out.
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OT – groovy and far out generally refer to vibes, maybe around some kind of fire or dance floor which lights up, where young people in flairs and tie dye dance. Maybe in rollerskates. They always have a high sense of how important this cultural moment was and how it will never be that awesome again.
Whereas rad, dope and the others generally refer to an awesome trick one pulls on a skateboard, snowboard, surfboard or some kind of bike. Preferably in the air.
‘Sick’ can also be used.
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Rollerblades and parlour can also be rad.
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*parkour
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Just found out that the owners of the place I’m at found a sheep which had been run over as a lamb so they nursed it back to health and it now lies on their couch and watches TV with them like a dog.
That’s pretty dope.
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So it means tricks being done on a skateboard by a run over sheep?
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Ah, I see. This is either “dope” or “rad”
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groovy and far out generally refer to vibes, maybe around some kind of fire or dance floor which lights up,
So Munster fire-pits parties are groovy and far out?
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craigs, you is nang.
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