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 
I like you, TomP.
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The biggest losers today, apparently:
“It’s the 20 lads on the train to Manchester dressed as over-sized fruit that I feel sorry for.”
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The big problem for me is the game kicks off at 6 Dublin time. Do I wake up early and watch the game with the lad or record the game but risk hearing the result at rugby practice that starts at 9?
Also, am off to watch Leinster v Harlequins at the Aviva tonight.
Leinster team is:
15. Chris Cosgrave (0), 14. Rob Russell (0), 13. Jamie Osborne (6), 12. Conor O’Brien (23), 11. James Lowe (52)
10. Johnny Sexton (173) CAPTAIN, 9. Luke McGrath (151)
1. Peter Dooley (93), 2. Dan Sheehan (13), 3. Michael Ala’alatoa (0), 4. Devin Toner (266), 5. Brian Deeny (0), 6. Rhys Ruddock (188), 7. Scott Penny (29), 8. Max Deegan (65)
Replacements from:
Cian Healy (231), Seán Cronin (195), James Tracy (129), Vakh Abdaladze (12), Ross Molony (116), Ryan Baird (27), Martin Moloney (1), Cormac Foley (1), Ross Byrne (104), David Hawkshaw (8), Liam Turner (6), Niall Comerford (0)
Harlequins:
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@Deebee – The shenanigans over the status/’result’/rescheduling of the match are all for the financial side of it. From a sporting point of view it’s nonsense.
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Tomaso becomes Tommy again.
Anyway, to important things, I was reading the report on teen sensation Emma Raducanu, she is quite something, the first qualifier to reach a Grand Slam final in the open era, first Brit woman to reach a final since Virginia Wade and all sorts of other groovy stats, however someone btl wrote, “The last time a British woman was in a Grand Slam final Abba were in the charts”
to which someone replied, “Abba are in the charts now”
The Whoosh of the Year award goes to…
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I’m just pleased the IPL is starting again soon as it gives my missus another reason to moan about cricket on the telly.
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Anyone checked the betting odds on the test being cancelled – or am I just a cynic?
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@Trisk – I may have got the wrong end of the stick in my following of AoD/OB, but think it’s probably unlikely that any of the regular posters have accounts with Indian bookmakers. Deebee might have had dealings with people that do at some point I suppose…
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Deebee might have had dealings with people that do at some point I suppose…
That’s right, cast aspersions on the only poster born and living in the developing world. Plus ca change….
What are the odds?
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Deebee’s famously incorruptible as I’m sure he’d tell you over lunch.
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Damned right I would! And then regale a tale of languishing in a Congolese jail rather than pay a bribe, whilst waiting for the port.
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Waiting for the port at lunch, to be clear. I wasn’t offered it in the Matadi fleapit I was in.
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I was born at the wrong time
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I want to know what big business means.
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“Waiting for the port at lunch, to be clear.”
This is disappointing. I thought for a moment that a punishment reserved for South Africans in Congolese jails might have been offering them port that never comes.
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Like a small business but bigger ?
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I also watched this video and all I could think was “that bloke drives in wellies”
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‘Big Business’ means not having to pay ‘small business’ for services rendered on time, all the while reminding the poor sod who is staring down the barrel that they’re bloody lucky to bask in the reflected glow of BIG BUSINESS and how this will be transformative for small fry going forward. Assuming you survive the hit.
The worst paying clients I have are all big companies, without exception. Worse than government, actually, and down here that’s saying a lot. Foreign big companies are better – some marginally, some much better, and the work we do for foreign governments and donors is generally a pleasure. Smaller to mid-sized companies tend to be much more in tune with the cash flow issues of small companies.
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How did you get out of the clink, Deebee?
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I’m sure that’s the topic of an upcoming ATL….
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Hadn’t realised that Glasgow’s game against Wuss had already kicked off. We lead 3-0 after about 15 minutes.
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Flowing move from Wuss lets Heinz go over in the corner. Glasgow had been on the attack but bolloxed up the move near their try line.
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Kick charged down and Worcester go over again. Bugger.
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Breakaway try for Glasgow!
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Ref blows for half time. It says 35 minutes played on the TV clock.
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Leinster 28-7 up. Sexton masterly.
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Missed a Worcester try at the start of the second half, but we get one back after a lot of pressure on their line. Plus they have a player in the bin.
Seems weird to say this is Worcester against Glasgow without their Lionz…..
Dunky’s on!
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Beautiful try from Glasgow! Crossfield kick from Dunky, and Rufus McLean takes it on the run, evades two defenders and gets over the line!
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Where is the being streamed, BB?
I’m watching Watsonians v Heriots atm
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Don’t know who is working the TV clock, but it had been stopped due to an injury, play restarted but the clock didn’t.
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Yay! Glasgow win 27-22. Decent pre-season performance although at times in the second half it looked like Sauchiehall Street on a Saturday night, there were so many players coming and going.
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How did Cummings get on at 6 BB?
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Leinster won 40-21. Some good youngsters. Scott Penny is a top player Quins were a bit too across the field in attack. Esterhuizen got a deserved yellow for clobbering young Chris Cosgrave but was a menace ball in hand
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And Ryan Baird is gonna be a star.
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OK, I think, Ticht. From what I saw Glasgow were a bit battered in the scrums first half, but dominated the lineout, mainly thanks to Big Richie.
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That was a tall lineout Glasgow fielded BB, with Gray, Bean, Cummings and Wilson all starting
Cummings spent the last quarter of the Calcutta Cup this year at 6, after Jamie Ritchie went off and Big Richie Gray joined his brother in the second row.
That was the Calcutta Cup match Scotland won at Twickenham this year
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Some other friendly results:
Connacht 14- London Irish 47
Saracens 3 – Ulster 33
Cardiff 25 – Bath 14
Leicester 24 – Scarlets 29
Northampton 31 – Ospreys 26
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“Northampton 31 – Ospreys 26”
Not an especially friendly result. I’ll accept complete an utter silence as a sign of friendliness once the season starts.
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I’ve never really admitted that I love David Bowie. I’ve always been a contrarian for my own stupid reasons on things like this.
Anyway, even I admitted to loving Heroes, and especially the German language version. This is not that, but I like it and it’s about time I put my stupidity to bed, this was a great artist
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Ticht, Thauma will be very proud of you for coming out on that score.
TomP, Thauma, I think my great escape from incarceration was covered in my Congo trilogy somewhere. Basically your Spartan hero was bailed out by his client who screwed up the visa in the first place. Doesn’t sound quite as grand a tale in the port-less precised version.
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It’s certainly not what happens in my new short story ‘No Port in a Storm’.
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The innings victory that England are heading for is quite sensational! Having been bowled out for 245 just after tea, they then skittled India for 13 and had them at 32 for 7 in their follow on innings at the close, India being saved from total humiliation by bad light.
Don’t think my alternate reality is any less plausible than the shit served up by the BCCI. Well played England!
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We went to an exhibition at the museum just as lockdown ended last year, it was photographs taken by Geoff MacCormack, Bowie’s friend and travel companion. Bowie hated flying so they took very long train journeys across Asia into Russia and back into Europe. There were photographs of the May Day parades going on in Red Square, taken from their hotel, about a block away from the goings on.
I took a photo of a couple of the photographs, this one was huge, almost life size
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Exeter Chiefs actually made a twitter account for their mascot ‘Tom-A-Hawk’. It now no longer exists.
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Dog, I wish I was pure………………
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I admire the team Baxter has put together, I like him as a coach, plus there is the Scottish angle.
But there’s a number of things the club do that I don’t like.
There is a distinction between the two.
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Well, perhaps there are ways and ways…………………………………..it’s a bit like getting someone who voted for Brexit to agree they were really stupid…
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ps I have no idea what debate goes on within the Club, the player group or the paid up supporters
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AFAIK there’s a large supporter movement to remove the indigenous american branding from the club, but the powers-that-be are ignoring them. Iroquois Roots Rugby, a Canadian indigenous team, have even reached out to Exeter over this, but have been rebuffed.
They even had BT Sport/C4 (can’t remember which) pipe in the ‘tomahawk chop’, when they were playing with empty stadiums earlier this year.
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