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 
Slade, Lawes got subbed in the first 2 tests.
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ooh! – I’ve been Tomp’d – but I believe my selection remains valid
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…………….plus, you can forgive me if I had dozed off and missed the subbings
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For South Africa, Mostert, Ben O’Keefe and Etzebeth were excellent. Pollard had some wobbles in this game but played with control. Am and de Allende really solid. Makhazole Mapimpi had few opportunities but was top value.
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Tomp – yes but what does this mean for England?
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Nah, the subs come very fast. I had the sound down low and was being chatted to by my lad and missed a couple today. Took me some time to realise that Simmonds was on for Conan today or Cowan-Dickie for Owens.
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Craigs, 7 English lads in the scrum at the end I think. Perhaps they still need to work on their scrummaging v a South African 8.
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agreed re Etzebeth – seemed rejuvenated by the challenge.
The big loose head was a game changer
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Yeah, it seems churlish now to refer to him as ‘Wank’ Steyn.
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Big Trev had a good series. Add in Morne’s goals and, as Deebee will agree, that was a win that owed a lot to the Blue Bulls.
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What a pity Jo Marler decined to Tour………………………………and that Andrew Porter was injured
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Slade, it’s particularly good by him when you think that in the RWC he’d’ve been off after 55 minutes for Mostert or Snyman. He’s always been a top player, mind.
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I doubt anyone would claim that Mako and Sinckler are top/top props – usually just good enough. Found out by these Boks. Simmonds is not an England player, haha! Sinks seemed psyched and prepared to face Klitschoff,not the other guy, who was just too much – and Porter’s strength would have been ideal.
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Finn was injured but Ford and Smith weren’t selected, not originally in Smith’s case, going from the players I know I’d have had Adam Hastings in the squad, there were probably better options than those picked from the other nations – I like the Welsh guy, what’s his face? Sheedy, I think. Carberry too.
The dire stuff is a thing of the past (please dog), I must also say that France have two excellent young fly halfs in Jalibert and Ntamack who play heads up rugby, Italy are looking to play wide and they are looking the part – the difference Finn made today playing flat and passing off both wings with runners offering options of both sides, looking for the gaps, that’s what you want
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Tomp – our scrum hasn’t been all that for a while.
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Craigs re props, from a Scottish perspective it’s been disappointing, both Fagerson and Sutherland performed very well in the 6N in the scrum, but not here.
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Well, I guess it’s down to fine margins. Lions didn’t make enough of their 1st half supremacy. Blowing a rolling maul, ignoring a 2 on 1…
Inability to get into Bok territory in first 20 mins of the 2nd half was probably the killer…
I guess Gatland rolled the dice in ’13 and it worked – this time whatever bit of “luck” was there in 2013 was missing.
Russell probably dismissed the doubters forever.
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Congratulations to SA. Deserved winners over the series. I thought they were excellent yesterday, really showed character and drive to come back, and without 2 key players on FdK and PSdT (3 if you count Vermeulen). Forwards really stepped up and dominated set piece and breakdown in 2nd half. And the defence was stifling. The whole team were so commited and physical. And Morne with the coup de grace again
Lions, well what might have been. Should have gone in well ahead at half time. Some crucial errors unfortunately. Curry at the maul, rarely called that one, but correct. Williams I wouldn’t castigate for the missed tackle on Kolbe – it was Kolbe after all, but failing to put Adams away was criminal. A few others from various players, less glaring, but also telling too.
More than that, I think the tactics throughout the series were poor. Russell was a breath of fresh air, but I suspect he was off-script. The box kick a thon didnt work, so why persist. The backline was so flat as well, so no space for centres of wings.
Didnt get the subs either. Wyn Jones did well, got injured, then was kept on for 2 key penalties. Should have been subbed earlier. Would have kept AWJ out there for the championship minutes and I think there was scope to put Daley on at 13 and move Henshaw in 1 when they had to chase the game.
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I was very disappointed by Gatland’s approach. As I said before, it is easy to focus on selection, particularly for Lions where they are all intl players (or soon to be for the odd 1 or 2 like Smith). But tactics and cohesion are the key and he got it badly wrong in almost all respects. His time has gone, I feel
As someone who defended him on the back of his successes for Wales, I am now wondering if, given the players available for Wales during his long tenure, we could have gone even further with someone more ambitious?
The media games were just embarassing. From Gats, sure (the nonsense over the MS roof still rankles) but Rassie took it to another level and surely this cant be allowed to continue?
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And, for my final post, I must say that I think that is finally it for me and pro rugby. I just dont enjoy watching any more. I could write at length on the flaws, particularly the seeking of contact, but not much point, I think. It is just not for me, and I will leave it at that. I hope noone interprets this as sour grapes cos “my” team lost. It genuinely isn’t. I congratulate the winners and well deserved they were too. What actually did it was watching the AB – Aus game, in which 2 teams played with ambition and was a good game by modern standards. I just don’t enjoy watching or following the pro game any more, so best not to do so. Sad, but what can you do?
Since I dont have much to say any more about rugby, I will bid you all a fond farewell. I have very much enjoyed corresponding with you over many years and I wish all of you (and those from AoD, Graun days) every joy and good health to you and your loved ones. May you continue to DOMINATE in the years to come.
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Best wishes, Utna……………………….may you enjoy health and happiness. For me, I shall keep following Exeter as the players exhibit a fine club/family spirit.
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Bon vent, Utna.
You’ll be missed as your posts were always fair and enlightening. I’ll probably follow your path as I also become bored with international rugby. I may give it a try until the autumn tour, as France, going back to a more traditionnal style, will host the ABs but I doubt it will be enough. Too many Gatlands and Erasmuses and too few Kolbes.
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Flair
You may be right…….but Kolbe is also a little cheat
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SA play Argentina twice over the next two weekends.
I wonder how they will perform?
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Slade, don’t count on me to watch SA vs Arg.
And I think you’re a bit tough on Kolbe. I’ve been watching him dozens of times, ever since he joined Toulouse, and I don’t recall him cheating. A bit of playacting possibly, but no more.
But if you prefer,I can rephrase that: too many dull coaches, too few Finns.
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I go with your last sentence 100%!
(To me, Kolbe plays rugby as a highly talented footballer plays soccer:- skillz + too many dives).
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Well, Utna bidding us a farewell is much worse news than the Lions losing a rugby match.
@utna – I hope you’ll lurk (if only from time to time) and maybe find some joy in a rugby match somewhere…. I’ve always enjoyed reading your posts and getting an alternative pov.
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For anyone wanting to see some proper rugby, Freesports has Heriot’s vs The Southern Knights (AKA Melrose) in the Super6.
Plus Points – no Sky ‘whooshing’ graphics, no Will Greenwood.
Minus points – Dougie Vipond moonlighting from Deacon Blue as the presenter, no Hugh Dan (furraa linneee) commentating.
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Lovely try from Heriot’s! Quick tap from taking the mark and going the full length of the pitch! 12-20 to Southern Knights at half time – and they scored a cracking try of their own. It’s maybe not at the ‘elite’ level of the Lions and SA, but it’s been a damn site more enjoyable as a game.
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Hamish “posher than he looks” Watson.
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….obviously not a back-row player
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Finally getting to post and read back. Delighted the Boks won the series obviously, if not the type and quality of rugby at times. The Boks have come in for huge criticism in the UK media for their style, which is fair enough if you don’t like it. A lot of shit spoken as well, frankly. Gatland and Co knew what was coming their way and tried to outdo it. Didn’t work.
I was amazed that Mish didn’t get a look in after the 1st Test, as I thought he was excellent and gave us any number of problems. Would Russell have been selected if fit? No. Biggar was still favoured yesterday, confirming the conservative style that Gats wanted to play. It almost worked too, but would it have been any better for a side that scored 2 tries in 3 matches, both from maul to win a series?
For all the talk about spreading the ball and running the Boks ragged, including by Gatland, when push came to shove (lots of that about) he blinked, not having enough faith in the ability of his squad to execute that.
I thought over the course of the series that Itoje, Furlong, Lawes and Conan were the pick of the forwards, with Wynn Jones probably as well had he been fit throughout. AWJ is a legend, but this was a series too far for him. In the backs, Price was decent, Russell should have been given more time, Henshaw was good, McDuhan a menace in the air, but frankly the Lions backs saw less ball than the Bok backs, so difficult to judge them really.
From the Bok side, to get the team battle ready with just one match before the series in 18 months, along with Covid disruptions, was unbelievable. The front rows were good, but Mbonambi not at his best – with Dweba and a couple of others snorting in the tramlines he needs to pick up his game. Good to see de Jager back, but the best lock was Mostert for his incredible workrate and versatility. Etzebeth was solid too. Loose trio wasn’t all that flash and I think we need Duane back for his physical presence and leadership around the park. Siya has hopefully silenced some of his doubters too.
Faf is still by far our best 9, whilst Pollard wasn’t stellar at 10. Our centres probably won the series for us with their incredible defensive efforts and organisation. Back three all had their moments despite a paucity of quality ball.
Overall? Not a great series, but from my armchair not as bad as is being made out in the UK press. I think the empty grounds compounded the feeling of soulless rugby and may a series never be played that way again.
Now for the Rugby Championship, which may be difficult for our guys to get up for so soon after this series, but I think we’ll see more ball in hand than in this series.
Loved the vibes here which were – as always – so much more balanced and mature than on most sites, whether in the UK or SA. There are lots of very sad people out there! Utna, Flair and others, I hope to still grace us with your presence from time to time and carry on contributing to the best rugby blog on the net.
I for one can’t wait for the next Lions tour and I’ll be backing the boys in red 100% against Australia.
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I agree that SA deserve a lot of credit for their win and for shutting down the Lions attack, even with Finn Russell on the pitch it took a maul from a line-out to get over the line. Equally, the Lions defence was strong.
The points totals for the sides in the last 3 Lions series show this:
Australia 52 – Lions 79
NZ 66 – Lions 54
SA 63 – Lions 47
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I think your back row was really good, especially because the injuries left you without 2 of the best players in the world.
Kwagga came back from a difficult first test to play fine football off the bench in the last two matches. Wiese was tough and not quite as hot-headed as I feared he might be – a good effort for a player without a test cap before this series. van Staden was powerful and energetic off the bench, another with very little experience. PSDT was good in the 100 minutes he was on the pitch as you’d expect and Siya played really really well in Test 2 and to a high standard in 3.
Not sure I agree about Hamish Watson causing the Boks “any number of problems” in the first test. He was good, dodgy tackle on le Roux aside, but not that good. Still was disappointed he didn’t get a look in after that. Also a shame that Beirne didn’t get many more minutes. But back row was a position of strength for the Lions and it was a good match-up between the two sides.
Am looking forward to Marvin Orie bossing it v the Pumas.
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Ye dogs, I hope not….
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/aug/08/warren-gatland-favourite-among-lions-hierarchy-to-lead-2025-australia-tour
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Second what Trisk has to say and hope you still lurk around Utna. We (I) talk other bollocks too. If not, stay safe and well!
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However, did anyone else notice this?
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@bb
I saw same and was about to post….
Can’t say I’d be enthusiastic – yes, Gatland’s record with Wales can’t be argued with but as I posted earlier there are fine margins… neither the 2013 or 2017 series were like 1971 or 1974 – 2013 Lions edged it with a great 3rd test performance and in 2017 the Lions probably got the rub of the green to draw.
What we’ve seen over the last 3 weekends wasn’t a great advert for giving Gatland another run at it. OK, he didn’t make a tackle etc but one gets the feeling that he’d selected his XV long ago (give or take a couple) and the narrative that the Lions would play fast and loose with Russell, LRZ, Beirne etc was just PR.
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As I understand it, the Lions committee made up some rule that the coach must be available to them for the year before the tour and in 2012/13 the WRU and Gatland thought that was fine. Would another governing body or coach have agreed to that? Same this year for one of the current national coaches. Plus, they ladle on the tradition thing constantly so it needs someone who understands the Lions etc etc. That’s why McGeechan did it 9 times or whatever.
The 1971 Lions was a great series win but the crucial first test win is famous for Barry John kicking the leather off the ball to the corners and giving Fergie McCormick such a run around that he never played again for the All Blacks + a mighty forward effort.
This year’s tour was also deeply strange and with unique circumstances with players isolating, games called off, games re-arranged and not re-arranged.
I’m sure the players and coaches love it but it’s little more than an imperial relic that’s been transformed into a money-making exercise for all parties.
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Nice story:
https://www.europeana.eu/en/blog/how-salvador-dali-supported-a-girona-rugby-team
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The Lions may be an Imperial relic, but it’s our imperial relic dammit. This isn’t a rant at you, TomP or any other posters here, more a general rant about accepted wisdom in our beautiful game.
There seems to be an absolute obsession globally with needing to constantly change shit to make it attractive to ‘the youth’ whatever that may be as a concept. Why? Are the younger generation today so pathetic that they can’t focus for more than a few minutes without storming off in a bored huff?
For the best part of a century or more most organised sports managed just fine with new generations coming through and loving the sports. All of a sudden there’s a collective panic because Gen-whateverthefucktheyarenow might not be entertained at the flick of a switch. Fuck em quite frankly. There are plenty of people of all ages who do still love their respective sports and one lousy series for a plethora of reasons shouldn’t be scapegoated to chuck the baby out with the bathwater.
Of course rugby has also changed significantly with players being bigger and faster and fitter and coaches micro-analysing every aspect of the game, but it goes with the turf. The hysteria about the Boks ‘anti-rugby’ from Kitson and mob is pathetic. The Boks have played much the same style for years and if you look at the results since our readmission to rugby, the Kiwis have had our number and the Aussies not far off – neither of whom play a similar style to us. Perhaps then, it’s an admission that the British Isles either can’t produce players with the ability to unlock a tight defence, or that the coach, frankly, choked.
Even worse, NH scribes and fans ridiculed Super Rugby for years – touch rugby, tackling optional, not like our good hard stuff up here – and then hold aloft one English Prem Final as the holy grail of modern rugby. Pish. Bollocks. This series was won by the Boks because Gatland bottled it: talked about expansive rugby, running the dinosaurs ragged and then played a carbon copy of it until injury forced a change of tack. Let us not forget that ‘Warrenball’ has become synonymous with Gatland’s stifling approach over the years and it served Wales well in the 6N, if not World Cups. 4 Bok backline tries to two rolling maul flops is an emphatic rebuttal of his stated aim. And I’ll put a wee wager down that we’ll score a lot more in the RC too.
Rant over!
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A fairly mixed bag of issues raised there, but largely around the idea of rugby needing to be constantly changed
so it’s flowing and full of tries – which when it does happen is then frowned on as denuding the value of a try because there’s too many.
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I can only like that post the once, Deebee, so I’ll reiterate it with a resounding “Hear Hear”.
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This is for Deebs
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This too
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Loving the vibes from you, Deebee.
This wasn’t classic Warrenball, which involves bigger players and moving the attack side to side. Am not sure if he bottled it. The Lions won the first test after all and Russell wasn’t available for the first two tests. Put Smith in? Perhaps it would’ve worked but he’d only been there for about 10 days when the first test came around. He’s a good lad but it’s a big call.
Rugby always always has doubts about itself and its attractiveness for the youth market. And it is the youth that play the game not old duffers like you and me – although you are much older than me.
That’s why the laws have changed over the years and generally they’ve made the game better. The offside line was on the ball in the 50s and defences could stand up at lineouts. The 60s was dominated by kicking in the NH so they introduced the Australian dispensation. 70s there was the panic over players like Charles Kent and the crashball 12. 80s and early 90s the preponderance of penalties so they introduce the 5-point try, plus you get lifting in the line-out and the devaluing of the hookers traditional role at scrums to ensure smoother ball for the team in possession. Also, there was an imperative to make scrums safer. High tackle laws more strictly reffed, spear tackles outlawed, the sin bin introduced.
Television has been the biggest factor in this and the technology does get in the way. I’d be happy not to have to endure 3 minutes of “I’ve got another angle for you here, Mathieu” after each try but then fans’d complain, fans do complain, when clips are shown after the game on TV or on social media, let alone when they can see them live with their own eyes.
All sports have changed/developed over a century or more. It’s silly to say otherwise. Probably the only thing that hasn’t changed is fans and journalists whining about something or other.
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If I recall correctly, in the run up to the 2013 tour the “received wisdom” was that the Lions had to beat Australia or the whole concept of the Lions would be a busted flush, a relic from a bygone era.
I did’t really agree with that, there is far more to it than winning imo, under different circumstances there would have been thousands, perhaps ten of thousands – I just read that 10k Lions fans were at the New Zealand tests in 2017 – that’s just the ones with tickets. That tour was said to be worth NZ$250 million to the NZ economy.
That’s all those people touring the country, soaking up the atmosphere, making friends, exchanging the bantz, winding each other up, drinking eating laughing together – that is worth more than the money, but it does have to be counted.
In short I’m saying that there is nothing wrong with it being a money making exercise, I’m sure those that run campsites, pubs, hotels, combi van hire places (I could go on and on) agree.
Under different circumstances those people would have been at a braai, seeing some amazing places meeting new friends etc, it was a real shame that all of that was lost this year and the focus fell sharply on the rugby.
Gats got it wrong with the tactics, you don’t out South Africa South Africa, aye you stay in the game by not betting blasted up front, but after that you play with guile, as in fact the Boks did when the chances arose and they took them well.
If Gatland is there in four years time it should only be in a managerial role, as Geech did, I think, on the tour to Oz.
It’s difficult to get a coach to step back from international duty for a year, I certainly wouldn’t want Scotland to lose Toonie for a whole season for that reason.
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I am no fan of Gatland, but…………..could it be that he intended to play Russell from the start?
My thinking is that a number of non/under-featuring players are very good support runners e.g. Hill, Beirne, Simmonds, George, Daly and a lack of Russell screwed things up?
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My tuppence on the kids (fuck em, no not literally you mentalist) is that if the rules are made so that it isnfun to play they will watch the game. So focus on that and grass roots ruggerz and the fans will watch the Lions or the 6ns or whatever.
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