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 
Fun fact: South Africa have lost 9 matches since the start of 2018, when Erasmus and Nienaber came into the squad. In only three of those games did they kick more than the opposition. Warren Gatland was the opposition coach in two of those three. The other coach was Michael Chieka.
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Slade – I blame Scotland too.
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Basically League was changed to make it more popular for viewers and they got rid of or reduced the importance of the things I enjoyed. Line outs, scrums and mauls so I wouldn’t have played or watched without them. And I probably started playing in the mid 90s and watching seriously in the late 90s. I can’t be the only one.
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And rucking but I’ll out that in the ‘gone forever’ category.
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*put
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Craigs, I think it’s more likely that the reason you didn’t play rugby league is because you’re from Surrey.
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Tomp – actually there was league available. But my point is that if I’d been given league as the only option I wouldn’t have got into it.
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And I’m not even trying to knock league per se, just saying that the game has to fun first, watchable second.
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In Phil Larder’s autobiography he quotes Scott Gibbs and Allan Bateman as saying they much preferred playing league as they got their hands on the ball more.
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ticht, am sure the Lions’ dollars contribute to the domestic economies of NZ, SA and Australia but I was thinking more about the revenues for the unions. And the tourist sectors of those countries are pretty big anyway so while welcome it wouldn’t be what’s keeping the wolf from the door of the combi owners.
Agree about the meeting people and contact and all that sort of stuff. My dad’s been lucky enough to go on 3 Lions tours as a fan and enjoyed them immensely.
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League is fun to play.
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Players’ game, innit.
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Alright Expro
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I’m only talking about league because they specifically changed the rules to make it easier on the eye. I can’t think of any other sports where it was done so directly. Rugby is doing the same thing and my only point is that they should focus on making it fun to play first and fun to watch second.
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I’ve played league before and it wasn’t up north.
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Rugby union does it all the time, craigs. They did it in 1968 when they brought in the Australian Dispensation worldwide – you can only kick the ball out on the full. And lifting in line-outs rather than a mad scramble. Players standing back 5 metres at scrum time as well.
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* you can only kick the ball out on the full if you’re in your 22.
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Tomp – not quite as drastic as reducing the number of players and removing line outs altogether.
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Few new changes for this season as well – 50/22 and drop outs from the try line. Both lifted from League I think.
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Anyway, I imagine setting up a strike move from the scrum is a fun thing to do.
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@craigs
As a former RL prop I have never looked at a RU lineout and felt like I was missing out on the fun.
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Slade, I don’t think Gats intended to play Russell before he was crocked. He only got on early on Saturday because Biggar got injured.
TomP I’ve been saying for years that rather than an obsession with changing laws constantly, enforce the existing ones properly. This includes scrum feeds and offside lines amongst others. I’d also ditch the TMO for anything outside of foul play. If the ref thinks a try has been scored, let it stand and be damned. Maybe two TMO’s looking for foul play?
Rugby IS a complex sport with a load of disciplines and skills required which is what makes it such an intriguing battle for me. I don’t want it simplified like that awful game show on UK telly. Outside of that, I have no idea how you ‘fix’ a sport that to me ain’t broken.
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OT – it’s glorious. I’ve played lock, no8 and prop and have been lifter and lifted. Especially when you manage to nail a semi complex call it doesn’t matter what your role is.
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Deebs – err… here here for want of anything else to say.
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OT, as a former 9 lineouts were great fun for trying to anticipate the throw and if one of our guys could snaffle it.
Agreed with Craigs that junior rugby should be about getting as many kids to enjoy it as possible and hoping they’ll become lifelong fans. And if they still don’t like it, fuck em.
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@craigs
I still preferred these 2 things:
1. Running into, and then over, an opponent
2. Lifting an opponent off the ground and popping them into touch. Much easier than proper tackling.
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It’s like what Mr Miyagi said about bonsai trees. They must have a strong root (grass roots players) otherwise it will die if the upper branches (the TV viewers) take a hit.
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OT – I’ve done both of these things.
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Done both of those things too. Was kicked out of the chess club for some reason.
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Deebs – they should change the rules to make it more fun to play.
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@craigs
But I was doing that instead of running from lineout to lineout. Therefore I had the most fun.
QED.
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Tam, here are my sums, correct them where applicable
from wiki
According to the World Travel & Tourism Council, travel and tourism directly contributed ZAR102 billion to South African GDP in 2012 and supports 10.3% of jobs in the country.
If that NZ$250 million from the last New Zealand tour is correct then that is approx £125M
£1 = ZAR 20,6
£125M > ZAR 2.5Bn
The tourism figures from Wiki are almost ten years old and I’m not saying the figures would be replicated in South Africa, but even so a Lions tour is not to be sniffed at, especially if exchange rates are taken into consideration too.
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OT – another person who preferred chess to league.
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@craigs
More seriously….don’t underestimate how big RU is in the neck of the woods you grew up in, and that will be a big reason why you love the sport so much. I moved into that area in January 2002 and was amazed at how big RU was – I’d never experienced any sport other than football (and occasionally RL back home) being on in the pubs before for example. And on a 6 Nations match day the pubs on that entire train loop from Kingston through to Twickenham (and back to Richmond of course) would be buzzing – it was brilliant.
Same goes for me and RL – it is/was a really strong local sport. You had international players living down the road and going to your local church, they all played originally at one of the local clubs and went to the same school as us. So that’s part of the reason people feel very strongly about it.
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On Rugby League……………………….whilst at Sheffield Uni early 70s we used to play Rugby League with the Uni team.
Through that contact we persuaded the then top (?) League ref of the time, Fred Lindop, to give us fitness training under lights on Sheffield’s slopes.
He was a lovely guy and a suitable bastard – we benefitted, but it hurt.
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OT – I was cack handedly making a point that the rules should benefit the players not the viewers. Am I right that league changed the rules to be a better spectacle? If so that was my only point. Not about the quality of league as a whole.
It is big in Surrey. I first started playing at Esher rugby club which is where a lot of the international women’s matches used to be held. But one of the things that bugs me about the sport is how parochial it can be. Rather than try to win audiences they should try to attract a wider player base and emphasise the fun to had.
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ticht, it’s important and boosts the economy no doubt. My point was more that a hotel in Sydney probably shouldn’t need a Lions visit every 12 years to survive while that does seem to be the main business plan of the Australian Rugby Union.
One thing I liked in the old books I have about rugby tours is those massive long tours in which the Lions played 25 games and went to play against, say, Buller or Northern Free State in little out of the way places that would otherwise hardly ever see an international team. Those days are long past now. When the Lions played Manawatu in 2005 they put a hundred on them I think.
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craigs, javelin is another sport where the rules were changed or rather the equipment. Lads were throwing the old javelin 100 metres but that was putting spectators in danger so they changed the design.
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Ticht, our tourism sector has been so battered during the pandemic, and before by ruinous government policy, that the Lions tour would have been a massive boost. During the 2009 tour, I was at Mandela Square the week before one of the Tests and it was packed from every lunchtime onwards with singing, drinking Lions fans. The 2010 World Cup allegedly added 0.4% to GDP or £3bn at the time. But you had 64 matches and 3.1 million spectators and an estimated 360,000 foreign tourists. Even at 5% of that figure, the Lions tour would have been worth a very welcome £150m. I think it would have comfortably exceeded that as well.
As an illustration, Mrs Deebee and I had grand plans to host Lions fans at our house in Clarens during the tour, which were obviously scuppered. We’re one of thousands of small businesses that would’ve got a tidy boost from it,
especially luring unsuspecting Ovally Balls readers to Clarensbut alas nay. It would have provided revenue for us from accommodation, extra income for our house manager, revenue for the guys we buy wood from, the local butcher we use, the Brewery and all the restaurants, pubs, adventure tourism places as well as the ski lodge in Lesotho close to Clarens. The benefits of a tour like this go way beyond brand name hotels in big cities and give a lekker boost to small towns.LikeLike
Clarens is a 3.5 hour drive from Joburg, but less than an hour from Pretoria you can rent a house in a Big 5 game reserve for less than £50 a night per person. It’s quite spectacular and the towns within 100km to 150km of Pretoria or Cape Town with the wine farms would’ve got a huge boost over the eight weeks or so of even a truncated tour. No idea what point I’m trying to make, other than it was a loss for our economy not have the Lions fans here. It was an even bigger loss for our rugby not having thousands of wonderful Lions fans singing, drinking and dancing their way across the country.
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Football introduced the backpass law to make it less boring.
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Shot clock in basketball. Still a boring sport, mind.
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OT, that was a very sensible law change. One I’d like to see in rugby is to somehow prevent the aggrieved captain effectively slowing down a penalty by asking for explanations from the ref. He’s told you in the course of blowing the whistle what you’ve been pinged for and won’t change his mind. Also, players off the pitch for treatment. Maybe also support staff confined to a demarcated area like in football. These are minor things that I think would create more flow without impacting on the essence of the game.
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TomP, always thought basketball was crap until i watched the 92 Barcelona Olympics and the original ‘Dream Team’ which blew my mind with their skill and athleticism. Incredible. Although perhaps the fact that my interest lasted as long as the tournament is eloquent testimony to the fact that it is as boring as shit.
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They’re incredibly talented athletes I agree. And the skill level is astonishing but it is boring.
I was playing it with my lad this morning and he beat me 11-4 (5 baskets + a free throw to 2 baskets) so I might be prejudiced against it for that reason.
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In other news, Australia were bowled out by Bangladesh in 13.4 overs today, the quickest dismissal of an Aussie side in their history. Yeah it’s T20, but still a fun fact.
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I think I loved the almost telepathic understanding in that squad. They made it effortless and graceful whilst brutalising opponents at the same time. Still, never been a onvert but would watch a basketball match over baseball every day of the week. That’s the most boring sport I’ve ever watched.
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Ah, baseball. Good call. The designated hitter rule in baseball was brought in, but in only one of the leagues, to speed up the game.
I’ve been to a couple of major league games. I didn’t really understand the game but it was fun in its own way.
Went to a French league basketball game once and that was very good fun.
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I was talking to a basketball guy about how the Americans lost to France in the group stage at the Olympics. He said it was mostly down to foreign players getting more experience in the NBA and the Americans rarely playing together as a team while the other sides take international competition more seriously. He also said that the Dream Team would have won anyway but many teams were just pleased to be on the same court as their heroes and were intimated by them.
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DH rule not to speed the game up but to increase the offensive power of the teams as pitchers are usually not good at hitting.
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