Emirates Lions v British & Irish Lions, 3 July

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EMIRATES LIONS v BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
Saturday 3 July
KO: 18:00 SAST / 17:00 UK / 20:00 Dubai  
Emirates Airline Park (Ellis Park), Johannesburg
Sky Sports Action

Referee: AJ Jacobs (SARU)
Assistant Referee 1: Wayne Barnes (RFU)
Assistant Referee 2: Jaco Peyper (SARU)
TMO: Stuart Berry (SARU)

TEAMS:

EMIRATES LIONS:
15. EW Viljoen
14. Jamba Ulengo
13. Manuel Rass
12. Burger Odendaal
11. Rabz Maxwane
10. Jordan Hendrikse
09. Dillon Smit

01. Nathan McBeth
02. PJ Botha
03. Ruan Dreyer
04. Ruben Schoeman
05. Reinhard Nothnagel
06. Sbusiso Sangweni
07. Vincent Tshituka
08. Francke Horn (captain).

16. Jaco Visagie
17. Sti Sithole
18. Carlu Sadie
19. Ruhan Straeuli
20. Emmanuel Tshituka
21. Morne van den Berg
22. Fred Zeilinga
23. Dan Kriel.

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS:
15. Stuart Hogg – captain (Exeter Chiefs, Scotland) #783
14. Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby, Wales)
13. Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby, Scotland)
12. Owen Farrell (Saracens, England) #780
11. Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby, Wales) #836
10. Finn Russell (Racing 92, Scotland) #835
09. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland) #843

01. Wyn Jones (Scarlets, Wales) #842
02. Jamie George (Saracens, England) #819
03. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, England) #814
04. Maro Itoje (Saracens, England) #825
05. Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, England)
06. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, England) #826
07. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby, Scotland)
08. Taulupe Faletau (Bath Rugby, Wales) #779

16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, England)
17. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England) – Prop #787
18. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland)
19. Iain Henderson (Ulster Rugby, Ireland) #808
20. Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, England)
21. Gareth Davies (Scarlets, Wales)
22. Bundee Aki (Connacht Rugby, Ireland) #837
23. Elliot Daly (Saracens, England) #822

COMMENTARY:

Does there need to be four commentators? Warburton is really boring and having Owens chip in for ref decisions is overkill. Stick with Greenwood and whoever the other guy is.

That's a YC for Simmons, a bit over enthusiastic

just a penalty

Or maybe not, Simmonds a bit lucky there

Quick tap stupid, Sigma Lions need territory

Free seven pointer.

Another good try, the subs coming good

Elliot Daly has looked good.

Lions falling apart now

The dam might be breaking now, the energy off the bench is making a difference

Josh Adams has proved a good selection so far. He looked seriously out of breath there after that run.

What a game Adams is having

Hamish Watson MoM

56-14 FT

Good first hit out for the BI Lions, plenty to work on but they will be happy with that

Good match overall, Gatland should be quite happy with that

So who really stood out? For me, from the starters:
Hamish Watson,
Itoje,
Josh Adams,
Hogg

doctor_grey wrote:So who really stood out?  For me, from the starters:
Hamish Watson,
Itoje,
Josh Adams,
Hogg

Harris and Price were good as well.

Both Price and Davies play a very different game to Murray, they can play at real pace, which he struggles with. I think from what we have seen so far suggests SH could be one of the most difficult decisions in selection, which does make the choice of Murray as captain a little odd.

Lots of players putting up their hands across the board though.

No one took themselves out of contention for a test start, that's for sure, though Hamish might have inched closer to that first test start.

Agree about the choice of Murray as well. Before any matches were played I would have made Davies my choice by a thin margin over Murray, but Price played with nice tempo and good accuracy. I guess this is part of what makes Lions tours fun.

Well with a big break to cook tea finished watching. Not really too many negatives at all for me from that. Another easy run off, kicking bar a couple overcooked were good so fingers crossed not the issues England had with that to come up at high altitude. Still don't think Lawes is good enough at blindside though.

I enjoyed that. I agree with Geech’s comment that nobody played themselves out of test contention which is a good sign.

Not sure how to rate the forwards. Line out was almost perfect, largely thanks to George’s accurate arrows. Driving maul did practically nothing all game which was a bit of a worry but let’s give that time to improve.

I thought Faletau was a little quiet and I wasn’t as rhapsodic about Lawes as the commentators were. He was the main lineout jumper towards the end and showed his class there but also seemed to be something of a penalty magnet and someone whom the opposition could antagonise.

Hill and Itoje looked very nice together and Watson switched on beast mode again. Out of respect for the player if nothing else, I wish whomever it is that interviews him would stop asking him if he’s too small to play in South Africa. He’s always polite in answering it, but he’s clearly one of the strongest forwards we have and it makes any interviewer look like a stupid tabloid hack.

I thought Lawes was OK. And when Itoje went off he was the lineout option. With AWJ (probably) out, it wouldn't surprise me to see Itoje and Lawes as the starting second row. On the other hand, it's odd how Eddie Jones and Warren Gatland appear to view Lawes the same way.

I'd be happier with Lawes as lock but think he's more a bench option. At the min I'd be going Henderson itoje there.

There was a huge amount to like about the back play.

Price and Davies looked sharp as sh!t and it’s going to be interesting how Murray looks in comparison against the Sharks. Russell was always a threat and Hogg was starving for the ball and superbly intense - clearly loving the captaincy. I loved that Will Greenwood took time to point out just how excellent Chris Harris was and he of all people should know.

Farrell seemed to be the least effective but that’s not really a criticism when everyone else was playing so well. We’re all used to taking his 100% goal kicking for granted but we shouldn’t.

I am not onboard the Rees Zamimit Hype Train quite yet but Josh Adams is a rifleman with a very low error count who tracks the phases like Chris Ashton and that’s why he scores so many. I would have balked at any suggestion 1-2 years that he would start a Lions test but it’s starting to look absolutely inevitable that he will and fair play to him.

Collapse2005 wrote:Does there need to be four commentators? Warburton is really boring and having Owens chip in for ref decisions is overkill. Stick with Greenwood and whoever the other guy is.

Completely agree and I couldn’t help but shake the impressions that Nigel Owens was just enjoying watching the game and having to answer questions at the same time was a bit of an irritation.

George Carlin wrote:

Collapse2005 wrote:Does there need to be four commentators? Warburton is really boring and having Owens chip in for ref decisions is overkill. Stick with Greenwood and whoever the other guy is.

Completely agree and I couldn’t help but shake the impressions that Nigel Owens was just enjoying watching the game and having to answer questions at the same time was a bit of an irritation.

Yes to this. And he talks over the ref and tmo. A no no for me.

Well I had the Saffer commentary in Australia and it was very good - very fair and knowledgeable.

Good performance from the Lions, and as a Scotsman it was so good to see our players so heavily involved.

Front row - George had a good game and flawless lineout, but I would have liked to have seen more dominance from our scrum. In both games we've had parity, but we're going to need more when the Bocks come calling.

Locks - Itoje was an absolute colossus, and we really need him to stay fit. Who pairs him? Probably not going to be Jonny Hill who didn't really stand out in any way, other that when he flopped over a ruck on the 2nd half to give away a penalty.

Back row - I thought Lawes had a really good game, physical in defence as usual but also did a lot of carrying. Watson was an absolute dynamo as always and really put down a marker. Faletau was relatively quiet but still did a lot of carrying, and is a class act.

I was actually most pleased with Ali Price - I thought he had an outstanding game. Box kicks were excellent and he brought so much zip at the rucks. Well taken try too. Him and Davies appear to be playing for a bench spot and it's advantage Price currently - Davies will get his chance next game.

Midfield - Finn had a mixed bag with probably more mistakes than touches of class. I think the combo with Farrell didn't really add anything. Farrell for me doesn't really have a natural home in the squad - we've got better 12s and his style at 10 doesn't really suit the attacking style we seem to be going for. Finn is outstanding at putting players in space on the gainline and I'd love to see Aki or Henshaw crashing onto his slights of hand. Harris had a really good game - he's known for his defence but he hits really good lines and made a lot of yards. I'd love to see a Biggar-Henshaw-Harris midfield given a runout.

Back 3 - Adams took his tries really well and has at least one foot in the test team. LRZ didn't really have much of a chance to shine with the ball rarely making its way to him. Hogg was top class as always.


A shout out to the coaches - our defence already looks well drilled although there were a few gaps at the tail of the lineout which needs fixed. Townsend has brought a lot of variety to the attack but we did make things a bit too complicated at times. I also don't like how we executed the long lineout throw to Harris - both times he had no support anywhere near him and the Boks will be all over that breakdown.

Also shout out to the young Lions team - they were very competitive against an incredibly experienced B&I Lions team. I hope we can get through all the provincial games without Covid cancellations as they're a huge part of the tour.

Didnt think that the match told us too much as the opposition werent good enough really. The Japan game was a much better test.

Thought the forwards did alright but the backs didnt gel very well. Price played well as did Adams, everyone else average enough.

There have been some good individual performances in the two games. On the other hand, there's no sign yet of any standout combinations. Aki and Henshaw were good together but it would probably have been more of a surprise if they weren't.

RDW wrote:Well I had the Saffer commentary in Australia and it was very good - very fair and knowledgeable.

Good performance from the Lions, and as a Scotsman it was so good to see our players so heavily involved.

Front row - George had a good game and flawless lineout, but I would have liked to have seen more dominance from our scrum. In both games we've had parity, but we're going to need more when the Bocks come calling.

Locks - Itoje was an absolute colossus, and we really need him to stay fit. Who pairs him? Probably not going to be Jonny Hill who didn't really stand out in any way, other that when he flopped over a ruck on the 2nd half to give away a penalty.

Back row - I thought Lawes had a really good game, physical in defence as usual but also did a lot of carrying. Watson was an absolute dynamo as always and really put down a marker. Faletau was relatively quiet but still did a lot of carrying, and is a class act.

I was actually most pleased with Ali Price - I thought he had an outstanding game. Box kicks were excellent and he brought so much zip at the rucks. Well taken try too. Him and Davies appear to be playing for a bench spot and it's advantage Price currently - Davies will get his chance next game.

Midfield - Finn had a mixed bag with probably more mistakes than touches of class. I think the combo with Farrell didn't really add anything. Farrell for me doesn't really have a natural home in the squad - we've got better 12s and his style at 10 doesn't really suit the attacking style we seem to be going for. Finn is outstanding at putting players in space on the gainline and I'd love to see Aki or Henshaw crashing onto his slights of hand.  Harris had a really good game - he's known for his defence but he hits really good lines and made a lot of yards. I'd love to see a Biggar-Henshaw-Harris midfield given a runout.

Back 3 - Adams took his tries really well and has at least one foot in the test team. LRZ didn't really have much of a chance to shine with the ball rarely making its way to him. Hogg was top class as always.


A shout out to the coaches - our defence already looks well drilled although there were a few gaps at the tail of the lineout which needs fixed. Townsend has brought a lot of variety to the attack but we did make things a bit too complicated at times. I also don't like how we executed the long lineout throw to Harris - both times he had no support anywhere near him and the Boks will be all over that breakdown.

Also shout out to the young Lions team - they were very competitive against an incredibly experienced B&I Lions team. I hope we can get through all the provincial games without Covid cancellations as they're a huge part of the tour.

Great comments.  I was pleasantly surprised how well Price appeared to gel with the entire group on the pitch.  Real plus.  Faletau was quiet, but I don't think that means much.  No mistakes either.  I liked the times when Hogg came up as first receiver.  This adds a tremendous amount to the attack.   Only problem on defence led to one of the SA Lions tries when the B&I defence didn't react and pull wide leading to the overlap which was successfully converted.  But that comes with time and is a communication issue easily addressed.  I also liked  Daly seeing the opportunity for that long miss pass late on.  

And Hamish Watson was absolutely fun to watch.   Would also like to see a Biggar-Henshaw-Harris midfield.

For me players in credit from this game are Jamie George, Courtney Lawes, Hamish Watson, Ali Price, Chris Harris, Josh Adams and Hogg. I felt Faletau, Wyn Jones, Farrell and Rees-Zammut were fairly anonymous with Farrell overunning play and being caught out of position at times - rusty perhaps? Hogg captained well and great to see genuine congratulations for the players successes on the pitch from team-mates from across the borders.