South Africa 'A' v British & Irish Lions, 14 July

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SOUTH AFRICA A v BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
Wednesday 14 July
KO: 20:00 SAST / 19:00 UK / 22:00 Dubai  
Cape Town Stadium (Newlands), Cape Town
Sky Sports Main Event

Referee: Jaco Peyper
Assistant Referees: Wayne Barnes, AJ Jacobs
TMO: Marius Jonker

TEAMS:

SOUTH AFRICA A:
15 – Willie le Roux
14 – Cheslin Kolbe
13 – Lukhanyo Am (captain)
12 – Damian de Allende
11 – Sbu Nkosi
10 – Morné Steyn
9 – Faf de Klerk

8 – Jasper Wiese
7 – Pieter-Steph du Toit
6 – Marco van Staden
5 – Franco Mostert
4 – Eben Etzebeth
3 – Trevor Nyakane
2 – Joseph Dweba
1 – Steven Kitshoff

Replacements (from):
16 – Malcolm Marx
17 – Coenie Oosthuizen
18 – Vincent Koch
19 – Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg
20 – Rynhardt Elstadt
21 – Herschel Jantjies
22 – Jesse Kriel
23 – Damian Willemse
24 – Kwagga Smith
25 – Elton Jantjies

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS:
15. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, England) #816
14. Louis Rees-Zammit (Gloucester Rugby, Wales) #846
13. Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby, Scotland) #844
12. Bundee Aki (Connacht Rugby, Ireland) #837
11. Josh Adams (Cardiff Rugby, Wales) #836
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, Wales) #821
9. Conor Murray – captain (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #790

1. Wyn Jones (Scarlets, Wales) #842
2. Ken Owens (Scarlets, Wales) #829
3. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, England) #814
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, England) #825
5. Iain Henderson (Ulster Rugby, Ireland) #808
6. Josh Navidi (Cardiff Rugby, Wales) #854
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, England) #853
8. Taulupe Faletau (Bath Rugby, Wales) #779

16. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, England) #851
17. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England) #787
18. Zander Fagerson (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland) #848
19. Adam Beard (Ospreys, Wales) #852
20. Tadhg Beirne (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #838
21. Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, England) #849
22. Gareth Davies (Scarlets, Wales) #850
23. Elliot Daly (Saracens, England) #822

COMMENTARY:

yep 10 days

Can we postpone?

Sure, until we can have spectators back in the stands

They are not a bad team are they.

Clearly our problem is an insufficient number of jocks on the pitch.

I’m a bit disappointed we didn’t get a check on the trip on Sinckler before the Kolbe try. It might just have been a rugby incident as they were on converging lines, but I would have thought it warranted a look.

Is that not his head on Navidi s head? Seems to be for me.

Its a card, get on with it

No arms, lead with head. Off

You would think they should eventually get through

Hands on the floor at every breakdown too.

No head contact?

two movements there

crikey is that it

That is like leopard crawling through mud.

Old Man wrote:two movements there

looks like a double movement?

The SA panel before the match questioned the wisdom of selecting Alun Wynn Jones if he isn’t at 100% fitness

flyhalffactory wrote:

Old Man wrote:two movements there

looks like a double movement?

Yes looked like it to me too.

The world's first triple movement.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Is that not his head on Navidi s head? Seems to be for me.

Not according to these officials - no idea what they were looking at as Faf's nut clearly smacked Nav in the mush ...

Heaf wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Is that not his head on Navidi s head? Seems to be for me.

Not according to these officials - no idea what they were looking at as Faf's nut clearly smacked Nav in the mush ...

Yeah its a red. Wonder it we have a neutral citing officer as de Klerk may be out of the tests.

No 7&1/2 wrote:

Heaf wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Is that not his head on Navidi s head? Seems to be for me.

Not according to these officials - no idea what they were looking at as Faf's nut clearly smacked Nav in the mush ...

Yeah its a red.  Wonder it we have a neutral citing officer as de Klerk may be out of the tests.

Might not be a bad thing, would prefer Reinach

Old Man wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:

Heaf wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Is that not his head on Navidi s head? Seems to be for me.

Not according to these officials - no idea what they were looking at as Faf's nut clearly smacked Nav in the mush ...

Yeah its a red.  Wonder it we have a neutral citing officer as de Klerk may be out of the tests.

Might not be a bad thing, would prefer Reinach

I like both. Better than anything the Lions have picked.

Interesting first half, some massive calls from the ref team, but over all lions look rudderless! No leadership, poor decision making and poor execution.

Front row impressive, not just in the scrum but around the park they look the only forwards who are fronting up

Very poor half from the Lions - even worse from the officials - shame we can't sub them at half time ...

Dirtydave wrote:Interesting first half, some massive calls from the ref team, but over all lions look rudderless! No leadership, poor decision making and poor execution.

Front row impressive, not just in the scrum but around the park they look the only forwards who are fronting up

Bar Itoje and Curry.

Just what we needed, proper game, a few of the lions have played themselves out of the test starting xv imho.

Regarding Far yellow, I'm glad it was just a yellow, Fafs hit look tough but borderline, defo wouldn't want to see a red.

The refs stating contact on the body though? What are they looking at its a clear head clash.

The tackle before Fafs tho, is a shoulder to Wyn Jones head directly. That was much more dangerous!

Agreed, Faf should be off permanently.
Farrell is playing himself out of the Test XV; I wonder just how "convenient" Biggar's "slight ankle strain" was.
Daly looked good but his clearance kick to Kolbe was suicidal: if that had been Dancer Russell these boards would have been full of scathing "Flaky, unreliable" type comments.
The pack are being smashed at the breakdowns, Farrel isn't moving the ball away, intelligently, from the Boks defence. We are not asking them any questions and neither are we taking them out of their comfort zone.

O'Gara not knowing the laws then.

SA have played what one game?......undercooked don't make larf

Lots of Lions playing themselves out of the test, ponderous to the breakdown, not looking after the ball, mistakes galore. Experienced guys going missing

No 7&1/2 wrote:

Dirtydave wrote:Interesting first half, some massive calls from the ref team, but over all lions look rudderless! No leadership, poor decision making and poor execution.

Front row impressive, not just in the scrum but around the park they look the only forwards who are fronting up

Bar Itoje and Curry.

?? Both have been rag dolled, and are poor ball in hand and at the breakdown!

Dirtydave wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:

Dirtydave wrote:Interesting first half, some massive calls from the ref team, but over all lions look rudderless! No leadership, poor decision making and poor execution.

Front row impressive, not just in the scrum but around the park they look the only forwards who are fronting up

Bar Itoje and Curry.

?? Both have been rag dolled, and are poor ball in hand and at the breakdown!

Really. OK.

Does anyone else think LRZ stupid haircut highlights the lions players attitudes, smashing teams by 50 points and they've bought into the hype?

Sub Murray and we'll do better.

Ken Owens as Captain.

Conor mUrray has been disappointing for me, showed no leadership and he is as pedantic as Faf with the box kicks

Lions will be much better in the second half, and I won’t worry about the tests, they will be up for it.

Dirtydave wrote:Does anyone else think LRZ stupid haircut highlights the lions players attitudes, smashing teams by 50 points and they've bought into the hype?

Nah

TightHEAD wrote:Sub Murray and we'll do better.

Ken Owens as Captain.

He's really stepped up to lead hasn't he! Very impressed, although he seems to make decisions based on brovado, as warburton said a scrum really stretches SA and Owens seems to want to beat them back

Nyakane has struggled, being tactcially outsmarted

Some players really playing themselves out of test contention...

Henderson, Curry, Farrell, Harris, LRZ all need a big 40

Old Man wrote:Lions will be much better in the second half, and I won’t worry about the tests, they will be up for it.

Just trying to make us feel better?

Heaf wrote:

Old Man wrote:Lions will be much better in the second half, and I won’t worry about the tests, they will be up for it.

Just trying to make us feel better?

Nope, think about it, they have been having it easy, they will adjust to the physicality of the SA A team, a few choice words by Gatland at halftime.

Anyone know who is lining up in the Lions 1/2/6/8/14 shirts? Difficult to recognise them, they’ve been face down in the turf for 40 mins!

And they have ten minutes against 13 to start the half

Faffs yellow - Initial contact on the arm. Hence yellow Lucky he is on 4 ft high tho Not a chance it will be cited

Old Man wrote:

Heaf wrote:

Old Man wrote:Lions will be much better in the second half, and I won’t worry about the tests, they will be up for it.

Just trying to make us feel better?

Nope, think about it, they have been having it easy, they will adjust to the physicality of the SA A team, a few choice words by Gatland at halftime.

I hope you're right ...

Old Man wrote:

Heaf wrote:

Old Man wrote:Lions will be much better in the second half, and I won’t worry about the tests, they will be up for it.

Just trying to make us feel better?

Nope, think about it, they have been having it easy, they will adjust to the physicality of the SA A team, a few choice words by Gatland at halftime.

Yes, I guess one consolation is that this is not really an A team in the conventional sense. What better practice for the test series than facing…erm…..the test team (pretty much)?!

Farrell stop Frak kicking it away.

Why does Farrell kick to the SA wingers?