South Africa v British & Irish Lions, 31 July

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SOUTH AFRICA v BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
Saturday 31 July
KO: 18:00 SAST / 17:00 UK / 20:00 Dubai  
Cape Town Stadium (Newlands), Cape Town
Sky Sports Main Event

Referee: Ben O’Keeffe (New Zealand)
Assistant Referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Mathieu Raynal (France)
TMO: Marius Jonker ( )

TEAMS:

SOUTH AFRICA:
15 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 63 caps, 60 pts (12t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Toulouse) – 15 caps, 40 pts (8t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 16 caps, 15 pts (3t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Munster) – 48 caps, 30 pts (6t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 15 caps, 70 pts (14t)
10 – Handré Pollard (vice-captain, Montpellier) – 50 caps, 477pts (6t, 78c, 93p, 4d)
09 – Faf de Klerk (Sale Sharks) – 31 caps, 25 pts (5t)

08 – Jasper Wiese (Leicester Tigers) – 1 cap, 0 pts
07 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (DHL Stormers) – 57 caps, 25 pts (5t)
06 – Siya Kolisi (captain, Cell C Sharks) – 52 caps, 30 pts (6t)
05 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 41 caps, 5pts (1t)
04 – Eben Etzebeth (Toulon) – 87 caps, 15 pts (3t)
03 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 40 caps, 5pts (1t)
02 – Bongi Mbonambi (DHL Stormers) – 38 caps, 40 pts (8t)
01 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 49 caps, 5pts (1t)

16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 35 caps, 30 pts (6t)
17 – Trevor Nyakane (Vodacom Bulls) – 44 caps, 5 pts (1t)
18 – Vincent Koch (Saracens) – 21 caps, 0 pts
19 – Lood de Jager (Sale Sharks) – 46 caps, 25 pts (5t)
20 – Marco van Staden (Vodacom Bulls) – 3 caps, 0 pts
21 – Kwagga Smith (Yamaha Júbilo) – 8 caps, 5 pts (1t)
22 – Herschel Jantjies (DHL Stormers) – 12 caps, 25 pts (5t)
23 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 8 caps, 5pts (1t)

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS:
15. Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs, Scotland) #783
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, England) #816
13. Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby, Scotland) #844
12. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #824
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Worcester Warriors, Scotland) #841
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, Wales) #821
09. Conor Murray (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #790

01. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England) #787
02. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, England) #851
03. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #818
04. Maro Itoje (Saracens, England) #825
05. Alun Wyn Jones – captain (Ospreys, Wales) #761
06. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, England) #826
07. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, England) #853
08. Jack Conan (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #839

16. Ken Owens (Scarlets, Wales) #829
17. Rory Sutherland (Worcester Warriors, Scotland) #840
18. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, England) #814
19. Tadhg Beirne (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #838
20. Taulupe Faletau (Bath Rugby, Wales) #779
21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland) #843
22. Owen Farrell (Saracens, England) #780
23. Elliot Daly (Saracens, England) #822

PREVIEW:

Duty281 wrote:Never in a position to win the ball + dangerous action (not for the first time from that player) + Murray lands on his head = red card. Easiest call of the test, bottled by the officiating team.

I thought those were always a red card, so I was surprised. Ref probably could have yellow carded another two guys after that for the afters. It is not soft to think that, it’s just the laws of the game.

Anyone else think Etzebeth looks like Bruno the fashion model???

Rugby Fan wrote:Would like to have Liam Williams in a game like this. Don't know who I'd drop, mind you.

I rate Sanjay incredibly highly and struggle to see why you'd play the kick chase tactics without him in the 23.

Daly covers more positions but with Farrell able to cover 12, Henshaw push to 13 the midfield is covered anyway.

Yessss down the line

Knock me sideways, the Lions get a decision at the breakdown. And an excellent tactical call to go for the line-out while they have a small window of a 15-14 advantage.

SA have carte blanche at rucks. It’s about time they got pinged for not rolling.

Duty281 wrote:Knock me sideways, the Lions get a decision at the breakdown. And an excellent tactical call to go for the line-out while they have a small window of a 15-14 advantage.

AWJ

Murray looks hurt

Looked good!

DeKlerk tackled Murray with his head

RiscaGame wrote:SA have carte blanche at rucks. It’s about time they got pinged for not rolling.

Last week the Lions reacted quicker to the breakdown interpretations with Itoje in particular competing everything realising that Berry was being lenient on the defending side.

This week the leniency is going more to the attacking side and the Boks have realised it sooner in my opinion by rolling away quite slowly. The Lions need to wake up and do the same.

Just as I type that Conan does a very good job of pinning the tackler to win a penalty. Smart smart play by Conan.

Get in, despite more South Africa roughhousing en route.

South africa will be very lucky to end up with 15 men by the end. Horrendous.

Murray and Itoje the motms so far

Collapse2005 wrote:DeKlerk tackled Murray with his head

And it seems they're not even looking at it ...

No try for me.

This will be a tight call either way.

Itoje has been at his very best for 3 halves of rugby so far this series. If he can do it for another 3 halves I'd bet on the Lions coming out on top.

That was definitely high from Faf

Lol. Horrendous.

Abysmal officiating.

How many yellow cards in that series? Two? Three?

Faf clearly has a free pass ... what with that and the non-red the officials are having a mare ...

Itoje, AWJ and Lawes are very good at everything across these tests.

South Africa should be down to about 12 men. It's utter carnage out there.

The no arms should be yellow, in itself.

Poor officiating all round.

Heaf wrote:Faf clearly has a free pass ... what with that and the non-red the officials are having a mare ...

Probably mission accomplished for Rassie then.

Kolbe back on - so far head to the face, taking out in the air - what's next from him?

Sometimes it seems less like rugby, and more like who can incite the other side to the most vilence.

Scrum pen not given now ...

0/10 for the rugby, 7/10 for the gang brawl in that half. Would be nice to see some rugby in the second

and 2/10 for the officials - the 2 is for turning up

HT - Lions look the stronger side by some distance, but still only a 3 point game.

What have the Boks got in the tank for the second half

Ref has bottled it. Kolbe was a definite red while Faf was high with no attempt to use his arms.

Exciting game, SA have the rub of the green in this game. We had it in the last. 2nd half will be fascinating.

Two hour rant video from Gatland to look forward too next week. Lol

Think Van Der Merve hasn’t had his best game. Sub for 2nd half?

I’d say Henshaw probably scored a try there.

Fafs tackle was pretty bad, lucky boy.

No tackles missed by the Lions in the first half, great stat. Itoje is a wonder.

Officiating has been disgraceful. Clear red, then two clear yellows for Faf and the no-arms tackle - all missed. Could be a very ugly second half, especially if the Lions get a clear lead and the hosts get frustrated.

South Africa's breakdown work has also been atrocious, but towards the latter end of the half the referee picked up on it and started to penalise accordingly.

At this rate the benches will be vital. The Boks have effectively lost a sub already due to Smith being on for PSdT.

16.Marx 17.Nyakane 18.Koch 19.de Jager 20.van Staden 22.Jantjies 23.Willemse

16.Owens 17.Sutherland 18.Sinckler 19.Bierne 20.Faletau 21.Price 22.Farrell 23.Daly

The Boks will be looking at Marx and de Jager thinking that if they can perform at their very best they could make a big impact.

The Lions will be doing similar with Faletau and Sinckler. The Lions back row are already on top for me. If Faletau can perform at his best then he will continue that.

Sinckler will be vital to the front row battle when he's up against Nyakane after the subs come on. The Boks haven't had the set-piece advantage they will have banked on when starting Kitshoff and Malherbe.

Itoje is clearly Man of the Series for the Lions already. What a player.

RiscaGame wrote:Itoje is clearly Man of the Series for the Lions already. What a player.

I'm delighted for him after a tough Six Nations in which he looked like a player trying to do too much in a depleted, under performing side and came in for a lot of stick.

He's been magnificent for 120 minutes of rugby so far this series. The best I've seen him since the RWC semi-final when he won the head to head with Retallick.

Lions had the better of boks last week at 60mins, now reached that in the first half! Murray slow at breakdown and kicking too long so far, let’s see how it opens up

Lions can't afford to go into this half thinking the Boks will get tired first.

Ouch, that was a good try!

Great play Pollard, quality try

Pollard is doing us some favour!

Good try, but another missed kick from Pollard could be crucial.

And South Africa mess up the restart.

takethelongroad wrote:Lions had the better of boks last week at 60mins, now reached that in the first half! Murray slow at breakdown and kicking too long so far, let’s see how it opens up

Murray was late at about 1 breakdown, he has been one of the Lions better players. Most his kicks have been contestable too and put the Boks under lots of pressure.