Sharks v British & Irish Lions
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Despite the covid chaos and the 8-1 split on the bench, the Lions won at a canter, though it has to be said that the Sharks did have their moments, but just couldn't't handle the Lions competing at the breakdown and speed of attack. The interesting discussions will be around who stepped up and who stepped back. For me:
Zander Fagerson - a bit of a step back, conceded some scrum penalties and was not prominent elsewhere.
LCD - A big step forward. Good in the line out, good dominant tackle count, good carrying and a vital turnover steal. Really put his hand up and atm it is between him and Owens for the test spot, leaving Jamie George a hill to climb.
Mako V - A big step back. Simply awful at scrum time, giving away multiple penalties. OK in the loose but FFS do your day job.
Henderson - As you were really. OK in the scrum and line out, carried well and led well without doing anything stand out.
Adam Beard - Unlucky with that crossing/offside penalty. Did OK but nothing remarkable. As you were..
Navidi - A big step up. He was everywhere, being a blood nuisance all night but currently he is our bloody nuisance so I like it. Looking like a test 6.
Tom Curry - As you were. Did little wrong but apart from a very important turnover on our line, did not do a lot that was noticeable. Looked like he never really got into the game. More to come I hope.
Sam Simmonds - A short step up. Needed to get more involved but showed his pace and ball carrying a few times. More to come and could be a weapon if guys can get on his shoulder. Great (for a forward), unselfish pass for VDM's try.
Ali Price - As you were. Third game in a row may have counted against him, though he looked full of energy but a fair way to go to overtake Davies let alone Murray.
Farrell - A decent step up. Ran the game well without being flashy, kept his special tackle technique in the locker, good kicking game and distributed well. Little that was flash but not much that was wrong either. Biggar has some competition now.
Bundee O'Aki - As you were. We know what he can do and he did it. More to come though I feel - if he gets the chance.
Daly - A decent step up and another masterful display of why he shouldn't play at fullback. Useful boot, showed some good gas at times and a lovely flick on for Adams try. Harris still in the box seat though.
LZR - Showed great pace for his try but made the odd error. Looked a little green but can you ignore that pace?
VDM - A bit like Aki really. We know he can run over people and he did, showed glimpses he is a bit more than bulldozer though so I'd say a small step up
Josh Adams - 8 tries in three matches shows that he has stepped up yet again. Yeah some of those tries have been weak ins or a bit fortunate, but this is a guy that makes his own luck. Making it impossible to leave out at the moment.
Replacements, or at least the ones that I can remember:-
Furlong - a big step up. Huge improvement when he came on
Sutherland - same really.
Owens - As you were. We know what he can bring and he brought it. Good competition at hooker.
Itoje - As you were. He is the man in possession and the discussions will be about who partners him.
Faletau - As you were, nothing too flash but nothing wrong either. Probably the pencilled in starter at 8 as much because Gatland trusts him as current form.
Russell - a slight step back. Always good to watch with some great touches to unlock a defence. Many of his tricky plays will result in a try, but for which side? -
The Lions' defence is very strong when they are set and so far both the Lions (SA) and Sharks have struggled trying to play direct through their forwards. Obviously the Boks forwards will be a huge step up from their provincial players, which makes the test series fascinating to watch. When the game becomes more unstructured and open there were holes but the Lions and Sharks didn't have enough class to take advantage of that. I don't expect SA to deviate from what has served them well in recent seasons but I think they will be underdone.
No interest in watching v2 of this game though.
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Here are the teams for the second game between these teams. No point in starting a new thread as the Sharks are mainly just swapping starters and reserves.
Cell C Sharks:
15 Anthony Volmink
14 Marnus Potgieter
13 Werner Kok
12 Murray Koster
11 Thaakir Abrahams
10 Lionel Cronje
9 Jaden Hendrikse
8 Phepsi Buthelezi (c)
7 Mpilo Gumede
6 Dylan Richardson
5 Reniel Hugo
4 Le Roux Roets
3 Wiehahn Herbst
2 Kerron van Vuuren
1 Nthuthuko MchunuReplacements (extra players named):
16 Dan Jooste
17. MJ Majola
18 Khutha Mchunu
19 Thembelani Bholi
20 Jeandre Labuschagne
21 Cameron Wright
22 Boeta Chamberlain
23 Jeremy Ward
24 Lourens Adriaanse
25 Rynhardt Jonker
26 Curwin BoschBritish & Irish Lions:
15 Liam Williams (Scarlets, Wales) #833
14 Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, England) #816
13 Elliot Daly (Saracens, England) #822
12 Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby, Scotland) #844
11 Duhan van der Merwe (Worcester Warriors, Scotland) #841
10 Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, Wales) #821
9 Gareth Davies (Scarlets, Wales) #850
8 Jack Conan (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #839
7 Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby, Scotland) #847
6 Tadhg Beirne (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #838
5 Jonny Hill (Exeter Chiefs, England) #845
4 Maro Itoje (Saracens, England) #825
3 Tadhg Furlong (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #818
2 Jamie George – captain (Saracens, England) #819
1 Rory Sutherland (Worcester Warriors, Scotland) #840Replacements:
16 Ken Owens (Scarlets, Wales) #829
17 Wyn Jones (Scarlets, Wales) #842
18 Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, England) #814
19 Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, England) #826
20 Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs, England) #849
21 Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, England) #853
22 Conor Murray (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #790
23 Finn Russell (Racing 92, Scotland) #835 -
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@machpants So no SA A game midweek?
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@bovidae said in Sharks v British & Irish Lions:
@machpants So no SA A game midweek?
No it looks like at the weekend instead
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Lions ran riot and then some in the Second Half.
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Some good, bad, and ugly from the Lions
VDM staking his claim with a strong match
Anthony Watson too
Beirne playing like Dean Richards at his best
Looks like a cart horse around the park but is always in the right place at the right time and scores untouched
Brain fart from Murray wasn’t captain material
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@machpants said in Sharks v British & Irish Lions:
Was totally equal until the (actually deserved) red card. The series really is a mess, I guess it will be stormers next the SA a on the weekend
Yeah but at least we have some rugby I s’pose
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More questions than answers for mine.
The Sharks were pretty pants in that first match, wait then suddenly(in the first half anyway) they managed to turn it around and gain relative parity in just 3 days?
Just how good are the Lions??
On evidence of the Sigma Lions and the Sharks matches - has SA rugby gone backwards??
And the biggest question of all - will we see any meaningful test rugby in 2021??
in the cup final a few weeks ago so we can expect a new thrashing on Saturday.
