Sharks v British & Irish Lions
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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 -
@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??