South Africa v British & Irish Lions, 24 July

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SOUTH AFRICA v BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
Saturday 24 July
KO: 18:00 SAST / 17:00 UK / 20:00 Dubai  
Cape Town Stadium (Newlands), Cape Town
Sky Sports Main Event

Referee: Nic Berry (Australia)
Assistant Referees: Ben O’Keeffe, Mathieu Raynal
TMO: Marius Bloody Jonker of all people

TEAMS:

SOUTH AFRICA:
15 – Willie le Roux (Toyota Verblitz) – 62 caps, 60 pts (12t)
14 – Cheslin Kolbe (Toulouse) – 14 caps, 40 pts (8t)
13 – Lukhanyo Am (Cell C Sharks) – 15 caps, 15 pts (3t)
12 – Damian de Allende (Munster) – 47 caps, 30 pts (6t)
11 – Makazole Mapimpi (Cell C Sharks) – 14 caps, 70 pts (14t)
10 – Handré Pollard (vice-captain – Montpellier) – 49 caps, 465pts (6t, 78c, 89p, 4d)
09 – Faf de Klerk (Sale Sharks) – 30 caps, 20 pts (4t)

08 – Kwagga Smith (Yamaha Júbilo) – 7 caps, 5 pts (1t)
07 – Pieter-Steph du Toit (DHL Stormers) – 56 caps, 25 pts (5t)
06 – Siya Kolisi (captain – Cell C Sharks) – 51 caps, 30 pts (6t)
05 – Franco Mostert (Honda Heat) – 40 caps, 5pts (1t)
04 – Eben Etzebeth (Toulon) – 86 caps, 15 pts (3t)
03 – Trevor Nyakane (Vodacom Bulls) – 43 caps, 5 pts (1t)
02 – Bongi Mbonambi (DHL Stormers) – 37 caps, 40 pts (8t)
01 – Ox Nché (Cell C Sharks) – 2 caps, 0 pts

16 – Malcolm Marx (Kubota Spears) – 34 caps, 30 pts (6t)
17 – Steven Kitshoff (DHL Stormers) – 48 caps, 5pts (1t)
18 – Frans Malherbe (DHL Stormers) – 39 caps, 5pts (1t)
19 – Lood de Jager (Sale Sharks) – 45 caps, 25 pts (5t)
20 – Rynhardt Elstadt (Toulouse) – 2 caps, 0 pts
21 – Herschel Jantjies (DHL Stormers) – 11 caps, 25 pts (5t)
22 – Elton Jantjies (Pau) – 38 caps, 283 pts (2t, 63c, 49p)
23 – Damian Willemse (DHL Stormers) – 7 caps, 5pts (1t)

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS:
15. Stuart Hogg (Exeter, Scotland) #783
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, England) #816
13. Elliot Daly (Saracens, England) #822
12. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #824
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Worcester Warriors, Scotland) #841
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, Wales) #821
09. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland) #843

01. Rory Sutherland (Worcester, Scotland) #840
02. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter, England) #851
03. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #818
04. Maro Itoje (Saracens, England) #825
05. Alun Wyn Jones (C) (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. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England) #787
18. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, England) #814
19. Tadhg Beirne (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #838
20. Hamish Watson (Edinburgh Rugby, Scotland) #847
21. Conor Murray (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #790
22. Owen Farrell (Saracens, England) #780
23. Liam Williams (Scarlets, Wales) #833

PREVIEW:

lostinwales wrote:I wonder how bad the injury is? Will they put the call in to Marler?

Is he on the standby list?

Old Man wrote:

lostinwales wrote:I wonder how bad the injury is? Will they put the call in to Marler?

Bit late in the day for that, 14 day quaranteen and he would be too late to play

I'm pretty sure the Lions have an exemption on that, Marcus Smith and Alun Wyn Jones were involved pretty quickly after flying out.

flyhalffactory wrote:

lostinwales wrote:I wonder how bad the injury is? Will they put the call in to Marler?

Is he on the standby list?

Pretty sure he is not which is odd considering his form for Quins certainly makes him the best English loose head.

I suspect he was not picked because he chose not to play for England in Six Nations. I am not sure Gatland likes characters.

flyhalffactory wrote:

lostinwales wrote:I wonder how bad the injury is? Will they put the call in to Marler?

Is he on the standby list?

Pretty sure he is not which considering his form for Quins certainly makes him the best English loose head.

I suspect he was not picked because he chose not to play for England in Six Nations. I am not sure Gatland likes characters.

Gutted for W Jones - absolutely horrible to have to withdraw so late in the day. Garland said he has no intention of calling up a replacement so it must be a relatively minor problem.

Nerves kicking in now. Must be weird for the players at the moment in an empty quiet stadium even with them playing in them most of the season.

Exiledinborders wrote:

flyhalffactory wrote:

lostinwales wrote:I wonder how bad the injury is? Will they put the call in to Marler?

Is he on the standby list?

Pretty sure he is not which considering his form for Quins certainly makes him the best English loose head.

I suspect he was not picked because he chose not to play for England in Six Nations. I am not sure Gatland likes characters.

I just think Marler wants to spend more time at home with his young family.

Is it just me , or do all these sky commentators speak one eyed ,nationalistic poopie.
Wish I could fast forward to the game

A lot of the build up has been okay for me. I love this Hogg piece with his parents, for example. The Doddie Weir bit was brilliant too. Possibly helps that they aren’t in the studio for those bits.

Fair play to Hogg. I’ve never previously warmed to him much but he comes across really well. Happy to be proved wrong and glad he’s getting the chance with his first Lions test.

After the initial panic....I've managed to find a Rock bar in Brittany that will put the game on for me.....game on!

O’Gara basically said everyone in the midfield barring Henshaw was sub standard and Hogg wants it too much so might not perform. It’s as if he wants everyone barring the Irish boys to play rubbish.
Curry apparently doesn’t give away penalties and turnovers nor misses a tackle. I like Curry as a player but he is still a bit rash and raw which is to be expected. He is not the finished article they were trying to proclaim.
If anywhere is going to be an issue for me it will be the space between Daly and his wingers. None of those players are prolific defensively and this is where SA are really strong.
Still think the lions will nick it by a score though.
Hopefully

Sgt_Pooly wrote:After the initial panic....I've managed to find a Rock bar in Brittany that will put the game on for me.....game on!

They got Newcie Brown on tho?

Sgt_Pooly wrote:After the initial panic....I've managed to find a Rock bar in Brittany that will put the game on for me.....game on!

So you've interrupted a 24 hour Dwayne Johnson marathon for your pingy pingy ball game?

Brilliant first bomb from Biggar there. That's perfectly judged and Duhan chased very well.

First challenge against the Boks lineout.

Not a lot of arm used by Am in that hit on Daly.

That smash hit from Am was good, IMO.

Great hit by Am for me. Arms are up and he tries to wrap but the impact is so big that he can't quite wrap.

Some good stuff from both sides in a short space of time.

No 7&1/2 wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:After the initial panic....I've managed to find a Rock bar in Brittany that will put the game on for me.....game on!

They got Newcie Brown on tho?

Just 1664 sadly....it will do.

Good tight physical start.

Extremely quick to call advantage over.

Short advantage for SA there

If the game stays open like this I could see Kwagga Smith having a massive game.

For a nil-nil game this has had a lot going on.

What is this ref seeing? Genuine question. He’s a kiwi right?

Ref not great at communication there. Also an arm above Itojes shoulder. Hey ho.

Seemed a fair pen to me. Curry was intentionally pinned in there by the clearing players but he rolled the wrong side which allowed them to pin him in, which then slowed the ball.

The Boks definitely seem to have the nudge in the scrum. Worrying with Kitshoff, Marx and Malherbe to be launched on 45 minutes.

Aussie ref.

Curry needs to be careful with that late shoulder hit

Lol. Tmo involved straight away.

That's high from Etzebeth though. He rode up, so it's just a pen but definitely around Itoje's neck.

Silly from Curry. Hosts building a decent lead early on and the scrum already looks powerful (as expected). Liked the shorter advantage earlier from the referee - advantages in this sport often take the mick in terms of longevity.

Strange the tmo didn't chip in on that high tackle but did against Curry. Weird.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Strange the tmo didn't chip in on that high tackle but did against Curry.  Weird.  

Very strange...

We are just getting mangled at the breakdown and loose in general, Itoje just in the wrong area just driven back, loses moment, then Curry gives away silly pen

Great second turnover from Itoje but braindead from Daly.

Great TO Itoje

English lads getting pinged a lot....strange as we're normally so clean.

And a third. Very lucky as doubt he's on his feet.

Curry lucky not to be penalised for holding on when he tackled Kolisi

Brilliant 2 Turnovers from Itoje...apparently he's not good at this....

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Brilliant 2 Turnovers from Itoje...apparently he's not good at this....

3.

The best and worst of Itoje, awful lineout

Strange not to call advantage over that time. A kick normally ends a knock-on advantage.

Yep

I suppose it was because the kick was lateral, not forward to gain territory

No 7&1/2 wrote:

Sgt_Pooly wrote:Brilliant 2 Turnovers from Itoje...apparently he's not good at this....

3.

2

Opportunity missed at that line out

We really just need to calm the hell down.

Lions are overplaying here

We're going to see Farrell on for Daly at half time.

Was Hogg taken out in the air at the start?
Didn’t look at it again

If we are taalking about the same moment, him and Kolbe made contact,