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Yeah match fitness is the big issue, shame they've had such disruptive prep. They missed Duane calming them down in the second half and steering the ship. Kolisi is a great figurehead but by his own admission relies on other leaders to do the talking / manage the side.
Lions definitely deserved to win but the Boks also contributed to their own downfall. I think he might switch the front rows around as Malherbe isn't an impact player. Kitshoff was saying Nick Berry was telling Faff to use the ball as soon as it was at the base whereas they'd have liked it to have been left a bit longer to go for a second shove. Only movement scrum wise was on the Lions ball when SA were chasing a penalty too much and got a bit eager.
I think they might give Loed a start as well and I could see Nkosi coming into the side instead of Mapimpi to give a bit more presence under the high balls. I think they'll give Kwagga another go mainly due to lack of alternatives. Evan Roos from the Stormers will be the starting 8 (back up to Duane) by the end of the year but they won't chuck him into this series.
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Saffronspokes
So much moaning on twitter. SA shat the bed with pens in the 2nd half. And that big boy front row from the bench didn't make a dent.
I agree that Watson was lucky and Itoje wasn't supporting his own body weight but there were no arm shots, taking out in the air and persistent infringements from sa that could have been yellows.
SA lost because they weren't fit enough, gave away a load of pens, iffy selection, and the big players didn't match up that well to their oppo number.
I reckon a lot of that will be ironed out by SA next weekend. Conditioning might be a bit hard to improve tho.