Rugby

So, what are people's Lions 23's at this point? I think I'd go with:

Wynne Jones
George
Furlong
Itoje
Henderson
Lawes
Curry
Faletau
Price
Biggar
Watson
Henshaw
Daly
Williams
Hogg

Bench:
Mako
LCD
Sinckler
Berne
Simmons
Murray
Farrell
Smith

The forwards on that bench are incredibly dynamic and can really keep the intensity up, half-backs look a real tough call across all spots for the lions, but fudging it somewhat with enough versatility starting (Hogg, Williams and Daly can cover most positions) that having Farrell and Smith in reserves means Gatland could make the calls he needs depending on match situation. Welsh fans would probably have a lot to disagree with here as some very harsh calls on Adams, Navidi, Beard and Owens but there's always going to be very good players missing out and I'm sure they'll have big parts to play across the latter tests. Adams especially unlucky considering his form.

It's pretty impossible. I'd deff start Furlong, Itoje, Curry, Bigger, Henshaw and Williams. I'd probably pick LCD. The rest start to become 50/50 and thinking about how you want to play. I can't believe I'm saying this but even hogg

Lions team to face South Africa: Hogg; Watson, Daly, Henshaw, Van Der Merwe; Biggar, Price; W Jones, Cowan-Dickie, Furlong, Itoje, AW Jones (capt), Lawes, Curry, Conan.

Replacements: Owens, Sutherland, Sinckler, Beirne, H Watson, Murray, Farrell, L Williams.

Same as leaked by the Times yesterday then. Wonder who leaked it?

Price is the key call for me. The other scrum halves have been lacklustre (although could argue Price didn't face the same level of oppo). I can't help but feel Gats has missed a trick overlooking Danny Care for the tour (and I don't like Danny Care all that much!) - abrasive, plays up-tempo rugby and certainly knows how to wind up Faf. 9 seems to be a weakness for the Lions.

Some big calls there I think.

VdM over Adams seems harsh.
Conan over Faletau is a big call (especially as Faletau doesn't even get on the bench
Daly at 13 could be making of him internationally if he does well and Jones takes note (slade vs Daly for 13 could be a nice challenge over the next couple of years if so)
Glad LCD got the 2 slot
Hogg and AWJ are both there on their historical performances, so need to hit the ground running

My mistake - bench split in the Times was 6-2 with Henderson. Williams in the real selection.

Not sure Faletau is fit. He hasn't been his usual self on tour.

Picking the scrum half with the most international experience of playing behind a retreating pack? 🙄

Hahahahaha! (stolen)

I won't get to watch the test(s) live, so will be on catch up. I don't have Sky or Now. Whats the best way to find a full replay without exposing spoilers and how soon do we think it will be available?

Across The Tasman (torrent site) has full games of pretty much every Rugby match. They go up normally evening of the game.

I don't have Sky so will be streaming for free from somewhere, Vipbox.lc normally has a good stream (although tonnes and tonnes of ads and pop up spam)

Sad about Aus and NZ for RLWC. But surely inevitable....

Meanwhile RFL brands them 'selfish' and 'parochial' and 'cowardly' for making the decision:

https://www.skysports.com/rugby-league/news/12196/12361045/australia-and-new-zealand-will-not-compete-at-rugby-league-world-cup-due-to-coronavirus-concerns

Erm. Ok. Way to burn your bridges with the one region that probably can help sustain the sport long-term.

It seems a very early decision and you've got to wonder what the rugby league teams know that all the other Australian sports teams coming over here don't.

It sounds like a pretty pissed off statement, I wonder if there were things going on in the background or it really is that ill-judged.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2021/jul/23/neil-francis-reference-marcus-smith-skin-colour-angers-british-irish-lions-harlequins

Neil Francis - WAFC

From what I understand, it went completely unchallenged in the podcast too. Fuck me.

No surprise, he has form for homophobia too. How did he have a gig in the first place?

Another of the “I’m sorry if you took offence” passing the responsibility brigade too. That’s not an apology. I’m glad he got sacked.

I hadn’t realised he was also the “gay people don’t like sport” guy also. Fucking hell - it gets far worse reading back further too.

Let me know which charity you want me to donate to?

Boks badly short of match fitness (unsurprisingly). Gatland played a blinder by pressuring the TMO, he was so scared of making a call in favour of SA.

Lions fronted up well but Boks will improve, series set up well although I'd have preferred the other result.

Duane an absolutely huge miss!

Another test where AWJ has being on the winning side against SA. Care to revise the opinion that he would never have won a cap if he was South African?

Not a chance. Anonymous as always.

Pretty sure his injury was manufactured to wrap him in cotton wool and save him for the tests. Also added a nice returning hero narrative.

Hi Rassie, or is it Jaco? Best step away from Twitter too.

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.

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.

Doddie Weir Foundation seems as good a choice as any 👍🏼

I thought it was a fairly terrible match, of course it got tense towards the end but when teams adopt such a limited game-plan you at least want to see it well-executed (like Exeter). This was scrappy. I thought the referee seemed out of his depth and neither team could find any consistency. Really hoping for better this week!

This is Talksport phone-in level of analysis 🤣

Done - Good choice especially with the struggles Joost went through too!

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