ljkeane

So England scrape a win by 1 point against South Africa. To be honest though it was absolute daylight robbery, the Springboks battered them in that second half. England started well but I think losing Tuilagi early hurt them quite a bit, although the did score two good tries after he went off the lack of a big ball carrier in midfield to worry the Springboks limited England's attacking options. I'm not sure it should have mattered too much though with the degree of dominance in the pack South Africans had in the second 40.

I just caught up with the Ireland New Zealand game. Excellent performance from the Irish and I thought the margin between the side was bigger than the score showed, most of the game was played with the All Blacks pinned back into their own territory under pressure. The Irish pack in particular were excellent but I think New Zealand will be a little concerned about the performance of their own forwards. I don't think it's too far off a full strength pack for New Zealand and Ireland were all over them. The England Australia game was pretty scrappy. Australia look to be missing Kerevi a lot and I think Jones is just trying to be too clever with his selections again. Smith should be England's 10 but just pick Tuilagi in midfield and an actual number 8 in the back row, preferably Dombrant.

Huh, weird game. Penrith absolutely battered the Rabbitohs for about 75 minutes of the game but, honestly, I also feel like they were a bit lucky to come away with the win. If Walker doesn't throw a pretty soft intercept pass to Crichton I think they lose the game.

Yeah, it’s not necessarily how much teams kick, it’s that as soon as they have a phase that doesn’t go over the gainline the Springboks go straight to putting up a high ball. It’s very prescriptive. But, yeah, deserved win for South Africa. Their bench had a big impact in that second half.

I’m not sure the Springboks have changed much, they’ve just won a few more of the contestable high balls. The up tempo game New Zealand are playing though looks to be causing them a few problems. The kick chase on the Jordi Barrett break towards the end of the first half was very ragged.

In terms of how they play? I’m not an expert but I’d say generally there’s less margin for error on links courses and they also tend to be pretty windy by the sea (or lake in this case).

I meant the links style is very traditional for a British or Irish course. You hardly ever see them in the US. Interesting change of pace I suppose. ETA: I should say you hardly ever see them on the PGA tour, there may well be loads of them around that you don’t see a lot of on tv. Anyway, the European team are pretty stuffed here. There’s a strong chance this is ending up with an embarrassing score line.

Whistling Straits doesn’t look a particularly American golf course.

My fitness playing rugby today was absolutely terrible. I've been struggling with my foot so I've been running less and less and missed quite a lot of training for various reasons over the last few weeks. I was just a complete liability after about 30 minutes. I really need to sort myself out.

Another good win for the Wallabies. I thought they were in trouble when their play under the high ball went to shit after Banks went off but the Springboks defence just couldn't handle them ball in hand. One of the problems with a really aggressive rush defence like South Africa play is if you miss tackles on the inside you're really struggling so the fact that they just couldn't tackle Kerevi one on one really caused them big issues. I think playing Mostert in the back row was probably the wrong call, he's fine if they can keep the game tight but with Australia looking to up the tempo whenever they could they could have done with a more mobile back row. Just as an aside I think this really showed how the Lions got their tactics wrong for the South Africa series. It was pretty obvious from the third test when Russell came on anyway but buying into the way the Springboks want to play the game clearly isn't the way to beat them.

Good game between Australia and South Africa. I thought the Wallabies did some good things in their games against New Zealand but they really lacked composure at the key moments. Quade Cooper isn't someone I'd generally associate with composed leadership from the flyhalf role but, fair play to him, they did look a lot better with him at 10.

Speaking of Australian rugby the number 8 last time they won the Bledisloe Cup, Toutai Kefu, was apparently stabbed after confronting a group who had broken into his house. It's good to hear he's out of hospital but it sounds pretty horrendous.

The final score didn't really reflect how close the game between New Zealand and Australia was this morning, the Wallabies were well in it for about 60 minutes of the match, but you can't help but feel the Wallabies need a bit more composure at key moments. I think there's a lot to like about the Dave Rennie version of the Wallabies, they look really good ball in hand, but if not for a pretty soft intercept try they probably go in at half time in front and the 10 minutes when they were a man up was absolutely terrible. Maybe the All Blacks turn it on and win anyway but Australia don't need to make it so hard for themselves.

Heh, last minute Morne Steyn penalty to win a Lions series in South Africa, I've seen that one before. Miles better game than the previous two though. Finn Russell was absolutely brilliant when he came on at picking off the Springbok rush defence. To be honest I was always a little concerned he was too flakey to rely on but, fair play to him, he was great. The Lions will be a bit disappointed with the number of chances they missed when they were on top but, credit to them, the South African defence was excellent and Pollard missed a number of straightforward kicks too.

A fairly error strewn game between the All Blacks and the Wallabies this morning with both sides looking a bit rusty but it's good to see two sides actually trying to play with ball in hand. It'd be nice to see some of that this afternoon but I'm not too confident. Australia were actually well in that game and if they'd been a bit more clinical about taking their chances they'd have had a good chance of getting a win. Even if Lolesio had had his kicking boots on it might have been enough.

Pretty disappointing game from the Lions. It was pretty obvious they were going to try to kick the leather off the ball once they went for Murray over Price but they pretty decisively lost the kicking battle and this week the substitute forwards really struggled. Once they went more than three points behind they were in trouble because there was clearly no plan for actually trying to play any rugby ball in hand. Just overall in terms of how they played, yeah, it did work in the second half of the first test but I can't help feel like going for a contestable kicking and defence style of play isn't going to be an effective longterm strategy against South Africa, it's definitely right in their wheelhouse. Plus if you're going to play extremely negative rugby you kind of need to win to get the fans onside. From a South African point of view they'll be pleased with that, especially given they lost Du Toit early. Very good decision from the coaches to go with three second rows to really disrupt the Lions lineout and once that happened the Lions never recovered.

So the teams for Saturday have been announced. Three changes for the Lions; Vunipola for Sutherland, Harris for Daly and Murray for Price. I think Vunipola in is pretty straightforward, if he's going to be a solid in the scrum as his last two outings he's the best loosehead the Lions have. Daly missing out is no real surprise. I don't think he actually had as bad a game as it looked on first viewing, he didn't do anything in attack but he literally never got the ball when he wasn't about to get smashed by the South African defence so it wasn't entirely his fault. Still, if the Lions aren't going to create any space in attack Harris is the better defender. Price missing out is the real shock. After having won the shirt I though he was good in the first test. South Africa bring Malherbe in for Nyakane and Wiese in for Kwagga Smith. No real surprises there I think. The most notable thing about this week's build up to the second test is Rassie Erasmus going off the deep end a bit about the officiating. Earlier in the week he retweeted a post from a barely used account that seems likely to be his own burner account criticising some of the refereeing decisions in the first test. He's now followed that up by releasing and hour long video monologue piling into the officials again.

Wow, great win for the Lions. I thought it was over 9 points down at half time. It pretty much went the opposite of the way it supposed to too with Lions winning it by keeping it tight and taking advantage of South African mistakes under the high ball. Fair play to him too, Vunipola came on and was fantastic in the scrum. Itoje man of the match for me with Lawes giving him a run for his money. Having said all that Watson was very lucky not to pick up at least a yellow for his tip tackle on Le Roux and the second disallowed South African try was the right call but it was really lucky for the Lions who'd done all they could to hand the Springboks back the lead. Both sides will think they've got a lot they could improve on. It should be a cracking second test.

Not a great first half for the Lions at all. The Springbok pack really look to be getting on top and their one real chance of the half goes a begging due to a loose carry from Henshaw.

Wyn Jones has had to drop out with a shoulder injury so Sutherland starts and Vunipola comes onto the bench. Normally I'd think that was pretty straight forward, the bench prop into the starting side and third loosehead coming in on the bench, but South Africa have got their strongest scrummagers on the bench so I think I'd have been tempted to bring Vunipola in to start against Nyakane and left Sutherland to face Malherbe later on in the game. In rugby league news Australia and New Zealand have pulled out of the World Cup due to be played later in the year which is a massive blow to it's chances of going ahead. On the face of it you can understand their concerns about player welfare but it's hard to see what's different about rugby league compared to all the other sports that are going ahead with bubbles and vaccinated players/athletes. It then later emerged that the players association didn't support pulling out at this stage and Australia and New Zealand had only told the tournament organisers 4 minutes before they made the announcement. It's really looking more and more that this is down to the concerns of NRL clubs about their players having to miss some of preseason due to Australian isolation requirements rather than concerns about player welfare, which really isn't a great look.

The Lions team has been announced now. I'm a little surprised Gatland's gone with Price ahead of Murray but I think it's the right call. The other surprise is no George or Vunipola on the bench. Vunipola might be due to Malherbe coming off the bench for the Springboks but I'm not sure about Owens ahead of George. The other news is that all 3 games are going to be played in Cape Town instead of going back to Johannesburg.

The South Africa team for the first test had been named. It's looks like all their players who were missing due to covid isolation are now available so Kolisi's available to lead the side. The one selection that leaps out to me is Nyakane starting, he's the weakest of the tightheads in their squad for me so I think the Lions will be pretty pleased with that with the scrum shaping up to be a concern. Although Malherbe coming off the bench will have to be taken into account.

So the Lions warm up game are done. The first 20 against the South Africa A side was particularly concerning with the Lions pack getting blown off their own ball but, to be fair, it did improve from there. Still, I feel like the Lions are going to have to move the Springbok defence around if they're going to have any chance because it doesn't look like they're going to be able to overpower them up the middle. Having said that the fact that there's no real stand out options from 8-13 isn't very encouraging. Anyway my guess for what the Lions side will be for the first test: 1. Sutherland. Wyn Jones was good against South Africa A but Sutherland probably offers a bit more around the park and Mako Vunipola, while excellent in the loose, is a bit of a concern in the scrum so I think it'll be Sutherland. 2. Cowan-Dickie. I was going to say George starting with Cowan-Dickie coming off the bench up until yesterday's game due to George's experience and set piece excellence but Cowan-Dickie has been really good in the lineout and I don't see how you can ignore his physicality and breakdown work at this point. 3. Furlong. He hasn't actually had a brilliant tour but he's the standout Northern Hemisphere tighthead so he'll play. Sinckler's probably won the bench spot. 4. Alun Wyn Jones. I think there's a decent chance his shoulder's coming out five minutes into the game but I can't see them not picking him after the dramatic return to the tour. 5. Itoje. He was always going to play but a good game on Wednesday just cemented that. 6. Beirne. They seem to be inclined to play a big blindside/second row hybrid at six considering they've been playing Beirne and Lawes there and I think that's understandable to try and stand up to the South African pack. Beirne's probably the front runner. 7. Curry. Really harsh on Watson who's been the form openside over the last year or so and is a great player but Tom Curry is probably the best openside in world rugby for me and he was the best Lions player against the majority of the likely Springbok side on Wednesday . I think he has to play. 8. Faletau. This is a big problem position for me. Faletau has the quality but he really hasn't been great. Conan's been decent but his ceiling's probably a bit low, it's hard to see him being more that ok. Simmonds is an interesting one given they've picked him out of club rugby so they must see something they like but I don't think he's shown enough to win a starting spot. I think with the lack of a stand out player they'll go with Faletau's experience. 9. Murray. Another problem position, actually a big problem. Murray and Davies have both been poor and Price has been decent but he's not the most reliable. I'd go with Price out of the options available but I think they'll go with Murray given they had him as tour captain while Jones was out. 10. Biggar. Not the most inspiring but he's probably the best option 11. Adams. Van Der Merwe's been good but I think lining him up against Kolbe would be a problem. 12. Henshaw. I think Gatland might be tempted to with Aki's physicality but they really need to get the ball to the squad's real strength, the back three, and I think they'll need Henshaw's distribution. 13. Daly. Harris has also been decent and is the more solid option but, again, I think they need to get the ball wide and Daly's better on that front. The fact they've played him so much at 13 suggests they're leaning that way to me. 14. Watson. There aren't really any bad options in the back three but Watson's probably the most well balanced so I think he'll play. 15. Hogg. It could easily be Williams but I think Hogg offers just that bit more countering threat and I think they'll need it with the Springbok defence being so good. In more depressing news it seems the Georgian coach is in hospital in South Africa with covid. Hopefully he'll be ok but it doesn't sound great with him being on a respirator.

Yeah, good win and another good game. Really good series overall. I quite like the look of McDermott for the Wallabies, he seems to be a real live wire. He probably needs to learn to adjust his tempo on occasion rather that trying to play at 100 miles an hour every time (not just letting the forwards try and score 6 inches from the try line at the end of the first half leaps to mind) but there seems to be some real potential there. I felt a bit sorry for Koroibete with the red card, I doubt there was any malice in it at all, but I don't think there's any doubt it's a red.

Cracking game this morning between Australia and France. Woki and Taofifenua were excellent for France. I haven't seen much Australian rugby over the last couple of years but I'm not too convinced by Lolesio at 10 for the Wallabies. Good to see such a tight series going to the last game. After losing one of their warm up games against Georgia and having to miss so much training with isolation it looks like South Africa have decided to treat the South Africa A game against the Lions tomorrow as an unofficial warm up game. I reckon that's at least half the Springbok side that'll start the first test playing. It should be interesting.