I am struggling to get into it all with the backdrop of how bad covid currently is in SA.

five scots in the team and Hogg as captain. changed days

Finn / Faz. Its gonna be fun. Either we will see some fantastic synergy or they will come to blows in the first half!

any guesses? will it work?

Well I pressed on Sky Sports Action or whatever and it said I can upgrade for £4 a month, albeit for 12 months but that’ll keep me going through winter lockdowns…

Anyway here we go with a few more of the A team playing, exciting times.

Great hands in the Lions team.

Hogg, Itoje and Watson playing really well, Falatau gone missing completely

missed the firsthalf – i fell sleep

how did finn / Faz go? i missed the first half. In the second i did’t see Finn pass to him 🙂

how did finn / Faz go? i missed the first half. In the second i did’t see Finn pass to him 🙂

I missed the whole game, so I’d be interested in a quick summary with player ratings 😃

I think Russel is a bit too unpredictable for Farrels brain to be outside him 😀

Of the starting 15 I’d say Faletou and Farrell are probably the worst on the pitch. Everyone else had an outstanding game, the replacements and/or fatigue turned the game into an unstructured mess compared to the first half. But as Havana said, this was the team that finished last recently. Odd that Daly subbed at 13 seemed to upstage most of Slade’s England career in the space of 20mins…

When you think about who didn’t play it would appear Gatland has an embarrassment of riches tbh.

Watched the first half now ( its on youtube)

H9ogg must have nailed down the 15 spot with that performance. Harris very good. Price very good. I said aldi Price could force his way into the test team.

finn / faz did not really work and both had a bit of a mixed bag. Farrell doing a lot of good ruck clearing but also ball watching a lot and missed a tackle because of it. Russell with a lot of kicking but a few overcooked.

Watson was immense and again must have made the test shirt more likely for him. Itoje and lawes good as well.

Russell with a lot of kicking but a few overcooked.

In fairness to him, his pin point kicks must take a lot of practice and become ‘muscle memory’. It must be very difficult to quickly allow for altitude.

A couple of pin point ones as well

Falatou was curious, played down the middle compared to his wide role for Wales and looked lost, showed a few nice touches but a poor game overall. Not helped by the saffa commentator thinking he was Lawes, at one point Lawes made a good run and it was passed out of the ruck to Lawes who made another good run!

Aye – he didn’t play as well as he has. Overshadowed by Watson? BTW I hope you saw the numerous crisp passes Watson thru from the back of mauls

BTW I hope you saw the numerous crisp passes Watson thru from the back of mauls

I did notice his distribution off the back of lineouts to incoming wingers wasn’t as accurate as Tipuric, but you know they are very different players. He was excellent in attack and defence yesterday

Eh? It was pinpoint passing!

I saw at least 2 where Adams had to check his run, who knows who was at fault, could be miss timed run or miss timed pass

OK

the checked run always annoys me.

Lions XV to face the Sharks: Liam Williams; Anthony Watson, Elliot Daly, Bundee Aki, Duhan van der Merwe; Dan Biggar, Gareth Davies; Mako Vunipola, Luke Cowan-Dickie, Zander Fagerson, Iain Henderson (captain), Adam Beard, Josh Navidi, Tom Curry, Sam Simmonds.

Replacements: Ken Owens, Rory Sutherland, Tadhg Furlong, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan, Conor Murray, Stuart Hogg, Chris Harris

Thoughts?

It would appear that on Wednesday we’ll see much stiffer opposition. Looks like a decent team to me.

Like the idea of Daly at 13. Beard is a tackle bag holder, back row looks a bit unbalanced.

That team is to give everyone a decent crack and everyone has a chance to stake a claim for a test start.

Fagerson gets his chance to shine. I really hope he goes well. He has the potential to be a real great. Remember most props are not considered first team regulars at his age. ( he is still only 26 but has 38 caps)

Most of those starters will be the midweek side I think but a good display may alter that. G Davies is going to have to play very well to put his claim ahead of Price. Biggar we need another assured display from but he is certainly the front runner at 10 IMO ( russell on the bench?)

Daly at 13 might be a good call – again another who really needs to shine

I think we can see the shape of the team Gatland wants. MObile locks, a big guy or two in the back row to make up for the back row hobbits, Big strong centres and fliers in the back 3

I’d be interested to see of the forwards pop-pass trend shown on Sunday continues, I see this as a theory that Gatland has seen a gap around the big SA forwards when they like to dominate the tackle / double team a player.

So at 10. Is Biggar better?

Who can tell?

For me, Biggar is a god. There isn’t anyone better under pressure in big games.

Its an interesting call between Russell and Biggar at 10. Russell will create more tries but Biggar will make fewer mistakes. Biggars kick chase in particular is just fantastic but he just cannot create space with trickery like Russell can

Neither will let the lions down tho and I don’t really care who starts at 10. ( so long as its not farrell)

I love Biggar, he has balls like water melons and is a real scrapper, but he kills any attack. He won’t let you down but he’s not a top step world class player. That said I’m not sure Russell is either yet.

Russell is one of the best 10s in the world. But he will always have you biting your nails. Racing pay him a million quid a year – they must love him. I watch a lot of the racing games and he is just fabulous with those great players around.

The issue we have is we don’t have a Dan Carter, we have 3 10’s with various attributes.

Farrell is notoriously and sometimes dangerously defensive for the most part, Russell a maverick that you can take a chance on in attack and Bigger likely combines a bit of both of them (which is why I think he’s the match day 10) without out-shining either of the others in any one facet of his play.

I’d be playing Bigger in SA match one with Farrell/Aki outside for kicking and a read into the tactics, then potentially Sub Biggar for Chris Harris/Daly if we build a lead. That leads you to a 2H Farrell, Aki, Harris/Daly defence with a Farrell, Harris/Daly Aki attack – its pretty strong 3/4 allowing the wings & FB to be released.

Having said that, the first match should feature Russell 1H as we need to see if he can confuse/undo the ‘Boks with his unpredictability.

And now I’ve written that I’m less sure!

I’d be playing Bigger in SA match one with Farrell/Aki outside for kicking and a read into the tactics, then potentially Sub Biggar for Chris Harris/Daly if we build a lead.

No no no

I can see the arguement ( but do not agree) that Farrell at 12 outside Russell is a good idea but outside Biggar? Waste of a position. Biggar can do everything Farrell does and better and if yo have a steady 10 you need ball players outside him

Can Biggar play 12?

I would be starting with Biggar at 10 with aki and harris.

Can Biggar play 12?

Unlike EJ I can’t see Gatland playing people out of position.

I would be starting with Biggar at 10 with aki and harris.

I don’t disagree, but surely then thats Farrell on the bench to cover 10,12 and kicks for goal. Against SA you’ll need a forward dominant bench I suspect, so it make sense to have Farrel and maybe Daley, or A.Watson and a SH benched. That gives you cover for 10,12,13, both wings and FB.

Which wings is another question – Josh Adams played well but against the worst opponent we’ll face, Anthony Watson needs a good game tomorrow to be in consideration for the test team.

Russell also covers full back – he has played there a few times IIRC and is OK and has also played at 12

I simply see no place for farrell. He is the 3rd 10, the 3rd 12 and while a good kicker is not significantly better than either Biggar or russell. Its a waste of a [position to have him there as a kicker

I see Farrell best suited to 10 and captain of the midweek side. I think thats the right role for him

Bench for me is a SH and either the bandy legged git ( Williams) or the vain stroppy scot ( hogg) on the bench – the other playing. If its 3 backs then whichever of harris / aki and henshow not playing as well

Hogg can play 10 in emergencies, williams and Hogg any back 3 position

Saturday’s game off due to covid in the Bulls team

From BBC:

Two British and Irish Lions players are isolating after one of the management team tested positive for coronavirus.

Organisers say Wednesday’s game against the Sharks will go ahead provided another round of testing does not produce any more positive results, but kick-off will be moved to 19:00 BST.

The whole tour is looking very dubious now.

[Considering the efforts they have made to prevent this happening, compared with the lax attitude I see day-to-day, it’s all rather concerning.]

Farrel into 10!

I cannot find this on the radio : (
Sounds like a big score is coming.

Talksport 2 radio

You are a legend! A thousand thanks!

Farrel very good at 10. SA team very poor.