Lions

[septic 9]

Gatland may have picked JD2 but he is a classy all round 13. Lions don't really have a 13 of his all round quality (at his best) IMO.

spot on. I think there was one available but was not picked to tour, and struggles to get close to the Eng squad

Do you mean JJ or Marchant?

Marchant

[Big D]

Wyn Jones out. Sutherland gets the start.

Awful luck for Jones.

[Which Tyler]

Wyn Jones out. Sutherland gets the start.

Awful luck for Jones.

Oh shit.
So that means... Mako against Malherbe...

[Big D]

Wyn Jones out. Sutherland gets the start.

Awful luck for Jones.

Oh shit.
So that means... Mako against Malherbe...

Actually that's a fair point. I wonder if they considered Vunipola going right in to start.

[Mikey Brown]

Surely that’s two early shoves in the scrum from SA?

[Mikey Brown]

Wow this ref is looking shaky.

Curry with 3 pens already?

[Mikey Brown]

Sutherland unlucky with a couple of the scrum decisions today I think, but either way it’s not been a great half for him at the scrum.

Penalties really costing. Actually feels like SA should be further ahead.

[switchskier]

Free Finn and less kick tennis please. There's opportunities there if the lions are a bit braver and put the ball through the hands

[Big D]

Watson was very lucky not to be binned.

[Buggaluggs]

Yes. I thought 10 for sure.

[no sleep]

Watson was lucky but hopefully will slip past the review.

And Sutherland was unlucky with at least on decision. The scrums went really well I thought, even Vunipola went well. Be interesting to see who starts at loose head next week.

Also interesting to see if Russell plays a part next week if his achilles allows.

[no sleep]

Was amusing to see that du Toit's main job in the scrum was to keep his prop's knee off the ground.

[septic 9]

Watson was very lucky not to be binned.

nah, no dangerous, lands on upper body and watson does not drop him, grounds him safely. Just a pen

[septic 9]

Was amusing to see that du Toit's main job in the scrum was to keep his prop's knee off the ground.

saw that! was funny, I thought he thought he was back in a maul and his prop a Lion

[no sleep]

What did you make of Price? I've seen him kick better but it looked fine to me and his service was good and fast. Was quite surprised when Murray came on, but if he's in the 23 why not use him I suppose.

[Cameo]

What did you make of Price? I've seen him kick better but it looked fine to me and his service was good and fast. Was quite surprised when Murray came on, but if he's in the 23 why not use him I suppose.

I thought that was one of the best games I've seen him play. Good contestable kicks near the touchline. Right decision to bring on Murray then too.

Was a bit of a dull game (maybe when there are no fans the intensity doesn't come across as much on TV) but quite a solid win after the first thirty mins. Main problem then was the stupid penalties (thought they would move Watson ahead of Curry but Watson did get a bit lucky later).

I'd switch Sutherland, Curry and Daly out next week (and would love Finn to come in) but would be fairly confident if I was Gatland.

[Mikey Brown]

I thought Price was great. Looked a bit shaky 30-40 minutes in when everything was going wrong at set piece but very good all round outside of that. Really pleased for him.

[septic 9]

What did you make of Price? I've seen him kick better but it looked fine to me and his service was good and fast. Was quite surprised when Murray came on, but if he's in the 23 why not use him I suppose.

I thought his kicking was excellent, pretty much every box kick contestable.
His all round game was really good as well. He had some problems first half because Boks were counter rucking to great effect - they saw Lions were limiting how many they put in to the ruck. Despite that he managed the ball and game, and when the tide turned second half he excelled (and tracked Henshaw on his break, shame he didn't get a pass).

Justified his selection over the ponderous Murray and the can't pas Davies

[no sleep]

Beeb says Russell's back in training. I struggled to believe that Gatland would seriously consider him for a test spot, but I can see him now on the bench. Imagine it's 20 minutes to go, you're blowing and you look around and see Farrell coming off the bench, and you think yeah, ok. You look around and see Russell, and you think oh sh1t here we go - and that probably applies to both sides!

[Big D]

Beeb says Russell's back in training. I struggled to believe that Gatland would seriously consider him for a test spot, but I can see him now on the bench. Imagine it's 20 minutes to go, you're blowing and you look around and see Farrell coming off the bench, and you think yeah, ok. You look around and see Russell, and you think oh sh1t here we go - and that probably applies to both sides!

His lack of game time over the last 6 weeks and training time over the last 2 would be a concern. If Biggar is out either one of Finn or Smith could cause carnage to one of the sides off the bench.

[Numbers]

Watson was very lucky not to be binned.

nah, no dangerous, lands on upper body and watson does not drop him, grounds him safely. Just a pen

As soon as the legs go over the horizontal it's a yellow, it goes to a red if the player lands on their head or neck area, hence why Nigel Owens was slightly perplexed by the penalty only.

[Mikey Brown]

Isn't it still about how they land? I agree it was borderline yellow. but thought you can still put someone down safely having lifted their legs and it be okay. It's a bit of a shame if you can't really.

[no sleep]

Bring em down safely is play on.

And try to shut out the howls of outrage from the touchline.

[Big D]

Watson was very lucky not to be binned.

nah, no dangerous, lands on upper body and watson does not drop him, grounds him safely. Just a pen

As soon as the legs go over the horizontal it's a yellow, it goes to a red if the player lands on their head or neck area, hence why Nigel Owens was slightly perplexed by the penalty only.

That isn't what is says in the laws of the game to be fair.

[Cameo]

Seems like Watson's out. Shame, I thought he might start after all Curry's early penalties.