Sharks v British & Irish Lions

[Bones]

@mikethesnow interesting loose trio, a lot of pace and ball playing in there.

[Bovidae]

Cell C Sharks:
15 Manie Libbok, 14 Werner Kok, 13 Jeremy Ward, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Thaakir Abrahams, 10 Curwin Bosch, 9 Jaden Hendrikse, 8 Phepsi Buthelezi (captain), 7 Thembelani Bholi, 6 James Venter, 5 Hyron Andrews, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Khutha Mchunu, 2 Fez Mbatha, 1 Khwezi Mona.
Replacements: 16 Kerron van Vuuren, 17 Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18 Wiehahn Herbst, 19 JJ van der Mescht, 20 Reniel Hugo, 21 Dylan Richardson, 22 Grant Williams, 23 Anthony Volmink.

[Bovidae]

The Sharks have a lot of players in the SA squad so this is another inexperienced team.

[Daffy Jaffy]

@bovidae If the Sharks feed their captain a Mentos mint just before kick off he will be fizzing ready to explode into the action!

[Bones]

@daffy-jaffy leave now and go sit down and have a good hard think about your actions. Disgraceful.

[Daffy Jaffy]

@bones Yes sir, sorry sir. I also heard that he is an effervescent character who is good under pressure.

[Bones]

@daffy-jaffy said in Sharks v British & Irish Lions:

@bones Yes sir, sorry sir. I also heard that he is an effervescent character who is good under pressure.

[Daffy Jaffy]

Dont know if he can scrum but the 22 year old Sharks tighthead prop can run!

[sparky]

This post is deleted!

[Catogrande]

@mikethesnow said in Sharks v British & Irish Lions:

Make or break time for Mako, LCD, and Simmonds in the pack

VDM, Watson and Daly in the backs

Lions by 19-26

Harsh view when none of them have had any real time yet?

[MiketheSnow]

@catogrande said in Sharks v British & Irish Lions:

@mikethesnow said in Sharks v British & Irish Lions:

Make or break time for Mako, LCD, and Simmonds in the pack

VDM, Watson and Daly in the backs

Lions by 19-26

Harsh view when none of them have had any real time yet?

Harsh reality of short tours, made even shorter due to Covid

Not many opportunities to stake your claim

[Daffy Jaffy]

The beginning of the end? -Breaking -
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.

Saturday's game against the Bulls was postponed because of Covid-19 cases in the hosts' camps, while South Africa's match against Georgia was cancelled.

The Lions' first Test is on 24 July.

Two members of staff are also isolating at the team hotel and a Lions statement said all members of the touring party "have since been tested", adding that further updates would "follow in due course".

"We have followed all necessary precautions since the start of the Tour, which included regular testing and rigorous Covid-19 counter measure planning and protocols," said Lions managing director Ben Calveley.

"Our priority is to ensure the health and safety of the entire touring party, which is why we quickly isolated the players and staff upon receiving the news of the positive result.

"Everyone has subsequently been lateral flow and PCR tested. The Medical Advisory Group await the results of the PCR testing in order to make a decision on tonight's game."

[Stargazer]

@daffy-jaffy Oh geezus.

[Daffy Jaffy]

For those planning to watch, note that the kickoff time may change -
Tuesdays game against the Sharks at Ellis Park will still take place – provided the subsequent round of PCR testing returns negative results later in the day.

Should this be the case, the kick-off time – brought forward one hour to avoid a clash with the England-Denmark Euro 2020 semifinal in London – will revert to the original slot of 20.00 local time (18.00 GMT).

[Daffy Jaffy]

update - kickoff time confirmed for 6:00 am NZ time - 20:00 SA (19:00 BST)

[Daffy Jaffy]

Note the 7-1 bench -

[Catogrande]

@daffy-jaffy Looks like it was the backs having a covid party

[Machpants]

7 tries in less than a week for Josh Adams, not bad!

[cgrant]

The SA provinces have never been so weak. The Bulls were crushed by Treviso (35 - in the cup final a few weeks ago so we can expect a new thrashing on Saturday.

[Catogrande]

Despite the covid chaos and the 8-1 split on the bench, the Lions won at a canter, though it has to be said that the Sharks did have their moments, but just couldn't't handle the Lions competing at the breakdown and speed of attack. The interesting discussions will be around who stepped up and who stepped back. For me:

Zander Fagerson - a bit of a step back, conceded some scrum penalties and was not prominent elsewhere.

LCD - A big step forward. Good in the line out, good dominant tackle count, good carrying and a vital turnover steal. Really put his hand up and atm it is between him and Owens for the test spot, leaving Jamie George a hill to climb.

Mako V - A big step back. Simply awful at scrum time, giving away multiple penalties. OK in the loose but FFS do your day job.

Henderson - As you were really. OK in the scrum and line out, carried well and led well without doing anything stand out.

Adam Beard - Unlucky with that crossing/offside penalty. Did OK but nothing remarkable. As you were..

Navidi - A big step up. He was everywhere, being a blood nuisance all night but currently he is our bloody nuisance so I like it. Looking like a test 6.

Tom Curry - As you were. Did little wrong but apart from a very important turnover on our line, did not do a lot that was noticeable. Looked like he never really got into the game. More to come I hope.

Sam Simmonds - A short step up. Needed to get more involved but showed his pace and ball carrying a few times. More to come and could be a weapon if guys can get on his shoulder. Great (for a forward), unselfish pass for VDM's try.

Ali Price - As you were. Third game in a row may have counted against him, though he looked full of energy but a fair way to go to overtake Davies let alone Murray.

Farrell - A decent step up. Ran the game well without being flashy, kept his special tackle technique in the locker, good kicking game and distributed well. Little that was flash but not much that was wrong either. Biggar has some competition now.

Bundee O'Aki - As you were. We know what he can do and he did it. More to come though I feel - if he gets the chance.

Daly - A decent step up and another masterful display of why he shouldn't play at fullback. Useful boot, showed some good gas at times and a lovely flick on for Adams try. Harris still in the box seat though.

LZR - Showed great pace for his try but made the odd error. Looked a little green but can you ignore that pace?

VDM - A bit like Aki really. We know he can run over people and he did, showed glimpses he is a bit more than bulldozer though so I'd say a small step up

Josh Adams - 8 tries in three matches shows that he has stepped up yet again. Yeah some of those tries have been weak ins or a bit fortunate, but this is a guy that makes his own luck. Making it impossible to leave out at the moment.

Replacements, or at least the ones that I can remember:-

Furlong - a big step up. Huge improvement when he came on
Sutherland - same really.
Owens - As you were. We know what he can bring and he brought it. Good competition at hooker.
Itoje - As you were. He is the man in possession and the discussions will be about who partners him.
Faletau - As you were, nothing too flash but nothing wrong either. Probably the pencilled in starter at 8 as much because Gatland trusts him as current form.
Russell - a slight step back. Always good to watch with some great touches to unlock a defence. Many of his tricky plays will result in a try, but for which side?