Springboks v British & Irish Lions II
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Don’t often see eye-to-eye with Foster
“I watched it between 22:00 (New Zealand time) and 01:00, it put me to sleep,” he told reporters.
Foster said the last two Lions series have been tight affairs and feels the current one has become an arm wrestle because the Boks and Lions employ similar methods in their approach to the game.
“The Lions series, the one we had here, the one over there, it’s become very tight, almost risk-free type of series, aren’t they? Teams are almost afraid to play, they are just relying on a low-risk strategy,” he said.
Low-risk rugby
“So we are seeing two teams who desperately want to win a big series playing low-risk, highly-effective rugby.
“Both of them are good at the close contact stuff, the close-quarter fighting, the kick and chase, and the pressure game. Two teams playing a similar style, it’s a bit of a slugfest.”
Foster believes both South Africa and the Lions are not comfortable playing against line speed which results in them employing kicking game plans.
“That’s Test match rugby where stakes are high, it’s the whole risk versus reward, isn’t it?” he added.
“You’ve got two teams over there, who want to get up, their line speed is really strong. It’s all about stopping.
“We’ve been criticised in the past for not being able to play around and through line speed, but what you are seeing is two teams that don’t like playing against line speed either.
“So what do they do? They kick. That’s the answer if you are not willing to play a slightly more risky game. Everyone will choose a different way.””
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The Springboks approach to the refereeing in this game interesting. Firstly, for better or worse, Rassie's pressure on the referee worked and O'Keefe was much stricter (on both teams) than Berry in the first game. But the players also put far more pressure on him. It has been a theme of this tour that the Lions have been "bullying" opposition teams with little hold backs and shit tons of chat. In this game, every time there was a bit of a push the Springboks would rush in and force the ref to deal with it. It made for a terrible spectical, but at least the lions were not allowed to set the narrative the way they have been allowed to on tour.
In the first half it felt like South Africa was playing a bit more of the rugby, but inaccuracies led to consecutive penalties that kept the lions in the game.
I am actually a little more worried about the Boks attack now than I was before the game. Whereas the Lions didn't try to attack, the Boks in patches did, but the passing and alignment was so bad that they couldnt get anything going. A grinding, trench war is good enough to win this week but based on this performance I am worried that we will fall flat on our face if we decide pull the trigger.
And my god was this a stop start affair. For example, in the first 10 minutes of the second half there were about 10 phases of rugby played. Mapimpi scored in the 44th minute, after the conversion and kick off there was a scrum that collapsed three times, leading to free kick to the lions. One or two phases and then a penalty in 50th minute. That's just dreadful.
There's a lot of talk about South Africa winning the aerial battle in the second half, neither team was any good. The lions knocked on a couple balls, but the South African back three were not a lot better. South Africa were just a bit better at recovering loose balls after the kick were miss-fielded.
And can supporters please shut up about cards all the time. Social media is full of calls for five or six citings to be dished out against both sides. It was nasty unpleasant game, but a hundred miles from being truly dirty. It feels like everyone is just looking for drama for drama sake.
@sidbarret you’re right to highlight our backs’ alignment. Reality is that it takes time to get the timing/coordination right for fluent backline moves in the face of modern defences.
And it’s harder when your scrummie isn’t a real fringe threat and isn’t the crispest passer. The boks are also missing a dynamic forward strike runner to keep the defence honest. Wiese needs to be sat in front of the iPad learning that, at this level, you run at the daylight. He’s getting marginally better every game, but a long way to go before he’s at Duane or even RG levels.
That said, the two tries we scored on the weekend ought to buy the boks a bit more space this weekend. And if the Lions don’t adjust then Pollard’s boot should punish them again. (Which is a good time to mention that his dummy chip for Mapimpi was a fine piece of work.)
In optimistic moments I find myself daydreaming about the bok forwards shaking another layer of rust off, Reinach testing the fringes, and now that the glory boys are back on a first name basis again, maybe they will also remember that Pollard taking the ball flat to the line has paid good dividends against better teams and it’s not a bad option to send a speculative inside ball to the eel dowsed in Vaseline masquerading as Kolbe.
But there’s a perverse part of my psyche that says to hell with creating the half yard of space Am needs to deliver golden balls to his wings. What this series needs is Pollard, Steyn, Willemse, Kolbe and even WLR just raining drop goals from our 10 yard in. And let the Lions cope with the challenge of trying to play off contestable 22 drop outs (and the inevitable scrums) whenever the scoreboard hasn’t crept up by another three points.
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Kyle cleared: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/58073121
@pakman said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
Kyle cleared: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/58073121
Absence of clear evidence. I note no outright denial from Lions camp.
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@pakman said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
Kyle cleared: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/58073121
Absence of clear evidence. I note no outright denial from Lions camp.
@crucial said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
@pakman said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
Kyle cleared: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/58073121
Absence of clear evidence. I note no outright denial from Lions camp.
Well, apart from Sinckler categorically denying it. But yeah not much in the way of back up from the coaches.
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@crucial said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
@pakman said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
Kyle cleared: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/58073121
Absence of clear evidence. I note no outright denial from Lions camp.
Well, apart from Sinckler categorically denying it. But yeah not much in the way of back up from the coaches.
@catogrande said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
@crucial said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
@pakman said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
Kyle cleared: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/58073121
Absence of clear evidence. I note no outright denial from Lions camp.
Well, apart from Sinckler categorically denying it. But yeah not much in the way of back up from the coaches.
When you eliminate the impossible, what is left is the answer?
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@machpants said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
Best banter from Squidge, 6:16 in - so true
Excellent analysis on Lawes and the fold
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@machpants said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
Best banter from Squidge, 6:16 in - so true
Excellent analysis on Lawes and the fold
@mikethesnow said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
Excellent analysis on Lawes and the fold
Yeah I was amazed at that, was he just too tired, or covering for the hooker that looked to have an injury
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@machpants said in Springboks v British & Irish Lions II:
Best banter from Squidge, 6:16 in - so true
The brushing under the carpet has worked its magic on me. I don't remember any Guilford only a Guildford..
