British and Irish Lions tour 2021

[BornBlue76]

The Lions tour has started with 2 resounding victories that have Saffa's seriously worried. Questions have already been raised about the standard of domestic rugby.

Test matches:
24 July 17:00 BST - Cape Town
31 July 17:00 BST - JHB
7 August 17:00 BST - JHB

But before that we have a match against SA (A) 14th July .. a strong SA(A) side as well. Clearly SA using one of the warm ups to warm up themselves. teams for Wednesday:

British and Irish Lions: Watson; Rees-Zammit, Harris, Aki, Adams; Biggar, Murray (capt); Jones, Owens, Sinckler, Itoje, Henderson, Navidi, Curry, Faletau.

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Vunipola, Fagerson, Beard, Beirne, Simmonds, Davies, Daly.

South Africa A: Le Roux; Kolbe, Am (capt), De Allende, Nkosi; Steyn, De Klerk; Kitshoff, Dweba, Nyakane, Etzebeth, Mostert, Van Staden, Du Toit, Wiese.

Replacements (to be cut to eight players before kick-off): Marx, Oosthuizen, Koch, Janse van Rensburg, Elstadt, H Jantjies, Kriel, Willemse, Smith, E Jantjies.

I read through the World cup 2019 final thread comments again and how people were looking forward to the Lions tour.. well its here in a time of covid. Unlike Europe where we see people enjoying full stadiums, vaccines are hard ot come by and way behind. Third wave in full swing. The Boks have been hit and the Capt is out as we speak.

Won't be a normal tour and hard for the sides to be truly ready.

I expect the Lions to be favourite for this one. By some margin too owing to the sheer inability of the Boks to prepare properly.

 

[ArtetaMoney]

Rugby is crap.

 

[TheBigIguana]

South Africa named an "A" team where the "A" appears to stand for "Actually just our test side." So that'll be fun.

 

[BornBlue76]

Kolbe footwork!! Must be impossible to tag this guy! Great try! 17-3 SA A
33 mins

 

[TheBigIguana]

That was decent. It'll be interesting to see who comes in for the Lions in the real tests.

 

[BornBlue76]

That was decent. It'll be interesting to see who comes in for the Lions in the real tests.

I don’t know who the manager considers his first 11.. I suspect a few British and irish fans here should have some insight..

big step up for the lions that and surprised me how competitive SA was considering they haven’t had a run out for a week.

Found Faf as frustrating as I did in the WC but he is effective. If his kicks were just more consistent. Never going to see the ball spread with morne steyn at flyhalf.

Curry was good.. the Lions though will need to find another gear I suspect to beat the full test 11 based in tonight’s performance.

 

[Caolam]

6 players from the team that finished 5th in the 6 nations, time to change the name of the team to “The English Lions with a few others“.

 

[AsiaAsia82]

Why are they specific about ‘Irish’ Lions?
I always though the British Lions was a geographical reference (eg all part of the British Isles) rather than a political one?
Politics in everything nowadays

 

[Chris O'Connor]

At least the Lion's tests are something to watch as I find my interest in sport has rapidly reduced to just cricket, rugby union and golf (plus the England national team only at football since Benitez arrived).

Must admit my interest in the Covid (Olympic) games has got less and less too the nearer that's come to stsrting. I support the demonstrations against it outside, this is a human never mind financial disaster, with barely a redeeming feature.

 

[Paris]

The tour shouldn’t be going ahead. The only reason why rugby exists is for fans to have a piss up. No fans, no party.

 

[Chris O'Connor]

The tour shouldn’t be going ahead. The only reason why rugby exists is for fans to have a piss up. No fans, no party.

Must admit to thinking this too, I'm still interested but nothing like the anticipation I've had for tests on past tours.

Tbh the Benitez appointment has not only affected my interest in club football but also contributed to me developing a general apathy to all sport atm.

 

[BornBlue76]

The tour shouldn’t be going ahead. The only reason why rugby exists is for fans to have a piss up. No fans, no party.

I can’t agree hey... people need a diversion.. they need something to shout about in a positive way.. sport brings that and to South Africans when the whistle goes they will leave behind all the drama at least for a while.

kick off 17:00 BST

 

[Paris]

I can’t agree hey... people need a diversion.. they need something to shout about in a positive way.. sport brings that and to South Africans when the whistle goes they will leave behind all the drama at least for a while.

kick off 17:00 BST

Fair enough. Come 17.00 I’ll be hoping we do the business but just like the Olympics I wish it could’ve been postponed.

 

[Eggs]

…I know it rarely happens, but i’ve had a very small interest in the draw.

 

[john jako]

Giving away too many penalties. SA are incredible at what they do to be fair. Be hard to get a result here.