South Africa v British and Irish Lions Second test

I made the Lions a 4/6 shot for the First Test and,as published at the time, could not believe I was able to have a lumpy bet at 6/5! Lions (-1) at evens for the Second Test is almost as attractive! Have also backed the Series Correct Score - 3-0 @ 5/1, but a bit mystified why 4/1 is still available. Like the OP, I find it a bit strange at Liam Williams'omission! Get on and Good luck all !!

I would expect Watson to drop to full back if Hogg was injured. Part of me hopes for a Boks win to keep the excitement alive until the third test. Will be interesting to see how the changes to their pack affect the battle up front, the Lions totally dominated in that area last week.

Yes, you could be right Cauthenmeister, but I feel its a shame when Liam Williams should be available.
Anyway I am backing the Lions again with a 1 point start and also to win by 1-10 points . I actually am going agains most of the press etc as I think the lions might actually win easier than the first game. The South African management have done nothing to endear themselves to the man with the whistle,and instead of accepting the harsh decisions that came there way last week, there has been constant bleating.
The forwards were well on top by the end of the game last week and hopefully they will have learned not to give away silly penalties.
Lets hope for a good game , good luck all

GL Lads !!

Thought it was a coin toss, could go either way. So at the prices i've decided to lay SA @ 1.88.

3-0

3-3

3-6



after 17 minutes

Not for the first time Murray is posted missing at the break down.  What position is he playing today?  Seems miles off when he needs to be there to clear the ball out

Chris Harris is a
T O S S E R

This is a
FARCE

kolbe off
PLEASE

No fluidity in play from either side, kick is good.
6-6.

6-6

Messy game so far Lucky.

Blimey I would have taken the 3 points there.

No try for me.

Jul 31, 2021 -- 11:51AM, SlippyBlue wrote:

No fluidity in play from either side, kick is good.6-6.

This isn't the game that entices new people into watching Rugby. Ugly stuff.

We can only hope it improves in the second half.

Longest half of rugby ever?

6-9

36 MINUTES

That was the right decision I reckon.

Half time S.A. 6 - Lions 9

Jul 31, 2021 -- 11:59AM, Latalomne wrote:

Longest half of rugby ever?

Not sure if rugby or NFL.

I have to agree, this is rather tough viewing. I played at a decent level and although that's going back quite awhile the game was nothing like this. If I were a neutral tuning in to this I'd probably turn over!

Krisken , you are correct re Murray, also if you are playing him you are basically saying we are not playing the balls out to the backs, we are just going to box kick all the time.

A half for the
PURISTS

11-9

Hats of to the Saffers, that was a sweet try. Huge moment in the game.

Missing the extra 2 points there is unforgivable. Big error that.

Good last 10 minutes or so for S.A. Next score hugely important.

16-9

Looks a try to me.

Best angle, my arse

Couldn't overrule that really.

Nigel Owens seems pretty sure they should have.

18-9

Looks like it's going to be 1-1 gents.

21-9

Boks getting their own back from last week.  They should have won last week as well

Exactly Kriskin.

Saffers have been by some distance the superior side, total second half domination.

lions my a***

27-9, a complete drubbing, no other word for it.

Both TMO decisions decided by the on field call but SA were worthy winners with the introduction of De Jager proving decisive. Lions didn't have a plan B once to hey were behind.

Big ask for the Lions to win next week given how dominant SA were in the second half.

Have to play OF from the start,Hogg has run his race,no place for Stuart next week.

Well where do you start, Liam Williams must start next week, two wingers and a full back who couldnt catch a high ball, a scrum half who cant pass the ball more than two yards(Gareth Edwards he isnt).First half was okay but what happened , no plan b, tactics were wrong,naive defending, penalties given away , box kicking all the time. That was the worst half of rugby the Lions have produced in many a year.Yes two decisions were more than debatable, but that happened in the first game so you sometimes have to forget them and move on. More worrying is the referees stopping and starting the game every 5 seconds and asking the men in the booth, ffs referee the game. Anyway back to the game, the defending was awful, why dont we give Ali Price and Marcus Smith a run out and try to play the game in the opposition half? A line out so good in the first half, then ruined by not putting the ball in straight. So many mistakes by management it was truly appalling

I wonder if all the stop start allowed the Boks time to refill as they saw out the 80 so much better than last week. It will be a major surprise if Liam Williams isn't in next week, we could even see up to 7 Welshmen in if Wyn Jones is fit with OF at 12. I still think we need some spark to ignite our running game as I suggested before the first test.

Time to eat a little bit of humble pie as well as suffer the financial scars of my bullish Lions support, but even taking into consideration some TMO levelling up from the first test, a direct result of Gatland's mind games re the impartiality of the TMO official,the Springboks were much the better side yesterday! The definition of madness, they say, is to carry on doing the same thing expecting a different result, so once again I will be backing the Lions to clinch the series next Saturday, but with the proviso that Liam Williams, Tadgh Beirne and Owen Farrell must start! This is a game for the Big Boys! Good luck all!

Well apart from Adams, Williams and Wyn Jones few could have seen that 3rd test 15 coming. At least there's some signs of life on the bench.

British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland has made sweeping changes to his matchday squad for Saturday's decisive third Test against South Africa.

Hooker Ken Owens, prop Wyn Jones, scrum-half Ali Price, centre Bundee Aki, wing Josh Adams and full-back Liam Williams all start in Cape Town.

Fly-half Finn Russell, lock Adam Beard and number eight Sam Simmonds come into the 23 for the first time this series.

Owen Farrell, Taulupe Faletau, Anthony Watson and Stuart Hogg are out of the squad.

After winning the first Test 22-17, the Lions were humbled 27-9 in the second to set up a winner-takes-all clash this weekend.

"The matchday 23 have an incredibly special opportunity in front of them - to seal a Lions series victory in South Africa," said Gatland.

"It doesn't get much bigger than this and we're excited by the challenge that faces us on Saturday.

"We've no excuses from last week - the Springboks put us under pressure in the second half and deserved the win. We have to be much better than that second-half performance, and I believe we will be."

British and Irish Lions: Williams; Adams, Henshaw, Aki, Van der Merwe; Biggar, Price; Jones, Owens, Furlong, Itoje, A Wyn Jones (c), Lawes, Curry, Conan

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Vunipola, Sinckler, Beard, Simmonds, Murray, Russell, Daly

Van der Merwe starting ????? WTF

Owen Farrell,Anthony Watson out of the matchday squad.Gaatts must really hate Farrell.