Premiership Rugby 2021/22: 7 to Watch

With the newest season of the Premiership just weeks away, it’s that time of year again when I look at the all the Premiership teams and select 7 players new to their clubs this season who I think we should all be keeping an eye on. It’s safe to say that I’ve had mixed results in the past with my picks, but hopefully after a season off (sadly with the amateurish way the league was being ran in COVID and a number of loan moves just allowing Saracens to get a leg up on this season, I found myself not interested) I’ll find myself doing a bit better with my selections.

A quick reminder of the rules:

Players must be new transfers into the club. Academy graduates/short-term contracts from last year that have now signed longer permanent contracts/players who joined the club midway through last season/players returning from loans will not be included
Maximum 1 player per team, even if they have multiple players deserving of a spot on the list

So without further ado, let’s get on with the list…

Adam Hastings

The arrival of Danny Cipriani to Gloucester had a massive impact on the team. The pack were able to get on the front foot and the former England international had the skill and vision to unlock the backline, leading to the Cherry & Whites’ most successful season in years. Sadly a combination of injuries and issues in his private life, combined with less success from the Gloucester pack meant that the success was fleeting and after he was able to leave his contract early, Gloucester were left with Lloyd Evans and young George Barton as the team’s specialist 10s. Bringing in Hastings from Glasgow once again gives the team a top international quality 10 to unlock a team full of potent attacking threats, while his goal kicking percentages (an issue for many Gloucester kickers bar Barton in recent years) could be the difference in close games.

Huw Jones

Last year’s champions Harlequins are seeing quite a change of personnel in their midfield this summer, with centres James Lang, Michele Campagnaro and Ben Tapuai all on their way out, but Huw Jones arriving from Glasgow. Jones has had his ups and downs for both Glasgow and Scotland since arriving from South Africa, but is a real attacking talent who at his best can be a top tier 13. Combine him with Marcus Smith at 10 and with either Paul Lasike/André Esterhuizen drawing defenders’ attention at 12, and this could be the chance for Jones to thrive.

Marco van Staden

The Tigers have had a few down years but look to be getting back on track with the arrival of Steve Borthwick and a new exciting back line. What they need now is to secure the ball for said backs. And who better to help with that than Marco van Staden. The 26-year-old arrives from the Bulls off the back of a summer with the Springboks, where he has been showing his impact (literally) with some physical performances off the bench. Tigers fans are never going to turn down a big bruising forward, don’t be shocked to quickly see him become a fan favourite at Welford Road.

Mike Brown

While Nathan Earl was also a potential pick here, I’ve gone for Mike Brown as my new arrival in Newcastle. After 16 years at the club, Mike Brown was unceremoniously considered surplus to requirements at Quins, but rather than end his career as a one-club man, he has signed for the Falcons and will surely have a point to prove. A former England regular, Brown’s form in recent seasons has arguably been as good as (if not better than) when he was playing Test rugby. His experience, grit and determination will be great for young outside backs like Adam Radwan and Mateo Carreras to learn from.

Ruben de Haas

So this is maybe a bit of an outside pick as with former Wales international already at the club and 6-cap Springbok Ivan van Zyl also joining, de Haas’ game time may not be at the same level as many of the other players on this list. And yet the USA international (yes, Salarycens can still field 3 internationals at 1 position!) is a quality young player who has really impressed with the Eagles and certainly deserves his chance to play and learn in a top league.

Vaea Fifita

All Blacks coming over to the Premiership tend to fall into one of 2 categories: superstars or disappointments. Fifita certainly seems like a player with the potential to go either way. The former Hurricane looked to be the man to replace Jerome Kaino in the All Blacks’ 6 jersey when he was first capped, but never managed to secure the position and has dropped down the pecking order over the years. However, he is still a strong player who is a dangerous carrying option in the loose, while his ability to play either lock or flanker gives a degree of versatility to Wasps’ team selections.

Duhan van der Merwe

With plenty of handy players arriving at Sixways, a Worcester signing was always going to make this list, and the one who secured the spot was Duhan van der Merwe. Scotland’s South African-born winger has impressed in recent years for Edinburgh, and replicated his form for both Scotland and the British & Irish Lions. With great pace and incredible strength, van der Merwe will be a nightmare match-up for opposition wingers. Don’t be shocked to see him high up on the try-scoring charts come the end of the season.

Who would you put on this list?

This year, I will be running a predictions league for the Premiership on Superbru, and you are all invited! It’s free to enter and entirely for fun.

For those of you who have never done this before, each week you select who you think will win each match and by what margin (a draw is also an option) and you will be awarded points depending on how successful your predictions are.

Interested? You can join my league here or by downloading the Superbru app and searching for the pool with code densjest

Thanks for reading!

2021 Rugby Championship: Argentina v South Africa

After last week’s double header, the Rugby Championship saw just one match take place this weekend. In a normal year, this match would have taken place in Argentina, but the continued impacts of COVID meant that the match was played at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, which hosted last week’s bonus point win for the Springboks.

While the venue may have stayed the same, both teams were heavily changed, and despite a positive opening couple of minutes from the Pumas, their indiscipline soon began to cost them and Handré Pollard duly kicked 3 penalties in the opening quarter. However a Jasper Wiese penalty from the restart gave Argentina a penalty deep in the South African half and Domingo Miotti put his team on the board off the tee. Pollard soon extended the lead back to 9 with another penalty, and just minutes later added another as Rodrigo Bruni was sent to the bin for his team’s persistent offending. Despite being a man down though, it was the Pumas who ended the half with the chance to score as Miotti lined up a penalty from close to halfway, but he was unable to hit the target and the Pumas went into the break down 3-15.

Much like in the first half, it was the Pumas who started better after the break, and they had the chance to open the half’s scoring with a Miotti penalty after Pollard took out Juan Cruz Mallía in the air, only for the young fly half to pull it to the left. However the Boks soon found themselves putting together phases in the Argentina 22, and when Willie le Roux came on a late loop from the blind side, he successfully created an overlap to send Makazole Mapimpi over in the corner. The Springboks were over for another try just minutes later as they secured their own ball at a lineout 5m from the Argentina line and ripped apart the Pumas’ maul defence for Malcolm Marx to go over. With substitutes now coming on, the game began to open up as the Boks looked to secure the bonus point, and the Pumas began to get more possession and space in which to use it, and when the Pumas drove a maul up to the Springbok try line just after the hour it looked like they would finally score, only for a handling error as the maul went to ground. As the clock ticked into the red, the Pumas had another chance to score as replacement back row Juan Martín González was released down the left wing, but his pass back inside was slightly behind Santiago Carreras, who was unable to collect cleanly and the loose ball fell into the hands of Lukhanyo Am, who cleaned things up, and lock Tomás Lavanini added yet another yellow card to his Test record or a late shot on Pollard. With the clock in the red, the Boks could have kicked the ball out to end the match but chose to go in search of the bonus point one last time, only for Pollard to miss touch, allowing the Pumas to work the way back down the field, and when they found themselves on the try line, Pablo Matera came crashing in on an inside line, and when he found contact on the line, he successfully managed to spin his body round to get to ground and score his team’s first try of this year’s tournament, with Nicolás Sánchez kicking the conversion to end the game as a 10-29 victory for the World Champions.

rugby south africa springboks crest no background

Paying the penalty

With the amount of penalties the Pumas were giving away, there was no chance for them to even get in the game for much of the match, let alone compete for the win! while the odd penalty is acceptable, the Pumas were playing on the edge far too frequently and were duly punished, with Handré Pollard’s kicks alone enough to win the match. But the real issue was their discipline at the lineout, where they tried every possible tactic—both legal and illegal—to disrupt the maul, with the outcome either being the maul trundling on or a penalty to the Boks. And of course the World Champions took every advantage of this, regularly kicking their penalties to touch and working their way down the field in a matter of phases as the Pumas illegally halted their mauls.

If you are struggling to defend the lineout and driving maul, then you need to limit the number of times the opposition get to utilise that set piece, and that means remaining disciplined.

Mishandled

Despite all-but playing themselves out of the game, the crazy thing is that the Pumas still had the chance to somehow come away with an undeserving victory. Argentina made a number of chances, only to shoot themselves in the foot at the wrong moment.

In an alternate universe, Gloucester wing Santiago Carreras could have come away with a brace of tries today, with the first one coming in the opening half as he ran a clinical line off the drifting Santiago Chocobares, only for the centre to delay his pass too long and throw it forward. Then with the clock in the red at the end of the game, it looked like he was certain to score as Juan Martín González played the ball inside to him just short of the line, but the pass was a little behind him and he was unable to take it cleanly, leading to it being knocked on. If the first chance was a possible try, then this was a guaranteed try.

Similarly, the Pumas would surely have scored just after the hour had they been more patient when their maul went to ground just short of the line, but rather than the first man in securing the ball, they tried to take it themselves and fumbled the ball forward, wasting what to that point had been the best chance of the game.

And sadly for the Pumas, there was yet another wasted chance in the latter stages of the second half. As the game opened up, Argentina brought their attack to the left and Chocobares fed Lucio Cinti, who looked like he may have the pace to beat the covering defence to the corner flag, only for play to be called back as Chocobares’ pass again drifted forward.

To me, these errors came largely as a result of 2 things. First of all, their lack of control in the game meant that they were almost panicking and trying to score as quickly as possible. But probably more costly was the constant chopping and changing of the team, which limits the chance for players to learn their exact timings to play off each other.

Despite the indiscipline, this was a much better performance from the Pumas than last week, expect to see further improvement as the tournament goes on.

Stunted

In theory, the Springbok backline had a good balance to it, with 2 highly physical centres in Am and Damian de Allende, 2 elite wings and 2 playmakers in Handré Pollard and Willie le Roux. Yet despite this, there was only one time that the Boks really had success going wide: when le Roux’s late loop set up Mapimpi’s try. Other than this, the South African attack looked very poor, generally just going sideways without committing defenders, and allowing the Pumas’ defence to drift with them and cut down the space outside.

First things first, congratulations to the Boks for actually trying to play rugby a couple of times, but the attempts were poor. De Allende and a forward or 2 running dummy lines would immediately force the Pumas defence to hold their positions and create the space for the wings to exploit. Hopefully like with the Pumas, we will see the Springboks continue to try and play more expansive attacking rugby with more success as the tournament goes on.

2021 Rugby Championship: South Africa v Argentina

Last weekend, South Africa were defeating the British & Irish Lions to win the series 2-1. This weekend they found themselves opening their Rugby Championship campaign at Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium against Argentina. After the physicality of the last few weeks, it was no real shock to see a heavily changed 23 from the Springboks, but they were on the board in a matter of minutes via the boot of Elton Jantjies after lock Marcos Kremer was pinged for not rolling away. Between bouts of kick tennis, the Pumas were looking to attack, but an attempt to spread the ball on 12 minutes saw the ball go to floor as Sebastián Cancelliere tried to find Bautista Delguy on the loop, and when Cobus Reinach recovered the loose ball, he was able to just hold off the chase of a despairing Rodrigo Bruni to score the opening try. Argentina were soon on the board with a penalty from Nicolás Sánchez, but the fly half was beaten in the air by Eben Etzebeth just minutes later, and Jantjies’ cross kick was just collected on the touchline following a juggle from Aphelele Fassi for his second try in 2 games. South Africa were taking control and winning the penalties, but rather than pressing the boot on the Pumas’ neck, they chose to try building a score with the boot, with 6 points for Jantjies and a miss from Frans Steyn, but this allowed the Pumas to stay in contention as Sánchez kicked 2 penalties in the final 5 minutes of the half for a halftime score of 21-9.

Anyone hoping that the Boks would open things up in the second half were sorely disappointed as it was more of the same, so much so that I lost count of the number of times I yawned. Sánchez missed a drop goal on the first attack of the half, but settled for 2 more penalties, which were cancelled out by Jantjies while Steyn missed again. With the game entering the final 10 minutes, it looked like The Boks had earned their bonus point as Fassi went over for another try, but it was ruled out for an offence by Malcolm Marx in the build-up. However with just 2 minutes remaining they found the all-important breakthrough as a strong run from Marco van Staden put them on the front foot and acting 9 Morné Steyn fed replacement scrum half Jaden Hendrikse to score in the corner on his debut. With the clock in the red, Argentina launched one last attack and when they made it up to the Springbok line it looked like they may make the Boks pay for doing the bare minimum to get a bonus point by taking it away at the death, but Matías Alemanno lost possession as he forced his was over the line and the game ended in a 32-12 bonus point victory for the World Champions.

A show of depth

After such a hard Test series against the Lions, it was no shock to see the Springboks fielding a very different squad this weekend, with the majority of the 23 not involved or only playing a limited role in the previous Tests. And yet to put in such a dominant performance was a strong reminder of the strength in depth that the Boks have.

They have the personnel to put out 2 completely different back lines that could both excel at international level (Damian Willemse did not have a good time at 15 here but is a truly talented player) and that would still leave players like Curwin Bosch, Herschel Jantjies, André Esterhuizen, Rohan Janse van Resburg and Morné Steyn left over. Meanwhile in the pack, they have at least 3 solid options at each position in the front row, while their world class ideal back row of Kolisi, Vermeuelen and du Toit is backed up by such quality that even Dan du Preez—who has been a star for the Sharks and then Sale—could only make the bench for this game. If they are weak anywhere, it is perhaps at lock, where they have 4 stars in Etzebeth, de Jager, Mostert and Snyman, but could find themselves short of experience if a couple of them were unavailable at the same time.

Yesterday, I wrote about how much the All Blacks team is chopped and changed under Ian Foster. Well the Springboks squad is largely settled, allowing them to improve as a unit, but they are still taking their chance to test the wider squad and those on the fringes, to ensure that they have every chance of putting together a run of wins.

Be Prepared

What really became clear to me during this match was that we had 2 teams at different stages of preparation. While many of the Springboks 23 didn’t feature against the Lions, they were training and preparing alongside those that did, and then went straight onto this. As a result, they were not just match-fit, but fully match-ready, having just seen off the best of Great Britain and Ireland.

By contrast, Argentina played Tests against Romania and 2 massively understrength Wales teams, before then having the majority of a month off. That meant that not only had the team not reached the same level of competition in their preparation from the tour, but they also then had a drop off in intensity between the July Tests and this competition.

As such, the Pumas came in undercooked, and this was accentuated even more by the high level of a South Africa team that was at peak intensity, so much so that even star back rowers Rodrigo Bruni, Pablo Matera and Facundo Isa could barely make an impact on the game, while the handling error that led to Reinach’s opening try was a timing error caused by the team not being up to speed and then accentuated by blood replacement Cancelliere having just entered the fray mere seconds before for his first Test cap since 2019.

Expect to see the Pumas grow into the tournament over the coming weeks. As for the Springboks, it’s probably more a question of whether they want to start playing attacking rugby or just putting everyone to sleep.

2021 Rugby Championship: New Zealand v Australia

With the British & Irish Lions’ tour of South Africa completing last weekend, it was time to get back to our annual rugby competitions with the beginning of the 2021edition of the Rugby Championship. Opening the tournament was a match between New Zealand and Australia at Eden Park, the 2ⁿᵈ of 3 Bledisloe Cup matches in 2021.

And it was last week’s losers Australia who were creating the early chances in Auckland, tough after making it to the All Blacks 22, Noah Lolesio saw his wide pass intercepted by Reiko Ioane and the winger, given a chance in his preferred position of outside centre, used his pace to take the ball the distance for the opening try. The Wallabies answered with their next attack though, drawing the defence in tight with a series of phases, before Lolesio chipped out wide to Andrew Kellaway, who stepped inside Damian McKenzie to go over in the corner, though a missed conversion from Lolesio kept the All Blacks ahead. This try appeared to spark the All Blacks, who grew into the game, and the Australian defence just succeeded in holding them out on a couple of occasions at the expense of just 1 penalty from Richie Mo’unga. Eventually the Wallabies defence earned a penalty of their own near halfway, but when Tom Banks chose to catch out the All Blacks with a tap and go, the support was lacking and the ball was quickly turned over out wide. The All Blacks took immediate advantage, spreading the ball out to Akira Ioane on the other wing who broke with support, dummying Kellaway to make more ground before finally feeding McKenzie, who offloaded to Brodie Retallick to finish the counter. As the game reached the half hour point, Lolesio cut the lead with a penalty, but his next kick proved costly. Attempting to clear his lines after the restart, the young fly half found his angle to the left touchline cut off by a charging Dalton Papali’i, so switched to kick to the further away right touchline. The ball came nowhere near touch and instead fell straight into the arms of Richie Mo’unga, who immediately countered deep into the Australian 2, and after a series of phases, Ardie Savea pushed over from close range. As the half came to an end, there was just time for the Wallabies to cut the lead with a try, with Rob Valetini drawing the defenders off the back of a 5m scrum, and feeding a looping Tate McDermott to go over beneath the posts, with Lolesio converting for a halftime score of 21-15.

After ending the first half on a high, the Wallabies were straight out the blocks after the break and soon found themselves with a temporary numerical advantage as Ardie Savea was sent to the sin bin. Looking to capitalise on the extra man in the pack, the team kicked to the corner, but Brandon Paenga-Amosa was unable to throw in straight and the chance as lost. And it didn’t take long for the All Blacks to make them pay for the missed chance, with Aaron Smith finding space down the blind side of a ruck to break away and feed Codie Taylor for a try, before Damian McKenzie kicked a monster penalty from inside his own half. If Australian hopes were hanging on by a thread, that thread was cut just moments later after Matt To’omua’s speculative wide pass was intercepted and ran back by Sevu Reece for yet another try. Codie Taylor went over for his 2ⁿᵈ try of the game on the hour and Will Jordan scored again just minutes later. However as the substitutions came on, the All Blacks appeared to drop off towards the end for the second week in a row, and Andrew Kellaway duly took advantage to go over in the corner for another try. With the clock in the red, both teams looked to end on a high, and when Kellaway fumbled, Will Jordan was able to collect the ball and hold up play to allow support to arrive before feeding David Havili, who went over to end the game with one last try, while Beauden Barrett converted for a final score of 57-22, the highest points total New Zealand had scored at home against Australia.

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Own worst enemies

It’s harsh to say, but the Wallabies were their own worst enemies in this match. They had very few good chances to score and one of them as wasted by failing to correctly execute their own lineout correctly—an issue that isn’t new for Brandon Paenga-Amosa.

But even worse is when you look at the tries they conceded. Of the 8 tries New Zealand scored, 5 of them can be directly attributed to mistakes from the Wallabies, including all 3 of heir first half tries. Let’s start with the most obvious ones: the interceptions. While Kellaway scored 2 tries from the prior phases sucking in the defence, in the case of both interceptions, the Wallabies had not earned the right to go wide, which left defenders in position to exploit the wide passes, exactly like Richie Mo’unga’s try last weekend. Now for the remaining 3, let’s look at them in chronological order.

First up is Brodie Retallick’s try. Banks takes a risk by trying to catch the All Blacks out with a tap and go rather than a kick to touch, and credit to the Wallabies, they make ground to probably around the same area as where the kick would have gone out, however the break means that most of the Wallabies back line are involved in that first breakdown, so when Swinton knocks on and loses possession immediately after, the Australian defence is too narrow and—with Kellaway dropping back to defend the kick in behind—Rob Valentini is left exposed as the widest man in the defensive line with Paenga-Amosa inside him. It takes just a couple of wide passes to put Akira Ioane around the edge of the defence, with men in support allowing him to successfully dummy Kellaway and have men with him when he is eventually closed down.

Next we come to Savea’s try, and this is all about Lolesio’s kick giving Mo’unga the chance to counter and put the All Blacks on the front foot in the Australian 22. Mo’unga is in the pocket to buy time for a kick to the left hand touchline, but comes under pressure from Dalton Papali’i, who blitzes up alone to try charging down the clearance. Now in this moment, Lolesio has a couple of options. He could hold on tot he ball and try to step back inside to the left, where there is a small pod of players nearby including Michael Hooper, who could probably secure the breakdown with Papali’i on his own. The other options are to kick deep down the middle in an attempt to turn the All Blacks, or to kick for the right touchline, which is very far away so will result in very little ground gained. However, the New Zealand defence on that touchline has already dropped back expecting the kick, which actually leaves space for a kick pass to the right wing. Even if it doesn’t lead to a break, it gives them a chance to reset and build a safer platform from which to clear their lines. However, he instead appeared stuck in multiple minds, putting in a short central kick that also wasn’t high enough for his teammates to get into position to challenge for, allowing Mo’unga an easy catch with space to launch a counter, which put the All Blacks on the front foot deep in the Australian 22.

And finally, if we look at Havilli’s try, it all comes from Andrew Kellaway fumbling Lolesio’s pass in slippery conditions as they try to play for a meaningless try, with the ball being recovered by Will Jordan, who takes things from there. Cleverly noticing that Michael Hooper has already changed his running line to intercept a run to the posts, the Crusader instead runs a largely sideways route, that takes him towards the touchline but gives his support time to arrive. So when he is finally tackled, there are 3 defenders beyond him who have all overcommitted on trying to cover a run up the touchline, which leaves a wide open space for David Havili to run into after taking the offload.

To defeat the best teams in the world, you need to play close to perfect. This is too many mistakes at crucial moments, with the turnovers allowing the All Blacks to take advantage of a defence that isn’t set. If Australia want to have success in this year’s Rugby Championship, they need to be more accurate in possession and cut out these costly errors.

Coasting

While this may be another big victory for the All Blacks, I can’t help feel that the questions surrounding Ian Foster’s role should remain. They are far from the team that just a few seasons ago was on a run to try and beat the record for consecutive Test victories. Arguably, they have a better all-round fly half now in Richie Mo’unga, but it feels like there are very few positions where there is a clear pecking order, the others being lock (Retallick and Whitelock) and scrum half (Aaron Smith). Beyond that, though, the constant chopping and changing of personnel—admittedly not helped right now by injuries to Sam Cane and a number of centres—is leaving the all Blacks in a position where they are lacking the chemistry of past teams and making a lot more errors.

The players have a natural skill and level of quality that is currently getting them through games, and to say that they hardly reached 4ᵗʰ gear in this match says a lot about the quality of opposition they were against, with Will Jordan’s try notable as being a result of players just attacking a gap created by a gold shirt bursting out to claim a loose ball that Aaron Smith beat them to, allowing the All Blacks to create a break that they converted with ease.

Against a top team though—for example South Africa, France or (on their day) England—it will be a much harder test. Will this team be able to put together the level of performance required? Right now, I feel that they have the players with the potential to do so, but I feel that the team is far from ready…

Lions Tour 2021: Team of the Series

We are now a couple of days removed from the decisive third Test, which saw Morné Steyn’s late penalty hand the World Champions a 2-1 series win. So before we turn our attention from the Lions Tour and onto the Rugby Championship, all that remains is to pick the Team of the Series.

For this, I will purely be selecting based on the 3 Test matches, so players like Josh Adams and Tadhg Beirne who had solid tours but barely featured in the Tests will not make the squad. Now of course, the biggest issue with limiting myself to just the 3 Tests is that they were three of the worst matches that I have ever witnessed, so I hate to admit it but many of these selections came down to “who was the least worst?” rather than “who was the best?”

Let me know who would make your XV.

1) Trevor Nyakane: Had Wyn Jones been fit for the full 3 Tests then I think there could have been some more competition here, but injury limiting him to just over 40 minutes of rugby and the lack of consistency from Mako Vunipola or Rory Sutherland made this an easy win for the South African. Steven Kitshoff may have got the start for 2 of the Tests, but it was Nyakane who really shone, putting some poor performances behind him to justify his spot in the 23, winning a number of key penalties in the scrum.

2) Luke Cowan-Dickie: Bongi Mbonambi was far from his best, Malcom Marx didn’t get enough minutes and Ken Owens’ lineout issues were exploited, so Cowan-Dickie gets the nod here. Despite not quite reaching the level of the warm-up matches, he was the most reliable of the hookers, while his strong carrying and low body position caused an issue for tacklers.

3) Tadhg Furlong: Furlong did not always have things his own way but was largely reliable both in the scrum and around the park. Vunipola and Jones’ success against Frans Malherbe in the first and third Tests respectively did the Irishman a favour here.

4 & 5) Maro Itoje & Eben Etzebeth: Finally a position where it was hard to choose due to the high quality of performances. I am often critical of Maro Itoje as he too often toes the line of legality, but when he holds back just that tiny fraction and stays legal, he is a world class player and showed it throughout the series, with his performance in the first match arguably the performance of the series. Meanwhile Etzebeth did a great job of breaking up the Lions’ lineout at key moments, while also carrying hard in midfield to break the gain line.

6) Siya Kolisi: So as this series went ahead in South Africa, I am looking at the flankers from a South African point of view, meaning that 6 is the openside position. Tom Curry certainly had his moments, but what really stood out in his play were the penalties he conceded, while Kolisi combined solid play around the park with the burden of captaining the World Champions to a series victory.

7) Pieter-Steph du Toit: Courtney Lawes put in some solid performances, but nothing that stood out from what is expected of any player. The same can be said from Franco Mostert. Du Toit may not have even featured in half of the series, going off injured midway through the first half of the second Test, but while he was on the park he stood out, especially with his cleaning up of some erratic passing by Handré Pollard in the first Test.

8) Jack Conan: Boy did this series miss Duane Vermeulen. Kwagga Smith’s skillset did not suit the usual Springbok approach, while Jasper Wiese was a penalty machine. Jack Conan was quieter than ideal and butchered a fantastic opportunity to score in the second Test by carrying on what appeared to be a set move off a scrum rather than playing what was in front of him, but was by far the most impressive of the number 8s with a number of dynamic carries.

9) Faf de Klerk: Ali Price came close, but a couple of key interventions earned the Sale halfback the pick here. A fantastic game manager whose style of play is perfect for the current South African approach. Mad a try-saving ball-and-all tackle on Conor Murray off a Lions scrum 5m from the Springbok line, while put in a clever grubber for Lukhanyo Am’s try in the second Test.

10) Finn Russell: Maybe a controversial pick here as he only played 70 minutes, but Pollard was erratic at times with his passing and goal kicking, while the Lions’ tactics limited Biggar far too much. Russell came in and barely puta foot wrong, varying the game up much more and causing real problems for the South African defence. If only we’ seen more of this.

11) Makazole Mapimpi: Is Mapimpi one of he most underrated wings in international rugby? The wing is forced to play a largely defensive role and does it well, but when given the chance to score he was clinical, with a and an assist in the second Test. Imagine how dangerous he would be in a team that created more chances for him.

12) Robbie Henshaw: Damian de Allende was a solid reliable option at 12 and at many positions that would have been enough to earn selection, but unfortunately he finds himself up against Robbie Henshaw. Despite playing with a different centre partner in each Test (and shifted to 13 for the decider) Henshaw was reliable in both defence and attack, while his 2 breaks of note through the series were more than any other Lion managed.

13) Lukhanyo Am: Granted he wasn’t tested overmuch, but this series was anther great opportunity for Am to show his proficiency as one of the best defensive 13s in world rugby. Did a great job of shutting down a number of the Lions’ attacks and scored a crucial try as momentum shifted in their favour during the second Test.

14) Cheslin Kolbe: Arguably should have received a red and a yellow (if not 2 reds) in the second Test, but was allowed to play and earns his spot here. While quiet, his try was a timely reminder of his quality as he fended off Luke Cowan-Dickie and stepped Liam Williams. That Mapimpi and Kolbe basically earned selection by finishing off tries shows just how poor things were out wide.

15) Willie le Roux: The World Cup winner was relatively solid but far from spectacular, but even that was enough to beat out Stuart Hogg. It says it all that Liam Williams was in with a shot despite only playing in the decider, but his selfishness with a 2v1 was criminal. At least le Roux showed us how it should be done when given a chance later in the match, setting up Cheslin Kolbe for his try.

Lions Tour 2021: South Africa v British & Irish Lions – 3rd Test

12 years of waiting all came down to this. With the 2021 Test series between South Africa and the British & Irish Lions level at 1-1, both teams knew that Saturday’s result would decide the series. Both teams came in with changes made, though it was a forced change for the World Champions, with both Faf de Klerk and Pieter-Steph du Toit out injured, while Duane Vermeulen was also still missing despite returning to the squad this week.

That experience missing from the Springbok back row was soon felt as Jasper Wiese was penalised for being offside following a knock-on just minutes into the game, but Dan Biggar missed off the tee. The Lions looked to be trying to play more rugby than in the previous Tests, but were struggling to find a way to break through the green wall in the early minutes, however when the hosts chose to play the ball through the hands they immediately put the tourists under pressure, and though the tourists just about kept up their defence through the phases, it came at the cost of 3 points through the boot of Handré Pollard and also saw Dan Biggar helped off the pitch, with Finn Russell coming on for his first Lions Test cap. It had been 5 weeks since the Scottish fly half played a game of rugby, but he immediately looked at home and the Lions looked better for having him there, causing the South African defence issues, while he was also on target with his opening kick off the tee to level the scores after Steven Kitshoff was penalised for collapsing the scrum. The Lions pack clearly felt they were gaining dominance over the hosts, and when they next had a penalty in the South African half, Russell turned down the 3 points and gave his pack a lineout just 5m from the line. A quick front ball to Maro Itoje allowed the tourists to set the maul, and after some patient grinding, they eventually got the push on to let Ken Owens drop over the line for the opening try. The Boks looked like they were struggling to match their opponents, but were let off just before the half hour as Liam Williams was released down the right wing. With just 1 defender ahead of him and nobody in a realistic position to get across and cover in behind, the Welsh fullback failed to pass to Josh Adams and instead took contact to end one for the best chances of scoring we saw in the whole tour. If there was any worry that this could be a costly mistake, things got even worse just before the break as Wyn Jones—who had been causing no end of issues at the scrum for Frans Malherbe—spent a few minutes receiving treatment before going straight to a scrum, where Malherbe took advantage of his discomfort to win a penalty that Pollard duly kicked to cut the lead at the break to 6-10.

Just minutes into the second half, Jones again found himself penalised in the scrum and was replaced, clearly not feeling comfortable after his injury. South Africa put themselves into the Lions half and repeatedly battered away at their defence, but they struggled to find a way through and Pollard missed 2 kickable penalties. As the clock ticked towards the hour, the breakthrough came for South Africa. Everybody failed to collect Ali Price’s high ball, but it was eventually cleaned up by Lukhanyo Am, who quickly played the ball off to Willie le Roux, who had come on the loop to attack the blind 15m channel that had been left empty by Duhan van der Merwe contesting the high ball. Le Roux broke down the wing with support on either side and duly drew the last man to release Cheslin Kolbe, who evaded the desperate tackles of Luke Cowan-Dickie and Liam Williams to score and put the Boks ahead, Pollard adding the extras. The Lions were soon level through the boot of Finn Russell after he was hit late by Wiese. With Pollard misfiring off the tee and the game still close with 15 minutes left, Jacques Nienaber made a big call, taking off the fly half and bringing on 37-year-old Morné Steyn for his first Test cap in 5 years. With only his second touch of the ball, Steyn had put the Boks back ahead, striking over a penalty after the Lions collapsed a driving maul. And then with 10 minutes left, came the crucial moment. After a Lions lineout 5m from the South African try line was immediately sacked, the tourists went through a series of pick and go carries before Mao Vunipola drove over the line, however the replacement prop was unable to get the ball down, and Trevor Nyakane won a penalty at the resultant scrum to allow the hosts to clear their lines. The Lions soon found an equaliser through Russell’s boot, after a break from Robbie Henshaw ended in Am coming in from the side to play Conor Murray. With just minutes left and the scores still level, discipline was key, and it was the hosts who profited as the Lions gave away a kickable penalty with just 2 minutes remaining. 12 years ago, Morné Steyn’s long-range penalty at the death won the second Test to secure the series, and once again the fly half’s aim proved true as he bisected the posts to give the Boks a late lead. There was still time for the restart though, and when the Lions were awarded a scrum in a good attacking position with just seconds left on the clock, there was a glimmer of hope. However, the Springbok pack put the pressure on and won the penalty, which Steyn duly kicked out to end the game in a 19-16 victory and secure the series 2-1.

rugby british and irish lions crest no background

Wasteful

When you look back on this match with honesty, you realise that while the scrum fell apart in the second half and the lineout wasn’t a guaranteed thing, the Lions should have still won this game, but threw it away.

On 4 separate occasions, the Lions turned down the option of 3 points and instead kicked for the corner. Of these 4 occasions, only 1 saw them come away with any points: Ken Owens’ try. Just 7 points from 4 visits to the 22 already doesn’t look good, but realising that each time they had possession deep in the 22 makes it even worse. To make things even worse, one of these 3 occasions, the Lions were in a strong position, with the maul once again moving towards the line only for Tom Curry to stupidly detach from the maul and then come back in on Siya Kolisi from the side in an attempt to stop him pulling off into a defensive position as the maul wheeled around. Another saw Eben Etzebeth steal the ball just ahead of Alun Wyn Jones, while the final one saw the maul sacked and then Mako Vunipola having far too high a body position as he drove over the line, allowing the defence to get below him and hold him up, while at this point the Springbok scrum was gaining dominance.

But without a doubt the biggest wasted chance came from the selfishness of Liam Williams. The Welsh fullback was released down the right wing under penalty advantage with Josh Adams outside him, with just one defender between them and the line, and nobody in a realistic position to get across and cover. It was the most basic 2v1 drill you could imagine, all Williams had to do was draw his man and pass the ball to Adams to give the wing the simplest of run-ins and extend the lead at a time when the Lions were causing the Boks real problems. And yet for some reason, Williams chose to hold onto the ball and try beating the man, unsurprisingly being tackled and ending the chance.

I have seen some people argue that Williams shouldn’t be criticised for backing himself, but that was the most basic of plays, any professional rugby player—let alone an experienced international back like him—should be making the right call and feeding his support man. This was probably the best chance created in the entirety of the Test series, and Williams blew it. But while this was the worst example, it was juts yet another chance missed by a Lions team that had shown very little inkling to play attacking rugby before this Test. When you play so negatively, it takes time to change your mindset when the gameplan becomes more positive. Maybe if Warren Gatland had tried to play rugby in the previous Tests, the Lions would have been more prepared to finish the chances they were creating.

Risky business

It wasn’t just the Lions’ inability to finish their chances that caught my eye in this game, as there was also another tactical decision they made that could have proved costly, and that was not having blockers in place to the side of the rucks when the scrum halves were kicking.

Now personally, I hate seeing caterpillar rucks and these blockers to the side of the breakdown, as it makes it impossible for a defender to legally do anything to put pressure on the scrum half; but while they are legal it seems stupid to not use them when box kicking regularly.

By having those blockers to the side of the ruck, it just gives the 9 that extra bit of space and time to get the kick away. We even saw in this Test one moment where Ali Price—who does have somewhat of a history of having kicks charged down at Test level—saw his attempted box kick charged down. Especially in this match against the Springboks, with behemoths like Etzebeth, de Jager and Mostert looking to disrupt, having that man in place would have given a bit of extra safety for the 9s.

Luckily for the Lions, they escaped relatively unscathed in this regard, otherwise things could have been even worse for them.

Another gear?

This may seem an odd question to ask after winning the World Cup and Lions Series, but are South Africa holding themselves back?

In Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe, they have 2 of the best wings in the world, and yet the pair barely got any chance to attack during this tour. As with the 2019 Rugby World Cup, the Springbok’s success came off their pack gaining dominance in the set piece, solid defence and the tactical kicking of the halfbacks putting them in opposition territory, where they can take advantage of the penalties they are winning to build up a lead off the tee.

But as a result of this, what we have seen is that they need to keep the tempo very stop-start to allow the forwards a chance to recover. When the Lions were able to up the tempo, such as in this game when Finn Russell started varying the attack, the Springboks looked in danger. Is it time for the World Champions to change their style?

They certainly have the quality of player. Willie le Roux works as an extra playmaker from 15, and while Handré Pollard is not always the most reliable in a more expansive game, he still has a range of passes and kicks. In the midfield, Damian de Allende and Lukhanyo Am provide a great physical pairing, but do they have enough between them to play a more expansive game? Or would the team benefit from bringing Damian Willemse in at 12 to provide another playmaking option. Simply put, the wings need to get the ball in space more often, and some simple changes to the game plan to utilise more of the ball in hand would allow that.

Not only that, but would it benefit the pack? Malcolm Marx plays like an extra flanker, as does Kitshoff. Franco Mostert has an incredible engine, hence his ability to play 7 for the Boks. Spreading the ball more would also force a defence to spread wider, making the carries of Eben Etzebeth or Duane Vermeuelen (once back) even more effective. But what it would also do is improve the effectiveness of the Kwagga Smith. Much of the build-up to the first Test saw questions over whether Smith could cope at 8 as he is not as physically imposing as Vermeuelen. Well playing a more open game would play into the former 7s superstar’s hands as his dynamism would become more important.

Realistically though, we probably won’t see much of a change while the Boks remain so successful. But with the Rugby Championship about to start, the Boks could be in for a shock if their opponents refuse to play into their hands by playing the tight game the Lions did.

Eyes on the Ball

Thoughts from the world of sport and the Schmoedown

Month: August 2021