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South Africa vs British and Irish Lions - Test 2

Bada-Bing!

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SOUTH AFRICA v THE BRITISH & IRISH LIONS
15. Stuart Hogg (Exeter Chiefs, Scotland) #783
14. Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby, England) #816
13. Chris Harris (Gloucester Rugby, Scotland) #844
12. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #824
11. Duhan van der Merwe (Worcester Warriors, Scotland) #841
10. Dan Biggar (Northampton Saints, Wales) #821
9. Conor Murray (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #790
1. Mako Vunipola (Saracens, England) #787
2. Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs, England) #851
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #818
4. Maro Itoje (Saracens, England) #825
5. Alun Wyn Jones – captain (Ospreys, Wales) #761
6. Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints, England) #826
7. Tom Curry (Sale Sharks, England) #853
8. Jack Conan (Leinster Rugby, Ireland) #839

Replacements:
16. Ken Owens (Scarlets, Wales) #829
17. Rory Sutherland (Worcester Warriors, Scotland) #840
18. Kyle Sinckler (Bristol Bears, England) #814
19. Tadhg Beirne (Munster Rugby, Ireland) #838
20. Taulupe Faletau (Bath Rugby, Wales) #779
21. Ali Price (Glasgow Warriors, Scotland) #843
22. Owen Farrell (Saracens, England) #780
23. Elliot Daly (Saracens, England) #822
 
Both squads will be putting in the hard work this week to prepare for Test 2.

But perhaps the people with the hardest job will be the Cape Town Stadium ground staff, as they try to restore the badly cut-up pitch to a standard that will survive another 80 minutes of ferocious action.

It has been said that an evening kick-off time is not ideal in the SH winter, with the evening dew making the ground damp. Could they consider bringing forward the kick-off to 3pm SA time (2pm UK) to play the game in the drier afternoon conditions?

Or, even more radically, as they don't need an empty 50,000-seater stadium, moving the venue to somewhere like Bishops Diocesan College, which has an excellent pitch and pavilion, and has been used as a training base by previous England squads?
 
Both squads will be putting in the hard work this week to prepare for Test 2.

But perhaps the people with the hardest job will be the Cape Town Stadium ground staff, as they try to restore the badly cut-up pitch to a standard that will survive another 80 minutes of ferocious action.

It has been said that an evening kick-off time is not ideal in the SH winter, with the evening dew making the ground damp. Could they consider bringing forward the kick-off to 3pm SA time (2pm UK) to play the game in the drier afternoon conditions?

Or, even more radically, as they don't need an empty 50,000-seater stadium, moving the venue to somewhere like Bishops Diocesan College, which has an excellent pitch and pavilion, and has been used as a training base by previous England squads?
Why a college if you could move it to Newlands? I feel that would be a good idea to make it look like a tour to us viewers
 
Both squads will be putting in the hard work this week to prepare for Test 2.

But perhaps the people with the hardest job will be the Cape Town Stadium ground staff, as they try to restore the badly cut-up pitch to a standard that will survive another 80 minutes of ferocious action.

It has been said that an evening kick-off time is not ideal in the SH winter, with the evening dew making the ground damp. Could they consider bringing forward the kick-off to 3pm SA time (2pm UK) to play the game in the drier afternoon conditions?

Or, even more radically, as they don't need an empty 50,000-seater stadium, moving the venue to somewhere like Bishops Diocesan College, which has an excellent pitch and pavilion, and has been used as a training base by previous England squads?
Probably a big problem for TV camera, especially those overhead wires
 
They will have spent a lot of time, money and effort making the stadium COVID secure and so I doubt they'd change venue. 5pm UK time is probably fixed too due to agreements with sponsors and Sky Sports.
 
Yeah, I can't see anything being changed - though with no crowds moving it to a super rugby side's stadium for the 2nd game to give the turf a rest would be ideal
 
Is Itoje incredible because he's incredible or is he incredible because AWJ does all the unseen, messy work, leaving Itoje free do the X factor game-changing moments?

The Itoje-AWJ partnership worked well in NZ four years ago
 
Is Itoje incredible because he's incredible or is he incredible because AWJ does all the unseen, messy work, leaving Itoje free do the X factor game-changing moments?

The Itoje-AWJ partnership worked well in NZ four years ago
We didn't win a single minuite AWJ was on the pitch 4 years ago. So no.
 
gotta agree the AWJ does the work that allows Itoje to do higher level stuff.
 
gee i guess gatland replied nicely to SA's jibe. he who laughs last...

 
Is Itoje incredible because he's incredible or is he incredible because AWJ does all the unseen, messy work, leaving Itoje free do the X factor game-changing moments?

The Itoje-AWJ partnership worked well in NZ four years ago
A partnership is important but I think it's going way too far to give AWJ any kind of credit for Itoje's performance.

In fact, I'm not even going to talk about AWJ any more, it's been done to death …

Focusing solely on Itoje, for the most part what makes him great is how consistently he has big interventions in the game while also getting through an insane amount of work. It's similar to saying 'you make your own luck'. Itoje has lots of 'game-changing moments' because he's working like mad to be in the right place at the right time. That's him, not anyone else and that's why he's so consistently good regardless of who he partners.
 
yes, clearly itoje is only able to show off his flashy raw talent because of the honest hard working blue collar lunch pail AWJ
Makes sense,
Look at itojes career - he has achieved absolutely nothing in rugby outside of the Lions

Ah, wait...
 
Why a college if you could move it to Newlands? I feel that would be a good idea to make it look like a tour to us viewers
Just an info update here that seems to have been missed on the NH side. Newlands is done, WP and the Stormers now officially use Cape Town Stadium as well (which adds to the turf fun, because Western Province is playing there next Friday as well, adding to pitch damage). I have no idea if Newlands is still being maintained in any way or if they've already started dismantling it for whatever property development they want to do with it. It was meant to be demolished this year, but dunno if dodgy WP rugby deals and Covid has delayed that a fair bit.
 
i dont think the boks have the fitness or the time to get fit.
 
Nor do Boks have the game plan. when you have no moves that involve cheslnKolbe you gotta wonder. they did it to hababna and now its cheslins turn to sit on the wing and watch the whole game.
 
"Everyone has a plan, until they get punched in the mouth." Mike Tyson.
 

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