British & Irish Lions player ratings vs Sharks 2 | 2021 Lions Series
The British & Irish Lions player ratings, brought to you by The Famous Grouse
The withdrawal of Finn Russell and Maro Itoje just 90 minutes before kick-off may have rattled the Lions and Gatland’s men indeed got off to a mediocre start in their Cell C Sharks replay. Back-to-back matches tend to even the playing field and a much-changed Sharks were certainly game.
THE BRITISH & IRISH LIONS VS SHARKS
15. LIAM WILLIAMS – 6
After going behind after 15 minutes, the Lions needed cool heads and Williams was one. Returned most balls with interest and established aerial dominance. Targeted for some rough stuff but it’s water off a duck’s back.
14. ANTHONY WATSON – 7.5
His first start of the tour, the pressure was on Watson to put a claim after such outstanding performances from the back three club. Great decision-making with the quick lineout that led to Chris Harris’ try. Took his tries well, showing really killer instinct grab his second just before fulltime.
13. ELLIOT DALY – 6
Getting obliterated by Werner Kok wasn’t the ideal start and that was followed by an awkward fumble then led directly to the Sharks’ first try. Did his best to make up for the gaffs, his classy try going some way to correcting the ledger that was part of a second-half that was far, far more assured. Did a decent job moonlighting at scrumhalf too.
12. CHRIS HARRIS – 6
Took his try well and was maybe less to blame than his teammates for their error-strewn first 50 minutes. Some so-so defensive work in the first half flattered no one in the Lions’ backline.
11. DUHAN VAN DER MERWE – 8
Brilliant line and step to set up Harris for the Lions’ first try and didn’t have too much for his second try. He’s doing very little wrong in a Lions’ jersey.
10. DAN BIGGAR – 6
His normally super accurate kicking radar seemed scrambled and awful pass let Sharks just before halftime. Four missed tackles to his name will irk a normally solid defender. Against that there were some superb touches with ball in hand and some brighter moments. With Russell’s Achilles issue ruling him out of the next three fixtures, selection at 10 continues to intrigue.
9. GARETH DAVIES – 5
Not a great day at the office for Davies, whose distribution was a mixed bag, showed poor discipline and threw an intercept. A game to forget for the Welshman who might now be Gatland’s third choice at nine.
1. RORY SUTHERLAND – 7
A decent showing from Sutherland, who carried well throughout and held his end up in the setpiece for the 56 minutes he spent on the pitch.
2. JAMIE GEORGE – 8
Took the game by the scruff as the neck, flopping over from a driving maul in the 21st minute and carried well throughout, before grabbing a second. This was vintage Jamie George.
3. TADHG FURLONG – 7
Not quite the fireworks you come to expect from Furlong but he carried effectively and gave his Sharks a torrid time in the scrums.
4. COURTNEY LAWES – 6.5
Replaced Itoje late in the day and but didn’t take long to start cutting down Sharks’ players.
5. JONNY HILL – 6
A solid outting for the big lock, who had a massive task on his hands dealing the likes of the 6’8, 138kg Le Roux Roets. Solid.
6. TADHG BEIRNE – 8
The Munster man found himself on the score sheet twice and was second only to Conan for post-contact carry metres. His involvement in the Tests is assured, it’s now down to whether it’s on the bench or as a starter.
7. HAMISH WATSON – 7
A less glamourous turn than last time out but no less effective. Gave the Lions some much needed go forward, albeit making more modest gains in traffic, pneumatically pumping his way through defenders.
8. JACK CONAN – 7
A little bit of a slow start from the Leinster No.8 but he grew into the game – as he is wont to do – and was good value for his try, having logged over 30 metres after contact from 14 carries. Pushing Faletau hard.
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Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments