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British & Irish Lions player ratings vs Japan | 2021 Lions series
The British & Irish Lions players ratings, brought to you by The Famous Grouse
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Steve Borthwick’s side were aiming to become the fifth club in the history of European competition to win both the Heineken Champions Cup and the Challenge Cup, but it wasn’t to be.
Borthwick captained Bath to Challenge Cup success in the 2008 final against Worcester Warriors and was also on the losing side for the Gallagher Premiership club in the 2003 and 2007 finals. Tigers were the 26th different club to reach the final and ultimately failed to become the 17th name on the trophy.
LEICESTER TIGERS PLAYER RATINGS:
15 FREDDIE STEWARD – 8
The rangey full-back has enjoyed something of a breakout season at Welford Road and was probably Leicester’s standout back in the first half.
14 GUY PORTER – NA
Went off following a nasty head clash care of an accidental knee contact, with just 19 minutes played.
13 MATÍAS MORONI – 7
Failed to deal with a remarkably well-taken kick and collect from Vincent Rattez for MHR’s first try, but it may have been his only defensive lapse.
How good was this from Vincent Rattez? Rat-like, in the best sense of the word ? #baller #LEIvMHR #ChallengeCupFinal pic.twitter.com/2m6bi7aFa5
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) May 21, 2021
12 DAN KELLY – 6
Some huge tackling set the standard in the Tigers midfield. The odd flash but failed to really spark in attack, even if it wasn’t that type of game.
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11 NEMANI NADOLO – 7.5
Fascinating to see Nadolo go up against his former teammates. Saw precious little ball in the first half and any he did get was scrappy. Was brought closer to the action in the second, deployed as a first receiver off set-piece and was a constant problem for Montpellier to solve.
10 GEORGE FORD – 7
Ford’s strategy was clear: kick the leather off the ball whenever it was an option, force and then play off any reception mistakes and maul MHR to death off lineouts. There’d been a lot of hype around Ford’s devilish spiral kicks, but for the most part, Montpellier handled the numerous grenades lobbed in their direction. Relentless.
9 RICHARD WIGGLESWORTH – 6
Wigglesworth’s inclusion ahead of Ben Youngs raised some eyebrows pre-game but his no-frills service was the sensible accompaniment to Ford’s boot-a-thon.
1 ELLIS GENGE – 6
After a huge performance last weekend, the fired-up loosehead gave as good as he got but was kept relatively quiet.
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2 TOM YOUNGS (C) – 7
The grizzled brain stem of Leicester’s brawny pack, the 34-year-old hooker functioning like a front row version of the erstwhile Leicester back row legend Neil Back, burrowing his way around the back of every Leicester maul.
3 DAN COLE – 6
The veteran tighthead provided a solid platform for Tigers’ attack and did his job throughout.
4 HARRY WELLS – 8
Despite both Wells and Green tipping the scale around the 120kg mark, but they looked relatively lithe in comparison to their French opposition. Yet Montpellier struggled to contain Tigers’ mauling game, with Wells a central figure. Showed street smarts to force his way over in the 34th minute.
5 CALUM GREEN – 7.5
Hassled and harried Montpellier and he and Wells certainly won their unit battle with the giant Paul Willemse and Florian Verhaeghe.
6 HANRO LIEBENBERG – 5
A relatively low-key performance from the big blindside, which was much more about matching the French in the grunt stakes. Will rue a few errors and the borderline holding-on call care of referee Andrew Brace.
7 CYLE BRINK – NA
A few spills with ball-in-hand, the big South African was injured and replaced by Tommy Reffell after just 28 minutes.
8 JASPER WIESE – 6
Maybe the form forward in the Gallagher Premiership, the boys of the MHR presented a sterner physical test than the average Gallagher Premiership outing. Trucked the ball up aggressively for plenty of metres and was good value for his second-half try, but his ball security let him down more than once.
REPLACEMENTS:
KINI MURIMURIVALU – 7
An early fumble aside. the Fijian was industrious on both sides of the ball, a brilliant 56-minute turnover standing out.
TOMMY REFFELL – 7
Leicester looked more balanced with Reffell on. Brought the turnover nuisance factor.
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Comments on RugbyPass
A wallaby front-row of Bell, Blake and Tupou…now that would be hefty
1 Go to comments“But with an exceptional pass accuracy rating “ Which apart from Roigard is not a feature of any of the other 9s in NZ. Kind of basic for a Black 9 dont.you. think? Yet we keep seeing FC and TJ being rated ahead of him? Weird if it’s seen as vital to get our backline beating in your face defences.
1 Go to commentsThanks BeeMc! Looks like many teams need extra time to settle from the quadrennial northern migration. I think generally the quality of the Rugby has held up. Fiji has been fantastic and fun to watch
13 Go to commentsLets compare apples with apples. Lyon sent weak team the week before, but nobody raised an eyebrow. Give the South African teams a few years to build their depth, then you will be moaning that the teams are too strong.
41 Go to commentsDid footballs agents also perform the scout role at some time? I’m surprised more high profile players haven’t taken up the occupation, great way to remain in the game and use all that experience without really requiring a lot of specific expertise?
1 Go to commentsSuper rugby is struggling but that has little to do with sabbaticals. 1. Too many teams from Aust and NZ - should be 3 and 4 respectively, add in 2 from Japan, 1 possibly 2 from Argentina. 2. Inconsistent and poor refereeing, admittedly not restricted to Super rugby. Only one team was reffed at the breakdown in Reds v H’Landers match. Scrum penalty awarded in Canes v Drua when No 8 had the ball in the open with little defence nearby - ideal opportunity to play advantage. Coming back to Reds match - same scrum situation but ref played advantage - Landers made 10 yards and were penalised at the breakdown when the ref should have returned to scrum penalty. 3. Marketing is weak and losing ground to AFL and NRL. Playing 2 days compared with 4. 4. Scheduling is unattractive to family attendance. Have any franchises heard of Sundays 2pm?
11 Go to commentsAbsolutely..all they need is a chance in yhe playoffs and I bet all the other teams will be nervous…THEY KNOW HOW TO WIN IM THE PLAYOFFS..
2 Go to commentsI really hope he comes back and helps out with some coaching.
1 Go to commentsI think we are all just hoping that the Olympic 7s doesn’t suffer the same sad fate as the last RWC with the officials ruining the spectacle.
1 Go to commentsPersonally, I’ve lost the will to even be bothered about the RFU, the structure, the participants. It’s all a sham. I now simply enjoy getting a group of friends together to go and watch a few games a year in different locations (including Europe, the championship, etc). I feel extremely sorry for the real fans of these clubs who are constantly ignored by the RFU and other administrators. I feel especially sorry for the fans of clubs in the Championship who have had considerable central funding stripped away and are then expected to just take whatever the RFU put to them. Its all a sham, especially if the failed clubs are allowed to return.
10 Go to commentsI’m guessing Carl Hayman would have preferred to have stayed in NZ with benefit of hindsight. Up north there is the expectation to play twice as many games with far less ‘player management’ protocols that Paul is now criticising. Less playing through concussions means longer, healthier, careers. Carter used as the eg here by Paul, his sabbatical allowed him to play until age 37. OK its not an exact science but there is far more expectations on players who sign for Top 14 or Engl Prem clubs to get value for the huge salaries. NZR get alot wrong but keeping their best players in NZ rugby is not one of them. SA clubs are virtually devoid of their top players now, no thanks. They cant threaten the big teams in the Champions Cup, the squads have little depth. Cant see Canes/Chiefs struggling. Super has been great this year, fantastic high skill matches. Drua a fantastic addition and Jaguares will add another quality team eventually. Aus teams performing strongly and no doubt will benefit with the incentive of a Lions tour and a home RWC. Let Jordie enjoy his time with Leinster, it will allow the opportunity for another player to emerge at Canes in his absence.
11 Go to commentsLove that man, his way to despise angry little men is so funny ! 😂
4 Go to comments“South African franchises would be powerhouses if we had all our overseas based players back in situ. We would have the same unbeatable aura the Toulouses, Leinsters or Saracens of this world have had over the last decade or so.” Proof that Jake white does not understand the economics of the game in SA. Players earning abroad are not going to simply come back and represent the bulls. But they might if they have a springbok contract.
24 Go to commentsA lot of fans just joined in for the fun of it! We all admire O'Gara and what he has done for La Rochelle
4 Go to commentsThe RFU will find a way to mess this up as usual. My bet is there will be no promotion into the the Premiership, only relegation into National League One. Hopefully they won’t parachute failed clubs into the league at the expense of clubs who have battled for promotion.
10 Go to commentsWell that’s the contracts for RG and Jordie bought and paid for. Now, what are the chances we can persuade Antoine to hop over with all the extra dosh we’ll have from living at the Aviva & Croke next season…??? 🤑🤑🤑
35 Go to commentsWow, that’s incredible. Great for rugby.
35 Go to commentsYou probably read that parling is going to coach the wallaby lineout but if not before now you have.
17 Go to commentsIf someone like Leo Cullen was in O’Gara’s place I don’t hear Boo-ing. It’s not just that La Rochelle has hurt Leinster and O’Gara is their Irish boss. It’s the needle that he brings and the pantomime activity before the game around pretending that Munster were supporting LaRochelle just because O’Gara is from Cork. That’s dividing Irish provinces just to get an advantage for his French Team. He can F*ck right off with that. BOOOOO! (but not while someone is lying injured)
4 Go to commentsDid the highlanders party too hard before the game? They were the pits.
1 Go to comments