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'South Africa will bring physicality and intensity': Lions second Test preview


Lions training / PA
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The British & Irish Lions secured a historic victory over South Africa on Saturday, pulling off their biggest Test comeback since 1938. The world champion Springboks will not lie down, however, and will surely come back stronger this weekend.

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When, where and how to watch the match
The match will kick-off at 17:00 (BST) on Saturday July 31st at Cape Town Stadium.

It will be broadcast on Sky Sports in the UK and Ireland, Supersport in South Africa, Stan Sport in Australia and Sky in New Zealand.

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RugbyPass OFFLOAD | Episode 39 | British & Irish Lions 1st test preview with Jamie Roberts, Ryan Wilson & Mike Brown

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RugbyPass OFFLOAD | Episode 39 | British & Irish Lions 1st test preview with Jamie Roberts, Ryan Wilson & Mike Brown

Head-to-head
Across the last four series between the two teams, dating back to 1980, the Springboks have won six and the Lions have won five matches.

1980
South Africa 26-24 Lions
South Africa 26-19 Lions
South Africa 12-10 Lions
South Africa 13-17 Lions

1997
South Africa 16-25 Lions
South Africa 15-18 Lions
South Africa 35-16 Lions

2009
South Africa 26-21 Lions
South Africa 28-25 Lions
South Africa 9-28 Lions

2021
South Africa 17-22 Lions

Lions
British and Irish Lions’ centre Owen Farrell (C) celebrates with teammates after victory in the first rugby union Test match between South Africa and the British and Irish Lions at The Cape Town Stadium (Photo by RODGER BOSCH/AFP via Getty Images)
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Match odds from Bet365
Bet365 have the Lions as 10/13 favourites to win the second Test, with 7/4 odds of a winning margin of 1-10 points. They also have 12/5 odds on a 3-0 series win.*

Use bonus code RUGBYPASS and Get Up to £100 in Bet Credits**

Prediction
Like many pundits and former players, 2001 and 2005 Lions tourist Jason Robinson was hugely impressed with the performance in Cape Town, but is aware that the Springboks will come back stronger. Having won the first Test against the Wallabies in 2001, Robinson and the Lions lost the next two, and he will know what is coming.

“I have an idea of what’s coming in this next Test. South Africa will bring physicality and intensity,” Robinson told the PA news agency.

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“They’ll know they only played for 40 minutes, as did the Lions, and that’s why it was such a close contest. South Africa will know they don’t have a cushion against the Lions, so they have to really take it to the Lions.

“Either team will know that on their day they can win this next Test and that’s what makes it interesting.”

 

*Odds accurate as of 26/07/21. BeGambleAware.org 18+ Gamble Responsibly

**New customers only. Min deposit £5. Bet Credits available for use upon settlement of bets to value of qualifying deposit. Min odds, bet and payment method exclusions apply. Returns exclude Bet Credits stake. Time limits and T&Cs apply.

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TL 51 minutes ago
Joe Schmidt bows out on a high - but can the Wallabies escape 'the twilight zone'?

All of that seems fair enough, aside from the 10 criticism: Lynagh was injured so not up for selection this year + missed most of SR, Noah went to Japan league 2, maybe an argument for bringing him back in early, but we had Carter. Dono and Meredith (who looks decent enough). Definitely not a straightforward call. Edmed was an experiment that didn’t bear fruit, I’m happy to forgive him that one though, because he did what Cheik and Rennie didn’t do, which was consistently look to develop young 10s in the face of criticism (Rennie’s chopping and changing wasn’t great for Noah, and it was back to the future too often for Cheik, which hurt our development pathways e.g. Mack Mason, Jack Maddocks, and too often gambling on people out of position—more than Joe!). Tane is one specific failed experiment. l just wish we had a more scrupulous punditry when it comes to the recent past (your obvs not in the crosshairs here, it’s the Aussie media). TBH, I worry about the identity piece: feel it should be the salt on the meal, rather than the meal. The Reds are full of Aussie identity but they play the most hairpulling rugby at times and the identity seems to excuse this, while the Brums with less talent and less of an identity in the Australian mould over perform. To be optimistic, maybe it does look a little like the Ireland transition with Les coming in a bit like Farrell, seemingly more of a emotive, man motivator type than the technician Joe. What would have been fantastic and helped everything also was for RA not to burn bridges with Lancaster and be able to get him back and have the Tahs cooking, that is one big piece of the puzzle (the Tahs) that will make our national coach’s job a lot easier.

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