South Africa vs England, 1st Test, Kings Park, Durban, KO 4pm

.ak

The teams:

South Africa: 15 Zane Kirchner, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jean de Villiers, 12 Frans Steyn, 11 Bryan Habana, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 François Hougaard, 8 Pierre Spies, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Juandré Kruger, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Flip van der Merwe, 19 Keegan Daniel, 20 Ruan Pienaar, 21 Patrick Lambie, 22 Wynand Olivier.

England: 15 Mike Brown, 14 Chris Ashton, 13 Manusamoa Tuilagi, 12 Brad Barritt, 11 Ben Foden, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Ben Youngs, 8 Ben Morgan, 7 Chris Robshaw (capt), 6 Tom Johnson, 5 Geoff Parling, 4 Mouritz Botha, 3 Dan Cole, 2 Dylan Hartley, 1 Joe Marler.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Paul Doran-Jones, 18 Tom Palmer, 19 Phil Dowson, 20 Lee Dickson, 21 Toby Flood, 22 Jonathan Joseph.

Date: Saturday, June 9
Kick-off: 17:00 (16:00 BST, 15:00 GMT)
Venue: Kings Park, Durban
Referee: Steve Walsh (Australia)
Assistant refeerees: Alain Rolland (Ireland), Simon McDowell (Scotland)
Television match official: Iain Ramage (Scotland)

____________________________


Match day thread... Very traditional looking Bok team. Gonna go with them to grind out a 5 point win.

Fishooks12

Think England will shock them here . Can't for the life of me understand Foden on the wing though

duckysauce

Brown is the in form fullback

kevohmsford

Should be a great game but think South Africa will win it.

Fishooks12

duckysauce wrote: »

Brown is the in form fullback

Might be down to the fact that I really don't rate Brown. As good an all as he's been this season

duckysauce

Walsh is the ref - should be interesting if he takes a dislike to the boks

kevohmsford

England make a mess of the start.

kevohmsford

England competing well at the breakdown.

Fishooks12

Has Hartley lost weight?

duckysauce

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Has Hartley lost weight?

super tight jersey

BOHSBOHS

brown got great distance on that kick after the mark

kevohmsford

Mike Brown looks a very good player, great clearing kick.

19543261

Entertaining stuff so far; very aggressive.

kevohmsford

3-3 South Africa penalty

Fishooks12

What a hit from Tualagi!

Hype710

Cracking game.

Fishooks12

Morgan is going to give Heaslip a hell of a battle for the Lions 8 shirt

kevohmsford

Penalty now to England

19543261

6-3 England

kevohmsford

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Morgan is going to give Heaslip a hell of a battle for the Lions 8 shirt

Morgan has carried the ball very well so far. Will be a tough call between him and Heaslip.

kevohmsford

6-6 now South Africa penalty

decisions

Didn't see any blood on Habana.

Taco Corp

said it before, can't wait for the use it or lose rule at ruck time to be introduced.

Stev_o

Surley wrote: »

said it before, can't wait for the use it or lose rule at ruck time to be introduced.

They also need a new one which forbids creating ****ing trains at the back of rucks the **** like?

Gotta like England's defence/discipline simple stuff, tackle roll away 1 man over the top. Don't let the ref see you on their side and you won't get pinged. Lancaster has done a great job in that regard with their discipline used to be shocking/lazy.

19543261

Nice if things loosened up second half, gone a bit slow at times.

Taco Corp

Stev_o wrote: »

They also need a new one which forbids creating ****ing trains at the back of rucks the **** like?

Gotta like England's defence/discipline simple stuff, tackle roll away 1 man over the top. Don't let the ref see you on their side and you won't get pinged. Lancaster has done a great job in that regard with their discipline used to be shocking/lazy.

I'm hoping that the use it or lose rule will prevent that human centipede crap. if they are able to do that they they are able to use it.

Stev_o

19543261 wrote: »

Nice if things loosened up second half, gone a bit slow at times.

I can't see SA opening up under Meyer he's such a 1 dimensional coach, their team is meant for kicking and boshing. England look to be just looking for that one turnover that will get them a big play. Seems to me that they are resting on Youngs to get a favourable match up and hopefully scoring from it.

DDC1990

Boof is the word i'd use to describe this game :P
A lot of Biffing and Boofing but not a lot of quality IMO.

They will be sore in the morning thats for sure.

Its like a good Aviva Premiership game, really physical. Lots of aggression. Lots of kicking. Just lacking a spark to break down 2 really solid defences.

Grimebox

Surley wrote: »

said it before, can't wait for the use it or lose rule at ruck time to be introduced.

Especially with 5 mins till fulltime and one team is just winding down the clock. Agonizing to watch

irishbucsfan

Typically English coached team

.ak

kevohmsford wrote: »

Should be a great game ....

You lied.

19543261

I do like the biffin booshin boofin, though! Big dirty angry men being rough with eachother is the hallmark of rugby!

...

And there we go!

Fishooks12

Tualagi is a joy to watch anytime he gets the ball. Will be a great option for the Lions tour

Fishooks12

Botha is such a passenger

irishbucsfan

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Botha is such a passenger

Mauritz Botha?

He's been everywhere in support. The sort of lock Ireland were crying out for today

decisions

Big turnover.

Fishooks12

irishbucsfan wrote: »

Mauritz Botha?

He's been everywhere in support. The sort of lock Ireland were crying out for today

You think? Maybe I'm just watching him at the wrong times but he seems really ineffective in support!

decisions

His eye is going to be a lovley colour tomorrow.

irishbucsfan

Mike Brown has been excellent today. He has the perfect brain for 15, positioning and usage are completely natural to him. If Foden had his brain he'd be the best 15 in the world

Juwwi

As a -7 backer I'd wish they'd score soon or just kick a penalty if given one.

Fishooks12

Pity De Villers rarely played this well at Munster

Taco Corp

How long before the fatigue excuses are rolled out?

decisions

Well finished by deVilliers.

.ak

Great to see JdV get that. He's been battered all day by Tuilagi and defines some of the great things about rugby - get up and try harder. He's been like an extra backrower too.

Fishooks12

Still think Foden offers far more than Brown at 15. But if he can't choose between one throwing the other on the wing is a cop out

.ak

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Still think Foden offers far more than Brown at 15. But if he can't choose between one throwing the other on the wing is a cop out

Kearney and Isa?

Clegg

Owen Farrell isn't a very good 10. He can't get his backline going and he offers no running threat. He's a good tackler and a good goal kicker.

I just don't get the hype. He's solid enough but nothing special.

Fishooks12

.ak wrote: »

Kearney and Isa?

Isa is a better winger than the alternatives though!

decisions

.ak wrote: »

Fishooks12 wrote: »

Still think Foden offers far more than Brown at 15. But if he can't choose between one throwing the other on the wing is a cop out

Kearney and Isa?

But Isa is just magic.

19543261

Abra ka Isa

decisions

That feed was ****ing ridiculous, almost to the feet of the number 8.