Hee hee hee: Bigrich, you are counting chickens, china.­
This is a great Bok side!

Brussow was always my first­ choice- notice how the game turned last week when he­ came on for Russouw! He steals ball at will. Wynand­ Olivier should always have been picked well ahead of­ Jacobs, who has been very very average. Kirchner has­ been the best no.15 in SA this season by some way, has­ pace, and is great on the counter-attack. Kankowski­ lacks Spies's freakish pace, but is every good a­ footballer and perhaps more physical. Both players are­ head and shoulders above Powell. You have aleady seen­ what Jacques Fourie did when he came on for De­ Villiers, and he has huge experience. Although I am a­ big Pienaar fan, he was found wanting last weekend when­ he missed a lot of points and had a very quiet game.­ (Du Preez made all the game play) Morne Steyn is the­ best kicking fullback in SA, has great defense, a good­ step and can break the line. He won't miss at­ posts.
I am sorry to see Habana and Pietersen go­ especially after their superb tries last week: both are­ exciting and complete footballers, but Ndongane and­ Nokwe are also pacy and talented players with great­ defense.
My only real concern is Chiliboy.
And man,­ just look at the class on that bench!!!
Whichever way­ it goes, I hope it is as competitive as the last two­ tests.

I think we are in complete agreement about the­ quality and character of PDW as a coach.

bigrich

anytime fat boy.. you shouted your mouth off­ at me and.....i responded.. yet i received no­ answer.
if you want some then let me know if you want­ to apologise for threatening me then end of.

In my opinion the lions are being bad losers..
They­ dont deserve a tour let alone a win if they cant take a­ los!
Relying on the media slander to braekdown the­ public image of there oponent.Who in­ retrospect,destroyed them in the way of modern rugby -­ physically!!!Rugby is a contact sport,contact is the­ basis of the game.The media announcements they make are­ arrogant,as if they have a right of some­ sort.Complaining about the physical colitions and­ scufling of the bal,this after the statements leading­ up to the match they constantly warned about there own­ physical approach.Intimidation and a little argee­ bargee of the ball are all part of the game(not­ approving ShcalkBurger).When you think of a forward­ pack tiping the scale at 913kg(sending a message­ without saying it) you can expect the basis of­ selection was size and physicallity.Stil they­ complain.
They coaches publically make a mockery of­ springbok coach,peter de villiers's public­ announcemets who strugles a wee bit 'wif'­ english.(not taking in account that he is adresing them­ in his second language out of respect)Not that I am a­ fan of de villiers,but mocking an openent when you have­ just lost a series atleast 2-0(keeping in mind that­ they are the product of four proud rugby nations­ combined?! )or complaing about the host countrys­ infrastucture(in cape town)using it as an excuse. What­ a joke,Absolute shocker!!!

No matter who gets a go on­ the field the problem needs to be solved of it.In the­ media ,with the entire squad. Stop blaming the ref and­ dissipline of your adversary or there coaches lack of­ abillity to express himself,rather focus on your own­ teams inabillity to win a test.Not taking away the fact­ that the lions are the pinacle of talent.The attitude­ towards a game before is first step in preparation.The­ approach towards losing is 'but they did..',­ should'nt it be 'what we failed to­ do'..

Or pherhaps I,like peter de villiers and the­ springboks, have a lack of under

Too little too late pack your bags and go home like­ BOD, take a vacation I think the southern hemisphere­ should send a team north and do a bit of floor mopping­ with the Lions on their home turph-Lions indeed, more­ like Meerkats

In that case its game on.

News Flash ! @#$% De Villiers makes 10 changes for the­ 3rd Test. Zane Kirchner, Odwa Ndungane, Jaque Fourie,­ Wynand Olivier,Jongi Nokwe, Morne Steyn, Ryan­ Kankowski, Heinrich Brussow, Johann Muller and Chiliboy­ Ralepelle are all included in the run on side. Well his­ arrogance could rebound on him. The Lions should beat­ that side comfortably.

ptothej, I called him names because he spent the whole­ time slagging off rugby players as poofs.
Mike, you­ just got back from hanging round the school gates ?­ Post your address I'll be round in the morning and­ I promise you it won't be a pleasant visit for you­ !
Now, about the rugby. Firstly, I didn't see­ Fourie Du Preez outplay Mike Phillips last Saturday nor­ the Saturday before however there is no doubt he's­ the best 9 in the world. Although, I worry abour­ Vickery being brought back the only other option is­ Hayes and that doesn't bear thinking about. Matthew­ Rees will be far more help to Vickery than Mears was.­ Otherwise I think we're OK and up for a challange­ as it does look as if the Boks will play a lot of­ fringe players. I'd go for a 3/4 line of Bowe,­ Darcy, Hook and Shane.

I dont rate powell either. He looks great making yards­ when he's running across the pitch, and that seems­ to fool a lot of people, but he doesnt make a lot of­ progress going forward and wastes chances looking for­ an extra yard in contact when he should be presenting­ the ball. Id stick with Heaslip.
Id also like to see­ what John Hayes can do to "the beast", but­ I've got a feeling that vickery is going to get a­ shot at redemption.
O Gara will probably not be so­ lucky, and he'll have to carry the blame for the­ second test loss, somewhat unfairly too I think (just­ an opinion). He made a mistake that cost us but was­ groggy from a big hit he'd just taken and to be­ honest I think we were on the slide from the start of­ the second half when we failed to match the intensity­ of the first.
I felt at half time that the team to­ score next would win it, either the lions to get out of­ sight or the boks to claw their way back into it and­ win. Unfortunately it was the boks who scored. Of­ course the injuries didnt help, and with so many­ players out of position O gara didnt have a lot of­ options, though i agree he should have done­ better.
Finally, its nice to see a bit of balance­ creeping back into this board, Boks who respect the­ lions and lions who respect the boks, instead of the­ sunday morning fanatics from both sides. No doubt­ we'll see them all again at the weekend.
Hopefully­ it will finish at 2-1, but even if the lions lose the­ last one (and its hard to see us winning it now) this­ was a great series. The lions are back, and with better­ negotiation and preparation for the next tour they will­ take some beating.

bosvark, you are everything good about proper fans of­ rugby. Not the one-eyed jingoism of some of your­ fellow countrymen. I am in agreement about Powell, he­ is a bit of a 'one-trick pony' at the moment,­ and will get turned over by the Boks backrow if he­ tries his usual 'bull at a gate' approach to­ the gain line. (This coming from a Welshman.) I am­ really looking forward to a re-match between The Beast­ and Vickery. I think Saturday's game might be­ ruined by the "dead rubber" effect, but good­ luck Lions, let's have 2-1. They are not playing­ for pride, because I think their performances so far­ are something to be proud of.

That's well put, r_glenn. Pretty much my feelings­ too. Not sure where you are going with the hockey quip­ though.

The intensity of the rugby has been superb.­
Powell is strong and physical, but I think he has­ limited vision and footballing skills and will be­ exposed at the highest level.
I would love to see­ Vickery and the Beast go head to head again; maybe that­ will resolve the bickering.

I admire Mike­ Phillips' spirit- he has also been great on the­ tour (although outplayed by Du Preez last week) , but I­ just cannot see the Lions getting anywhere close to the­ Boks this weekend.

'by far the better team' How can he say that?­ The only trie they managed to get through the­ South-African Defence was in the first 10 minutes, when­ they had 14 players. South-Africas defence is one of­ the reasons South-Africa won the World-Cup. The Lions­ played well and it was a close game. But the score­ board does not lie. Yes they will be disapointed with­ losing but that is no excuse for bad sportmanship. Lets­ look forward to the 3rd game. 3-0 here we come!

'by far the better team' How can he say that?­ The only try they managed to get through the­ South-African Defence was in the first 10 minutes, when­ they had 14 players. South-Africas defence is one of­ the reasons South-Africa won the World-Cup. The Lions­ played well and it was a close game. But the score­ board does not lie. Yes they will be disapointed with­ losing but that is no excuse for bad sportmanship. Lets­ look forward to the 3rd game. 3-0 here we come!

I believe the Lions missed out with not picking Andy­ Powell at 8 and James Hook at 10.

Both caused the­ Springboks much angst, Powell continually breaking the­ advantage line when charging.

I watch from Canada and­ have enjoyed some of the best rugby on record in the 2­ matches to date.

Should the Lions have won? - they­ certainly played excellently and may have deserved­ higher reward - I for one would not have begrudged them­ a victory - but it's tries that win matches and­ they were outscored 3 to 1 in that department, which I­ believe speaks volumes.

It wasn't really a last­ minute kick as most commentators would have you­ believe.

Critics should stop calling victors cheats -­ the Lion's front row was outscrummed in the Durban­ test, "The Beast" was said to be scrumming­ illegally and labelled a cheat.

In the Pretoria test­ the Lions were out tackled and the critics are again­ calling the South Africans cheats - because they­ tackled hard and furiously. Sure, there was hard­ tackling but not only by the South Africans.­

O'Driscoll constantly tackled high - but I­ wouldn't support censuring him. It was honest­ passion and in the heat of the tackle. Tackling is not­ an exact science and given slo mo replays it is easy to­ criticize - but this is precisely what the game is­ about at this level - passion and hard play.­

Otherwise go and play ice hockey.

I note that there­ is no mention of the South African forward who came off­ second best after colliding with O'Driscoll.

So­ please don't denigrate the opposition when they­ also tackle hard and play with passion.

The tests­ already played are a boon for the game and hark back to­ what rugby is really all about - a hard game.

The only­ other recent and comparable game I can think of was­ when the South Africans beat the All Blacks in Dunedin­ earlier this year. The Kiwi's didn't cry foul -­ they learnt and came back and walloped the Springboks­ in the next game.

if you jessies stopped whinging about the thumping you­ recieved you might be able to focus on the last­ test,
what else do you expect in SA

Tell me Mike, what has BigRich done to upset you so?

ricky flutey should not be picked, it will make a­ mockery of this tour if a kiwi playes a test match for­ the b&i lions

What about D'arcy to replace o'driscoll?

I wish they could but they just don't have what it­ takes.