Eurosport - Fri, 26 Jun 11:44:00 2009
British and Irish Lions coach Ian McGeechan made five changes and named an all-Welsh front row on Thursday for Saturday's second Test against South Africa in Pretoria.
Giant England lock Simon Shaw (pictured) was called up to bolster the pack and Irishmen Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald replaced full-back Lee Byrne and winger Ugo Monye.
The Lions scrum was given a torrid time in last week's 26-21 first Test defeat in Durban and it was no surprise that tighthead Phil Vickery and hooker Lee Mears were replaced by Adam Jones and Matthew Rees.
"We didn't want to make too many changes if we could, because we've had a group of players who have been working very well together," McGeechan said.
"There were a number of close calls. It's all about trying to hold on to as many pluses as you can, while also being able to adapt tactically."
Jones will have to perform markedly better than Vickery against Springbok loosehead Tendai Mtawarira, The Beast, who delivered a man of the match performance.
Vickery and Mears dropped out of the 22 altogether as Ross Ford covers hooker off the bench and big prop Andrew Sheridan has recovered from a back injury to join the replacements.
McGeechan also drafted in the experienced Shaw, the only member of the squad to tour South Africa with the 1997 Lions but now winning his first Lions Test cap, in place of Welshman Alun-Wyn Jones, who dropped to the bench.
"I think it's his 18th time in a Lions jersey and I'm delighted for him," McGeechan said. "He's a very experienced player, and well respected around the world. He's obviously a player who we feel can do a very good job for us on Saturday."
Byrne, who went off with a foot injury in Durban, was replaced by Kearney and Fitzgerald came in Monye, who pays the price for spilling the ball twice when the tryline beckoned in the first Test.
Last season's world player of the year Shane Williams did enough in Tuesday's draw with the emerging Springboks to secure a place on the bench and Monye dropped out of the 22.
British and Irish Lions team to face South Africa:
15-Rob Kearney, 14-Tommy Bowe, 13-Brian O'Driscoll, 12-Jamie Roberts, 11-Luke Fitzgerald, 10-Stephen Jones, 9-Mike Phillips; 8-Jamie Heaslip, 7-David Wallace, 6-Tom Croft, 5-Paul O'Connell, 4-Simon Shaw, 3-Adam Jones, 2-Matthew Rees, 1-Gethin Jenkins.
Replacements: 16-Ross Ford, 17-Andrew Sheridan, 18-Alun-Wyn Jones, 19-Martyn Williams, 20-Harry Ellis, 21-Ronan O'Gara, 22-Shane Williams.
Comment 74 - 93 of 113
Mike (100) you really are a dumb @#$% you must be a football hooligan to spell "puffs " lie you did. I guess it is a sign of your education or rather lack of it. Stick to what you know you half wit no sorry that is an insult to the half wits around the world.
all rugby players are ex public school boys who play with one another.. basically puffs
paul o connell is only there because he is captain he hasnt had a good tour.i would have put shaw and o callaghan in both had good tour i think the rest of the team is the right.
Still a stupid throwy catchy game with too many rules that contradict one another
Rob Kearney plays for leinster, not Leicester!!!
Bren comment 90 - fair play mate and you make some valid points. Have to agree with you about the appalling behaviour of football players on and off the pitch and the myopic views of many footie fans. Something about Rugby just sucks though. Yeah you can shake a guys hand and clap him of the pitch at full time but 5 minutes earlier you were squeezing his henry halls and trying to bite his ear off?!? Just having a bit of fun winding up you rugger bugŁers and glad and can go to bed happy in the knowledge that so many took the bait.
Hey Liam ouch! But since when did you need to be bright to be an accountant? Don't you just need to be incredibly dull and half decent at arithmatic?
Really ?lol.........Just heard that he is ho-oking up with a nice gi-rl on the inter-esting cl-ub called: ____BIGTALLS Co M____, really ? Sounds it is a famoaus on-line service.
does anyone on this site know anything about rugby? i dont think so.
do one rugby gayboys
ye sorry now im a sports fan in general,but rugby is my preferd sport,i like football and all but in response to comment no.68 my respect is for the sport of rugby,i feel you require alot more brain cells in rugby than footie,while i feel ruby and its supporters is much more honest and they are proper sports fan,when their team loses they are good losers as are their players!,98% of them!,while in football for example chelsea getting beatin by barca in champs league the fans and team players such as drogba made a huge fuss of things,remember drogba!,"its an F**king disgrace",nice,while the ref had to be placed under security
as the chelski fans threantened his life.disgrace.also i think youd get away with one brain cell in footie all ye ave to do is stick the ball in the net!,sure if ya had a boot on ya like jonesy yed score from a goal kick!lol
I dont think Sheridan would have been able to catch Habana like Gethin did! The problem with O'Gara is his defensive side of things, he needs to take some roids, I just hope Jones plays like he can. Come on Lions its time to do the business!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
PS I think Sheridan should be starting too.
Some good and some bad calls here. Personally I thought Monye had quite a good game. His covering tackles are second to no-one and he has the size to compete with the larger boks. He deserves to at least be on the bench. We all knew that Vickery wouldn't get another shout but even that shouldn't have been clear cut. The beast took him apart but did it illegally. The ref failed miserably on that one so although wise not to play him again in case the same thing happens, he wasn't to blame. An all Welsh front row could deliver but I hope they don't run out of steam. Right to stick with Jones despite his poor game last week (lets hope he has a better day with the boot) as although O'gara has a better kicking game, he can't handle such a physical side.
Still, good to see we have choices and it is a tough call to say which formation is right. Lions will win this one by 15 (as they rightly should of last week). Not sure where the ref is from this week but lets hope he understands the game better than the Kiwi dude.
I Think Sheridan should be starrting!!!!
This site is best suited for the benefit of British and Irish Lion supporters.
Not racists.
Very suprised Hooky has not even made the bench. He is worth his place just for his all round play and versitility as cover for the back division.
to the prettys
rugby- a game that requires a lot more skill in many more different areas of play than almost every other sport, a game for players of almost every shape and size, unlike most sports, which requires a few more than 10 brain cells
theprettys im 16 stone 2 and play rugby and I am an accountant need a tad more than 10 brain cells for that What was the point of your post seems like your the one who lacks brains if your only comment is to put a sport and its players down if you dont like rugby fine but leave the rugby forum for people who do and go back to being Mr muscles stunt double
The Beast is going to break the Welsh front row!!
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