Well, the first test yesterday was a pretty close run thing, but I really thought the Lions should have won. The Lions failed to click properly in the first half, going into the break 19-7 down, but they rallied and put up an impressive fight in the final 30 mins which lead to a tense end to the game. The Boks played well, took their chances and points when they were available, and put up an impressive defensive display to hold out a furious Lions onslaught in the final quarter of the game. The Lions had four tries (rightfully) disallowed and just lacked the killer touch at the end of their moves. This match highlighted what to my mind is the biggest difference between northern and southern hemisphere rugby teams – when scoring opportunities present themselves, southern hemisphere teams are just more clinical in grabbing the chance and taking the points. This was ultimately the difference between the two sides yesterday. I felt a bit hard done by some of the refereeing decisions with regards to the penalties conceded by the Lions at the scrum, but to be honest it always seems like international refs are just making it up as they go along at the scrummage these days. If the decisions went the other way, I imagine the Boks would have felt the same. A lot of the scrummage penalties conceded were 50/50 decisions that went against the Lions, with Vickery being singled out. The scrum was a lot more stable after Jones came on for Vickery, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Jones starts the second test in his place. The Lions were better at the breakdown than in some of their warm-up matches, not getting turned over as much, although the ball to the backs was a little slow at times. When the backline received quick ball with a bit of space they looked very threatening, but just missing a scoring finish at the end of their moves. Admittedly, the last ditch South African tackling saved at least three tries, but it was frustrating to watch knowing the Lions were so close to winning the match but falling just short. My Lions man-of-the-match was Tom Croft. Apart from giving away a penalty for shoulder barging in the first half, he did little else wrong. Croft scored a brace of tries, tackled well and was often the first player at the breakdown. Hard to imagine he wasn’t in the original touring squad. It will be interesting to see how the Lions react in the second test, a must win game to keep alive a chance of winning the test series.
