KO 5.00pm at Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg
Saturday 3rd July 2021
Live on Sky Sports Action
The Lions renew their rivalry with the err…Lions after clashing 12 years ago on 3rd June 2009 in Johannesburg. On that occasion a Scot-free starting lineup for the British and Irish Lions (with Ross Ford and Euan Murray playing the last 14 minutes) smashed the Golden Lions 74-10, scoring 10 tries along the way.
Tale of the tape
BACKS
0 Test tries 68
87kg Average weight 92kg
1 Test caps 348
26.1 Average age 27.6
FORWARDS
880kg Pack weight 891kg
1 Test tries 29
4 Test caps 424
24.0 Average age 29.4
SUBSTITUTES
0 Test caps 354
0 Test tries 55
25.6 Average age 28.9
Teams
Sigma Lions
15. EW Viljoen
14. Jamba Ulengo
13. Manuel Rass
12. Burger Odendaal
11. Rabz Maxwane
10. Jordan Hendrikse
9. Dillon Smit
1. Nathan McBeth
2. PJ Botha
3. Ruan Dreyer
4. Ruben Schoeman
5. Reinhard Nothnagel
6. Sbusiso Sangweni
7. Vincent Tshituka
8. Francke Horn (c)
16. Jaco Visagie
17. Sti Sithole
18. Carlu Sadie
19. Ruhan Straeuli
20. Emmanuel Tshituka
21. Morne van den Berg
22. Fred Zeilinga
23. Dan Kriel
British & Irish Lions
15. Stuart Hogg (c)
14. Louis Rees-Zammit
13. Chris Harris
12. Owen Farrell
11. Josh Adams
10. Finn Russell
9. Ali Price
1. Wyn Jones
2. Jamie George
3. Kyle Sinckler
4. Maro Itoje
5. Jonny Hill
6. Courtney Lawes
7. Hamish Watson
8. Taulupe Faletau
16. Luke Cowan-Dickie
17. Mako Vunipola
18. Zander Fagerson
19. Iain Henderson
20. Sam Simmonds
21. Gareth Davies
22. Bundee Aki
23. Elliot Daly
Scot Watch
(NB: all stats below relate only to the professional era – 1995 onwards – unless specifically stated.)
The six Scots in the matchday squad are the most for any pro era Lions’ side. The previous high was four (on eight separate occasions).
Stuart Hogg will make his eighth appearance for the Lions which puts him out in front among Scottish backs (Gregor Townsend, Alan Tait and Chris Cusiter – seven each). Hoggy is just the third Scot to captain the Lions since the game went pro (Rob Wainwright v Border, 1997 and Gordon Bulloch v Otago, Manawatu and Auckland, 2005).
Chris Harris is the first Scottish player to start at centre for the Lions since Alan Tait against Northern Transvaal in 1997. Chris is the oldest back in the starting lineup – although two of the replacements (Gareth Davies and Bundee Aki) are older than the Gloucester player.
Finn Russell finally gets a start for the British and Irish Lions after a five minute cameo in New Zealand four years ago. He is the third Scot to wear the 10 shirt in the pro era, following in the footsteps of two men who are also in South Africa for this year’s tour – Stuart Hogg (2013) and attack coach Gregor Townsend (1997).
During the professional era, Chris Cusiter, Mike Blair and Greig Laidlaw have all started games at scrum half for the Lions. Ali Price will join that group and has the chance to become the first of that quartet to force himself into the matchday lineup for a fixture in a Test series.
Hamish Watson will finally become the first Scottish player to wear the Lions’ number 7 shirt since Finlay Calder in 1989. Nathan Hines (2009) and Jason White (2005) with one game each at blindside are the only other Scots to start in a Lions’ back row since Rob Wainwight managed that feat on seven occasions (all in the 6 jersey) in 1997.
Zander Fagerson is the youngest forward in the Lions’ 23 and the second youngest player in the matchday squad. The only other Scot to play at tighthead prop for the Lions in the pro era was Euan Murray (two starts and two sub appearances in 2009).
Sigma Lions’ scouting report
- Players in the South Africa squad: Centre, Wandisile Simelane, is the only Lions player absent on international duty with the Springboks.
- Rainbow Cup stats: The Lions ranked 4th out of the 4 South African teams for attack, defence, kicking and lineouts. They were 2nd for scrums with a 90% success rate and 1st for discipline, only conceding 8.7 penalties per game and copping just 2 yellow cards across the tournament. Their tackle completion rate of 80% was the worst across all 16 teams contesting the Rainbow Cup in the North and the South. No other South African side managed lower than 86% and the lowest among the PRO14 teams was Zebre with 84%.
- Danger man: flying winger Rabz Maxwane nabbed 14 tries in 20 appearances for the Cheetahs during the 2018/19 PRO14 season. That was undoubtedly at the peak of his powers but he has scored tries whichever team or competition he has played in (at an overall rate of 1 every 123 minutes). He seemed to enjoy his games in the Northern Hemisphere and managed tries in Ireland, Scotland and Wales while the Cheetahs were on the road.
- Tenuous Scottish rugby connection: Loosehead Nathan McBeth played for Scotland u20s in 2018 alongside the likes of Jamie Hodgson, Rory Darge and Ross Thompson who are all in the dark blues’ full international squad this summer.
- Even more tenuous Scottish rugby connection: In 2015, EW Viljoen played at centre for South Africa u20s against Australia. He was outside former Glasgow man, Brandon Thomson – who started at stand off – and Viljoen’s opposite number was brand new Warriors’ player, Sione Tuipulotu.
Officials
Referee: AJ Jacobs (SARU)
Assistant Referee 1: Wayne Barnes (RFU)
Assistant Referee 2: Jaco Peyper (SARU)
TMO: Stuart Berry (SARU)
It’s probably a sensible idea to get on the good side of this trio of officials as they will be the Ref, AR1 and AR2 on almost every occasion for the five warm-up matches prior to the Tests (Marius van der Westhuizen as AR2 for the South Africa A game is the only interloper). Wayne Barnes and Jaco Peyper will both take charge of two fixtures each in the next fortnight.
While discipline may not be as crucial to winning these games as it will in the Test series, a red card at this stage would probably end a players’ chances of featuring against South Africa. Tackle heights need to be suitably low and ruck entries staying well away from any head contact.