There seem to be little interest in SR or the Sunwolves from JRFU or the Japanese clubs. The 2019/20 Top League season will overlap with SR next year and there seem to be little incentive or encouragement to play the Japan national players in SR

Reports suggest that SANZAAR and Twiggy might team up for a 2nd tier Asian SR comp which makes more sense than trying to build a competition with a string of easy beats playing the Kiwis and Aussies

The Sunwolves has become the 6th Kiwi team in SR with about 20 Kiwis in their squad. One of their primary reasons for joining SR hasn’t been fulfilled and according to reports the Japanese money hasn’t been forthcoming.

The talks of a 2nd tier Asian Super Rugby competition is probably the best route for them. Maybe they can even start to develop their own talent

The Lions have lost quite a bit of experience through injuries after the Rebels game (Possible replacements)

Kwagga Smith (groin) – 6 weeks (James Venter, Pikkie de Villiers, Ruan Vermaak)
Dylan Smith (broken cheekbone) – 8 weeks (Nathan McBeth, Sti Sithole, Danie Mienie)
Vincent Tshituka (ankle) – 6 weeks (Hacjivah Dayimani, Pikkie de Villiers)
Dillon Smit (hamstring) – 6 weeks (Nic Groom, Bradley Thain)
Andries Coetzee (tight hamstring) – a week (Sylvian Mahuza, Gianni Lombard)

LH Dylan Smith is probably the most crucial loss

The 20-1 penalty count against the Rebs is a bit weird, 30-8 would probably have been more accurate given the dominance of the Lions in possession and territory (70% and 75%) and taking into account penalty advantages (penalties not given as a team played through the advantage).

I didn’t watch the game but most reports and comments from people who had actually watched the game remark that the Rebs had themselves to blame because of the ill-discipline, similar as during the first half against the Brumbies the previous week. Many commentators felt that the Rebs should have had another YC or two, they had so many team warnings that the ref didn’t turn into cards.

Seconds isn’t a good ref and I wouldn’t prefer that he never ref a Lions game again but when a team cannot behave themselves on the field, or take head of team warnings, most refs will punish them. Although Seconds probably overreacted to a degree

Lions vs Rebels: 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Franco Naudé, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Marvin Orie, 3 Carlu Sadie, Malcolm Marx(c), 1 Dylan Smith.
Reserves: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 Rhyno Herbst, 20 Ruan Vermaak, 21 Gianni Lombaard, 22 Lionel Mapoe, 23 Andries Coetzee

Changes at 15 and at lock

Two more rookies blooded bringing the total so far to 12 this season – Tyrone Green and Jan-Henning Campher. Green is a very lively player and I’m glad to see him in the team, don’t know much about Campher

Rebels: 15 Dane Haylett-Petty (captain), 14 Jack Maddocks, 13 Tom English, 12 Billy Meakes, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Isi Naisarani, 7 Brad Wilkin, 6 Luke Jones, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Ross Haylett-Petty, 3 Sam Talakai, 2 Anaru Rangi, 1 Tetera Faulkner.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Abel, 17 Matt Gibbon, 18 Jermaine Ainsley, 19 Matt Philip, 20 Angus Cottrell, 21 Michael Ruru, 22 Sione Tuipulotu, 23 Marika Koroibete.

Lions v rebels Trivia:

The Lions and Rebels have played each other four times in Super Rugby, with the Lions winning all four previous matches

The Lions have won their last four home games against teams from outside South Africa

The Rebels have won their last three Super Rugby matches, another win will set a new record for them

The Lions are leading the turnovers won in Super Rugby this year with 9.8 per match

The Rebels are second in Super Rugby with a line-out success of 94%

Elton Jantjies is 2nd on the list of points scored with 36 points, with Jack Maddocks 10th on 25 points

Jack Maddocks tops the list of tries scored with 5, with Marnus Schoeman 3rd on 4 tries and Tom English 9th on 3 tries

Andries Coetzee is 6th on the list of Carries with 40

Jack Maddocks is 2nd on the list of clean breaks with 8, with Courtnall Skosan 9th with 6

Marnus Schoeman is 2nd on the list with penalties conceded with 7 and Malcolm Marx 6th with 5

Marvin Orie is still 5th on the list with 14 line-out takes even though he only played in 2 of the Lions 4 matches.

Malcolm Marx is joint 1st on the list for finding his jumpers in the line-out 53 times

Only the Sunwolves (54) and Hurricanes (47) have conceded more penalties than the 45 from the Lions, this is in stark contrast with previous years when our discipline was a strong point.

Hurricanes, Brumbies, Stormers, Sunwolves, Crusaders, Lions

It seems the Stormers will be dumping their attacking game plan for this one.

I’m going with the Lions but the Rebs can put out a strong team and they have been doing well so far.

Reports indicate that that the Lions will largely be sticking with the youngsters they employed last week. Marvin Orie might come back into the starting XV as the rookie pair struggled to manage the mauls last week, both in attack and on defence.

I expect the bench to be strengthened a bit with some senior players as the Lions defence went out the window in the last 10 minutes against the Pumuares.

The Lions disappointingly let a good attacking and defensive performance go to waste by letting in 3 tries in the last 10 minutes, two of them at the death

Apart from the final 10 minutes on Saturday the Lions youngsters did very well against the Jaguares and it will be interesting to see what changes Swys will make for the Rebels.

The Lions mauls were a bit of a mess as were their maul defence. If Marvin Orie is fit I would think he will play, probably with Herbst and with Ruan Vermaak on the bench. As long as Stephan Lewies isn’t in the match 23, he has been disappointing.

I still feel we need a bigger blindside flank to balance the backrow. Cyle Brink is apparently nearly ready while we also have rookies Pikkie de Villiers, PJ Steenkamp and Dian Schoonees who can come in

Midfield will be interesting with both Franco Naude (12) and Wandisile Simelane (13) having had good games. Vorster and Mapoe haven’t really done much since 2017 and there’s a good chance the two youngsters might keep their spots

One aspect of the Bulls game that bothers me is their disinterest in scoring tries and getting winning bonus points. They seem to be quite happy to protect their lead in the second half while slotting long range points for most of the game
They lost to the Jaguares after going into the final quarter with a slight lead
Against the Lions they sat on a 17 point lead while scoring only two tries
Against the Sharks they sat on a 19 point lead while scoring only 3 tries, one late in the game
I’m not sure what that is all about but it could bite them in the a… when they don’t have a lead to protect. And the lack of bonus points might catch up with them at the end

Lions team details FYI – Age, SR Caps

15 Andries Coetzee (29, 82) – 81 with the Lions
14 Sylvian Mahuza (25, 31)
13 Wandisile Simelane (21, 1)
12 Franco Naude (22, 2) – 1 with the Lions
11 Courtnall Skosan (27, 59)
10 Elton Jantjies (28, 123) – 110 with the Lions
9 Ross Cronjé (29, 77),
8 Kwagga Smith (25, 40)
7 Vincent Tshituka (20, 1)
6 Marnus Schoeman (30, 18)
5 Rhyno Herbst (22, 3)
4 Ruan Vermaak (20, 1)
3 Carlu Sadie (21, 12) – 3 with the Lions
2 Malcolm Marx (c) (24, 56)
1 Dylan Smith (25, 39)
Subs:
16 Pieter Jansen (23, 3)
17 Nathan McBeth (20, 0) – 2018 6N u20 for Scotland and JRWC for SA
18 Frans van Wyk (23, 13) – 2 with the Lions
19 Stephan Lewies (27, 65) – 3 win the Lions
20 James Venter (22, 0)
21 Dillon Smit (26,21)
22 Harold Vorster (25, 53)
23 Gianni Lombard (21, 1)/Tyrone Green (21, 0)

Opens up the game and making it more difficult to predict

Emirates Lions vs Jaguares: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Franco Naude, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Rhyno Herbst, 4 Ruan Vermaak, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Malcom Marx, 1 Dylan Smith.
Reserves: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 Stephan Lewies, 20 James Venter, 21 Dillon Smit, 22 Harold Vorster, 23 Gianni Lombard/Tyrone Green

A lot of the youngsters getting a go. Playing Kwagga and Marnus with James Venter, another lightweight openside, on the bench doesn’t make sense to me

Potentially 3 more rookies to be blooded – Nathan McBeth (played 6N u20 for Scotland and JRWC for the Junior Boks last year) , James Venter and Tyrone Green

10 of the players are u23

Went with the Sunwolves doing it again and stuck with the Lions. But the Lions need to bulk up their forwards and balance their backrow otherwise it might be another loss

Ah! Got it
Law 8
19 The kicking team must indicate their intention to kick for goal without delay.
20 If the team indicates to the referee the intention to kick at goal, they must kick at goal. The intention to kick can be communicated to the referee or signalled by the arrival of the kicking tee or sand, or when the player makes a mark on the ground.

Seems one of the Sales staff (sic) made a mistake and brought on the kicking tee, which I suppose is a tacit decision that they will kick at goal. Can see how the ref came to his decision

Stormers: 15 Damian Willemse, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Dan du Plessis, 12 Damian de Allende, 11 SP Marais, 10 Jean-Luc du Plessis, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Siya Kolisi (c), 5 JD Schickerling, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ali Vermaak
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Wilco Louw, 19 Chris van Zyl, 20 Jaco Coetzee, 21 Justin Phillips, 22 Ruhan Nel, 23 Dillyn Leyds

21 is Ross Cronje not Gianni Lombard. Cronje returns from a longterm injury

Lions – 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Nic Groom, 8 Hacjivah Dayimani, 7 Kwagga Smith, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Rhyno Herbst , 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Malcolm Marx (c), 1 Dylan Smith.
Subs: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 Robert Kruger, 20 Vicent Tshituka, 21 Gianni Lombard, 22 Franco Naude , 23 Courtnall Skosan.

Marx to captain the side. Marvin Orie out with a groin niggle

Vicent Tshituka (20) and Franco Naude (22) to possibly make their debuts for the Lions although Naude played 1 game for the Bulls last year

The time keeper regulates the time off, not the refs. The time keeper would have been a WPRU official, as were the three refs

The WP match officials really screwed up, didn’t they? 🙂

“Egon Seconds and his fellow miscreants who officiated last Saturday’s Super Rugby clash between the Stormers and the Lions‚ have been yanked from the match they were originally assigned to for this weekend.
TimesLIVE has reliably been informed that Seconds‚ assistant referee Divan Uys and television match official (TMO) Christie du Preez‚ who were all involved in highly contentious decisions in the match won by the Stormers‚ were supposed to do duty in the Lions’ match against the Bulls at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Instead they are now required to report for duty in Durban where the Sharks take on the Stormers.
Insiders in refereeing circles have revealed that the trio had been reassigned following last weekend’s match in the Cape Town which the Stormers won under controversial circumstances.
Whether the Lions requested their removal from the match roster for Saturday’s derby at Ellis Park isn’t clear.”

Resting the Smiths and Whitelock could cost the Clan the game
Canes, Rebs, Chiefs, Saders, Sharks, Lions, Pumuares

Seems the tendon isn’t damaged, so a lesser injury?
Great player – for the Lions. Suits their style.
Dayimani will probably move to 8 and it will be interesting to see whether Swys starts Kwagga and Schoeman again