Emerging Springboks Fight To The End Against British and Irish Lions

The Emerging Springboks scored a moral victory over the British and Irish Lions in playing out a 13 all draw on a cold, wet night at Newlands.

The game started with clear conditions, although the rain had made the surface quite slippery on top. Initially it was the Lions who made the least errors and who enjoyed great feild position as the emerging Boks were eager but lacking polish. Turnovers handed the Lions scoring chances, and they started off with a penalty to take a 3-0 lead.

As the game wore on the Boks started to come into the game before Zane Kirchner's wayward attempted clearance from deep in his half found it's way straight into the hands of Martyn Williams, who sent Keith Earls over for the try. At 10-0 down in wet conditions, the lead was always going to be worth plenty.

Slowly the game started to even up, and a penalty made it 10-3 at the break. Another penalty early in the second half made it 10-6, and the game was starting to get tight.

Both teams had their chances, and both teams made vital errors with a slippery ball. With 20 minutes remaining Willem de Waal came on for the Boks, and I thought his field kicking was quite average.

Neither team was really able to dominate territory, with the game moving from one end to the other. With a penalty at the end of the game, the Boks kicked for the corner and had one last chance from the lineout. They almost scored off the lineout and set up a couple of drives, before going wide and putting Demas away in the corner.

Willem de Waal nailed the conversion from the sideline and salvaged a morale boosting draw. The Lions will be very disappointed to let a game slip that they needed to win ahead of the second test.

I thought the never say die attitude of the Boks was fantastic. They were led superbly by their captain Dewald Potgeiter, and the pack played well as a whole.

The lineout functioned well with Sykes and Steenkamp. Deysel was strong with ball in hand and just the type of guy the senior Boks could use to get some go forward.

He'd be a great player off the bench, and I'd drop Kankowski for him. Vermueulen was also strong around the paddock too.

In the backs, Vermaak showed he is clearly the second best scrumhalf in South Africa with a very polished display, Earl Rose I thought was quick superb in tough conditions. He offers a lot of variation and has all the skills.

He simply has to be given an extended run at flyhalf for a top team. I find it ludicrous that we can have such poorly performing super rugby sides (other than the champions Bulls of course) and no place can be found for Rose, when all the other flyhalves are average and the 31 year old guy who kept him out is moving to Perth!

Newman and van Rensburg in the centres were solid in defence but Newman especially made too many handling errors. The wings Vulindlu and Basson both looked dangerous with ball in hand and space to move, it's a pity the conditions weren't helpful.

Kirchener had a solid game after his early error, and didn't get the chance to show Pieter de Villiers just what he can do. I am certain his time is coming and he'll be a Bok by the end of the year.

All the guys off the bench showed great enthusiasm and added impetus when they came on.

For the Lions, it will be the last game on tour for many of them. In the forwards I thought Andy Powell had a strong game with his ball carries, and I think he deserves a test spot. It's just what the Lions were missing in the first test, someone to get them going forward.

O'Gara seems to be the backup flyhalf, but I think James Hook is quite a good player and poses more all round ability. Their midfield lacked penetration, however I thought Keith Earls had a great game at fullback. He returned the ball well with the boot, and looks to have plenty of ability to run with ball in hand.

All we have left is two very important test matches to go. The Lions are now camping out in wet Capetown, preparing for a test in entirely different conditions on the highveld.

It's a great schedule to favour the Boks, and they'll be pretty confident of wrapping up the series on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld, or can the Lions produce something spectacular.