Lions 7th of October

[Tichtheid]

Embra - 15. Immelman, 14. Graham. 13. Currie, 12. Lang, 11. Boffelli, 10. Kinghorn, 9. Pyrgos
8. Mata, 7. Watson, 6. Crosbie, 5. Gilchrist (C), 4. Young, 3. DeBruin, 2 McInally, 1. Venter
16. Cherry, 17, Schoeman, 18. Nel, 19. Sykes, 20. Muncaster, 21. Sheil, 22. Savala, 23. Dean.

Unavailable: Mark Bennett, Conor Boyle, Wes Goosen, Nick Haining, Jamie Ritchie, Ben Vellacott.



Lions – 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Stean Pienaar, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Quan Horn, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Franke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Sibusiso Sangweni, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (c), 4 Pieter Jansen van Vuren, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Sti Sithole.
16 Jaco Visagie, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Smith, 19 Emmanuel Tshituka, 20 Ruhan Straeuli, 21 Morne van den Berg, 22 Jordan Hendrikse, 23 Zander du Plessis.

[The Feral Goat]

Strong squad again, need a good performance against a confident Lions team.

[doedin]

Bit of rotation, some enforced and some not. A little bit worried about our front row but when you look at who has come in then its not really a drop off. Bench is decent too. It will be a tough game but there will be a few guys out there trying to prove a point and that they should be starting week in week out. I think we might edge it but it all depends on how well the pack front up and win us decent ball.

[robdinsdale]

Strong squad again, need a good performance against a confident Lions team.

Yeah, I watched the Lions game last week and they played a smart, disciplined game. The Saffer teams are getting used to playing up North.

[Pitfitter446]

A bit more confident than previous weeks, hopefully the kicking will pick up and we won’t leave points behind, this game will be tight I reckon.

[TheSmidge]

This is a game where we should be backing up our strong showing on tour with a solid win. There's no use fronting up to the two stronger Saffer teams down there and then folding at home. But its a strong line-up, though I have a wee fear about our starting front row. However, our kicking at goal should be much improved from now on!

[The Feral Goat]

Not a classic 40.

[macdone]

Urgh.

[Tichtheid]

That was awful.

We were outfought and out thought by a team of youngsters and journeymen.

It's the hope, etc

[The Feral Goat]

Not used to seeing losses at the DAM. That was honking.

[Pitfitter446]

A couple of hope to hell passes cost us, and a couple of other wee passes just before the tackles could have helped us, hard spectating last night, looked like the guys felt the same at the whistle. Lions celebrated big style giving the impression it was a win they didn’t expect.

[liveinhope]

Bar Darcy's try and Boffelli's goalkicking it was a miserable night at the Dam-cold and blustery and the play never really sparked the crowd to life.Awful defeat though.
Without being pessimistic but...
Realisically the road to the playoffs is already going to be very difficult,the four SA sides look almost certainties,then Leinster,Ulster and Munster so that would leave just one place left.With Benetton continuing their improvement its going to be hyard going.The nextv two games against Benetton and then Zebre away are absolute must wins but both will be hard especially as we seem to have picked up a long list of key injuries.
Oh and just to add to that gloom remember effectively only seven spots available for the Champions Cup next season if a Welsh side doesn't make the top 8 in the league (as happened for this season.
Glad I'm a glass half full guy!

[Crichton Gunner]

I thought the Lions looked a good side, very quick and physical, and not an easy side to play against. It's not like we lost to one of the bottom-feeders in the league, so I'm not as gloomy as some others on here about last night. The game was very even, and could have gone either way. Both teams had periods where they were marginally in the ascendancy, both teams missed some points (their 1st half kicks, our held-up-over-the-line effort in the second half). Just not our night, congratulations to them, and on we go to the next one.

[robdinsdale]

Oh and just to add to that gloom remember effectively only seven spots available for the Champions Cup next season if a Welsh side doesn't make the top 8 in the league (as happened for this season.

Think our route to the Champions Cup remains the same - finishing top of the Scottish-Italian section of the league. Benetton are winning that race at this early stage though!

Playoffs will be difficult, right enough.

[liveinhope]

Sorry,I had forgotten there is a space in the ERC for the Scots/Italian shield if they all finish outwith the top 8.
But that really does set a low bar.Game after game since April Edinburgh are losing out at the end when the going gets tough-Ulster,Wasps,Bulls and last night could all have been won (even last weekend we had a ten point lead over the Stormers after 39 mins-though admittedly totally outplayed after that).Its becoming a depressing pattern that we can't continue to put down to bad luck.
Oh and something no one has mentioned here or on the Facebook comments-why on earth was Pyrgos kept on for the full 80 mins? Shiel finally gets in the 23 and doesn't get on the pitch.Cockerill used to do that but amazed Blair also showed not faith in him once again.