Rugby geniuses work out how Lions can embarrass Springboks with incredible analysis
Rugby gurus Geraint Davies and Graeme Forbes have dissected the British and Irish Lions’ victory over Japan at the weekend and discussed how they expect Warren Gatland’s side to play over the coming months.
Both the Lions’ attack and defence from their 28-10 win were analysed, as a list of tactical nuances were unearthed. One particular tactic was the Lions’ exit strategy and where they could kick to South Africa’s back field in the Test series.
This is what Davies said: “So kick exit, but they’ve gone centre field with their bomb. You’ll notice Japan have a two-man back field, there’s a 13-2 defence. I think that’s something we’ll see really regularly from the Lions in South Africa. Centre field bombs aren’t that common and the fact that they were looking for that pressure centre field, I definitely think we’ll see a lot more of that.”
Forbes added: “Also, that kick in centre field, it brings the ball carrier straight into that defensive alignment. So you can see they are pressing up with four in the middle, so he’s going to get hit no matter what. So bring him away from the touchline, he comes away from safety, they’re splitting the back field by kicking in the middle as well, so both guys need to come in, so that also makes is quite difficult for a longer kick to touch. So everything about that kick is about putting that person under pressure, it’s not an aimless downtown kick. It’s going into space but there’s a reason behind it, and that’s to put him under pressure in the middle and allow that defensive line to come up and really pressure him.”
This is just one aspect of the Lions’ play at BT Murrayfield, but the pair cover many more elements of both their attack and defence which has been tailor made to beat the Springboks this year.
