Who’s hot and who’s not!

Adam Kyriacou

It’s time for our Monday wrap of who has their name in lights and who is making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

THEY’RE ON FIRE!

British & Irish Lions: To make it 1-1 in the series deserves applause after how they were brushed aside in the first Test. While they only edged 14 men in conditions that made it more of an arm-wrestle than an attacking free for all, the Lions did what was asked through strong defence and a collective drive. Keeping New Zealand try-less had not happened for three years and it has most definitely unsettled the All Blacks along with giving the Lions a heap of confidence, which makes for a fascinating build-up week and third Test in the coming few days.

Kwagga Smith and Jaco Kriel: These two have been underrated for many years now and despite their captain Warren Whiteley being injured for the rest of the season, the Lions are serious challengers for Super Rugby glory. Both flanks ran over 100 metres in the 94-7 win over the Sunwolves and scored a brace each, with three of those outstanding solo efforts as you can see below. Two of many superb Lions performers.

Jan Serfontein: On the back of an excellent June in international colours, Serfontein continued to shine when back in the Bulls jersey on Friday. Some may ask why Warrick Gelant isn’t named here after his hat-trick but he would be the first to admit that Serfontein’s quality was influential in two of the full-back’s tries. The first assist was Conrad Smith-like in the way he fixed the tackler with the ball in both hands before a blind pass to the recipient while the second saw him hit a superb line before a sending out a perfect left-hand pass.

Bloemfontein thriller: Arguably the pick of the four Super Rugby games that took place over the weekend came from Free State Stadium where the Stormers won 40-34. This youthful Stormers side had a rookie at fly-half in the much talked about Damian Willemse but, as expected, he played with confidence and also picked up a try for his efforts, with the Capetonians scoring six tries in total – Cheslin Kolbe grabbing three of those – to seal victory. The hosts also earn praise for their four-try effort but the Africa 1 pace-setters were deserved winners.

USA: A place at the 2019 Rugby World Cup was assured by USA on Saturday when they comfortably beat Canada 52-16 in their second leg in San Diego. Two injuries to key players appeared to rock Canada before kick-off as they couldn’t live with the Eagles’ pace and power, with Cam Dolan, AJ MacGinty and Ryan Matyas standing out. Their reward is a World Cup pool place alongside England, Argentina, France and Oceanic 2.

COLD AS ICE!

Sunwolves: It was a disastrous afternoon for the struggling Super Rugby side as they shipped 14 tries at the Lions. Tackling appeared to be optional for the Sunwolves in Johannesburg as a whopping 59 in the game, that is a lowly percentage success rate of 55. The Lions duly cut loose with a total of 1214 metres run with even a makeshift fly-half, Faf de Klerk, slicing through them time and again in the second-half.

Sonny Bill Williams: He will be feeling terrible after that 25th minute red card that cost his side dearly in Wellington. The replays show the picture and Williams had no complaints about receiving his red card. What’s followed is a four-week suspensions as his series is over.

Jaguares: An eighth loss came on Saturday, at home to the Kings. The South Africans deserved their win as once again the Puma-filled squad put in an abject performance. Some hard looks in the mirror need to be made by the Jaguares players and coaching team as they should be in and around the play-offs with the players at their disposal and also have a fortress on home soil. Two games remain to salvage some pride.

Bench confusion: We finish by going back to last Tuesday and the debacle that saw the British & Irish Lions refuse to use their bench when those on the field were clearly fatigued. Warren Gatland revealed his decision was to avoid devaluing the jersey, which has been tough to stomach, as there is no covering over this episode. The geography six call-ups were one thing, but this move left us scratching our heads.

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