Eloise's Thoughts and Fancies

Of the matches on offer this weekend I did not watch SA v Georgia, although I intended to, nor Argentina v Uruguay, again I intended to. The first match coincided with a thunderstorm and a cracking headache. The result was spoiled and I had little desire to watch it. Argentina v Uruguay failed to record for some reason, and while I could probably find it, I’ve seen the result (I didn’t look until I realised I couldn’t watch and the SA result had been spoiled) so I’m not going to make an effort. I think it’s good that these games are being played and I want to support them in general. Samoa v Scotland When you fall back on the cliché “men against boys” it’s usually a description of a disparity in experience, such as the full strength SA side against a Welsh team with fewer caps than their front row on its own, or a David v Goliath matchup like Portugal v Ireland. In this match the first impression, and one that remained as the match progressed, was much more literal. The Samoan blinds...

Another week, another crazy day of rugby. Fiji v Scotland This was a game of contrasting styles, luck and one where Scotland will be thankful that things didn’t click for Fiji much more consistently or this could have been a cricket score. It started well for Scotland, they got the ball, applied phase pressure and scored a nice try after about five minutes. In the rest of the first half there might have been 30s when the ball was anywhere near the Fijian 22. However, offloaded inaccurately, dropped the ball uncharacteristically and generally blew chances galore until the 35th minute when they scored a try from a driving maul (yes, Fiji pushed Scotland over) and then a lovely wide move to score in the corner as they suddenly regained confidence. Scotland were missing a cluster of stars on Lions duty, but still had a number of familiar names. From about the half hour mark they all looked gassed. Suva having its effect on visitors again. Wales managed the conditions in Japan better tho...

I am going to briefly touch on the two friendlies that happened before this weekend as well, then dive into the main matches of the weekend. What I won’t. Be reviewing is the Lions matches against the Australian SR sides. They’re build up matches as Farrell and co look for combinations and try to work out how their charges are gelling, against SR teams weakened by having their stars taken out to the Wallabies and then some released back to them. It’s an important part of the build up, but shouldn’t be a challenge. Nor will I be reviewing the Ireland games, I can’t get to see them. BIL v Argentina This was a friendly, officially, and marked the centennial of the first match between the two teams. Argentina came to visit, weakened by having a batch of players still playing in France, but still with the core of the team together. The Lions were playing their first match and also playing a side weakened by choosing not to play anyone who had been involved for Leinster, Leicester or Northa...