Entering Shark infested waters | Lions Weekly Round-up #2

The British & Irish Lions Weekly round-up, brought to you by The Famous Grouse

The Lions are up and running on South African soil, with a convincing 56 – 14 win over their namesakes – the Sigma Lions – in Johannesburg.

TEAM NEWS
Robbie Henshaw will not be available for the game with the C Cell Sharks on Wednesday, a hamstring injury seeing the Irish centre sidelined for the time being, but it’s thankfully mild. “Robbie has a very mild hamstring strain which will keep him out of the next game,” a Lions spokesperson said. Henshaw is a favourite to start the Tests and Warren Gatland will be eager for the Athlone man to be part of the selection conversation in two weeks time.

Warren Gatland full of praise for Josh Adams as he scores 4 tries | Lions Tour 2021 | RugbyPass

Warren Gatland full of praise for Josh Adams as he scores 4 tries | Lions Tour 2021 | RugbyPass

A positive for the team is that there is hope Alun Wyn Jones could make a miraculous recovery from his dislocated shoulder to play some part in the series against the Springboks. Jones’ replacement Adam Beard starts this week against the Sharks, but there is still hope for the Wales captain after it was initially thought that the injury he sustained in the opening minutes of the match against Japan would rule him out of the tour completely.

OFF THE PITCH
Head coach Gatland admitted that big game nerves still big games, including his matchday toileting habits. “I’m always nervous in the box. It’s probably no different to when I was playing. I go and have a nervous poo, just exactly like I was playing,” the former Waikato hooker said. “I don’t mean to be crass, but I am just as nervous on the morning of the game with the butterflies.”

STAT OF THE WEEK
Josh Adams’ four tries against the Sigma Lions was actually the 29th time a Lions player had bagged that amount or more, as Stuart Farmer pointed out on Twitter. The last player to do so was Shane Williams, who scored five against Manawatu in 2005.

That's the 29th occasion that a player has grabbed four tries for the @lionsofficial. The last was by Shane Williams (he got FIVE) against Manawatu in 2005.

— Stuart Farmer (@Stu_Farmer) July 3, 2021

TOURIST OF THE WEEK
Stuart Hogg stood up to be counted when handed the captain’s armband against the Sigma Lions. His 60 metre chase down of Sibusiso Sangweni stood out.

This is a brilliant defensive effort from Stuart Hogg to deny Sibusiso Sangweni scoring a try#LIOvBIL #LionsRugby pic.twitter.com/WI0rCovgMq

— EK Rugby Analysis (@ek_rugby) July 3, 2021

Stuart Hogg gone full T-1000 in defence #Lionsrugby pic.twitter.com/4odnJT6CFa

— Alan Dymock (@AlanDymock) July 3, 2021

TWEET OF THE WEEK
Iain Hay didn’t need to explain what he meant when tweeting ‘Too small’ after the Lions victory. Hamish Watson’s all-court performance banished all talk that the Edinburgh flanker’s size might be a factor in South Africa.

Too small. #LionsRugby

— Iain Hay (@iainhay82) July 3, 2021

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