03-07-2021 Daily Predictions British & Irish Lions Tour Lions vs British & Irish Lions

Lions vs British & Irish Lions

The South African rugby public will be smiling that after 12 years the British & Irish Lions (BIL) are back on SA soil. They kick off the tour against their namesakes the Lions. BIL will be keen to hit the ground running and the players selected in this match will want to impress Coach Warren Gatland so that they can be picked for the Test matches. The Lions will be honored to play BIL as not many players get this opportunity in their career. You can expect the Lions to give them a truly South African welcome especially in the scrum and the rolling mauls. The British Lions have changed their team from the one that beat Japan last week and this looks more closely like the starting test XV. The Lions will not have their Springbok players available for this contest but have excellent players like MJ Pelser and Vincent Tshituka. These two guys are always present around the mauls and are excellent at winning breakdown penalties. The Lions will fancy their chances at scrum time as their props Sithembiso Sithole and Carlu Sadie have been in tremendous form this season. The BIL and the Lions both will want to throw the ball around and this could make for an exciting game. The BIL have great players in their backline like Stuart Hogg, Josh Adams and Louis Rees-Zammit. This back three will give any opposition team nightmares with their pace and try scoring ability.  The halfback battle will see the BIL hold the edge with the Scottish pair of Finn Russell and Ali Price. They have played together for years so expect them to fire up the dangerous BIL backline.

TIP: The Lions have the running game in their DNA but they need to be accurate as the BIL have deadly finishers of their own. The battle that I most look forward to seeing is Rabz Maxwane against Josh Adams. Both these players are try scoring machines and are blessed with immense speed. The BIL will want to dominate the Lions at scrum time and lay a marker for the Test series but that won’t be easy to beat. This Lions team will not go down without a fight and expect them to really attack in the final quarter when the altitude could affect the BIL. The winner of this match will be the BIL and the bookies have them as heavy favourites. The best odds on the BIL victory can be found at Worldsportsbetting 1.06, Gbets 1.01 and Sunbet 1.02

HEAD TO HEAD STATS

Lions vs British & Irish Lions

  • This is the first ever meeting between these sides.

Latest results for both teams

The Lions won their last match against Western Province 38-32 while the British& Irish Lions beat Japan 28-10.

PREDICTION

The BIL have international stars from Number 1 to 15 while the Lions are in a rebuilding phase. The BIL have their most attacking flyhalf Russell in this game and with him you can be assured that there will not be too much of kicking. The player that is most impressive is winger Louis Rees-Zammit who at 20 belies his age. His pace is amazing but it’s his all round game that makes him stand out. The Lions will do well to keep him quiet. The Lions pack has Taulupe Faletau, Hamish Watson and Courtney Lawes as their loose trio and all these players are outstanding and if the Lions can’t match them in the forwards then this match will be over very early as a contest. There is just too much class and experience in the BIL team therefore I predict a win for the visitors of more than 30 points

  • Probable Starting XVs

Lions

15 EW Viljoen; 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Burger Odendaal (captain), 11 Courtnall Skosan; 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 André Warner; 8 Len Massyn, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 MJ Pelser; 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Sithembiso Sithole.

British & Irish Lions

15 Stuart Hogg (c), 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Owen Farrell, 11 Josh Adams, 10 Finn Russell, 9 Ali Price, 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Courtney Lawes, 5 Jonny Hill, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Wyn Jones

Odds for this bet

The best odds on the British & Irish Lions victory are as follows:

Worldsportsbetting 1.06

Gbets 1.01

Sunbet 1.02

Odds comparison on the British & Irish Lions handicap victory

The complete odds on the British & Irish Lions handicap victory:

Worldsportsbetting (-25.5) 1.90

Sunbet (-24.5) 1.89

Predictions and Odds in details

The BIL showed in their match against Japan that they are strong in every department and the Lions will need to be at their best to keep the score respectable. No team can defend for 80 minutes therefore I feel the Lions will need to also attack and not kick the ball away. The match could be very high scoring. The BIL will rely heavily on players like Maro Itoje and Jamie George to show their leadership skills in this match especially in the forwards. Owen Farrell will want to show Coach Gatland that he should be the starting 12 in the Tests but will need to be better in attack and certainly better with his tackling technique. It will be interesting to see between him and Russell who will do the goal kicking.  There is literally no money for the BIL on the outright victory therefore I suggest taking the visitors on the handicap. The best odds on the BIL handicap are as follows:  Worldsportsbetting (-25.5) 1.90 and Sunbet (-24.5) 1.89.

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