Ronan O’Gara believes that Keith Earls has made the same impact in his debut season as Jonny Wilkinson did 11 years ago. The 21-year-old is vying for a place in the Lions team for the second rugby test against South Africa on Saturday and O’Gara’s comments will be a welcome boost for him.

O’Gara said that for Earls to ‘achieve what he has’ during his first season of senior rugby is a sign of remarkably quick progress. The Irishman went on to say that nobody has had this type of impact on international rugby ‘since Jonny Wilkinson’.

Much like Earls, Wilkinson played for his country during his first season as a professional. The 21-year-old Irishman has taken the next step though by representing the Lions in his first year.

This doesn’t mean it has been all plain sailing for Earls though. During the Lions tour so far, his performances have been rather up and down. On a positive note, he has scored two tries – one against the
Free State Cheetahs and one against the Emerging Springboks last night – but he had a nightmare start against a Royal XV at the beginning of the tour.

Earls knocked the ball on several times in this match and played his part in conceding a try when he spilled a high ball early in the game. The youngster has bounced back from this performance though and O’Gara
believes that he deserves much credit for this.

Speaking about his Irish team-mate’s progress, O’Gara said that Earls has been  ‘well managed’ since that day and this has resulted in his kicking game becoming ‘really good’.

As for Earls himself, well he is pleased with how he is moving forward as a professional. He said that even though he ‘struggled for the first two weeks’, what has happened since then has been ‘unbelievable’.

With the backing of experienced professionals like O’Gara and Paul O’Connell, Earls has played himself into contention for a place in the side ahead of the second test against South Africa this weekend.

Considering that his aims for the season were to ‘get into the Munster side’, it has been a remarkable few months for Earls and hopefully, it will get even better by the end of this tour.

So here we have the first test Match day 22 of the 3 match test series for the Lions of 2009. The Lions will take on the Springboks in Durban This Saturday

15. Lee Byrne (Wales)
14. Tommy Bowe (Ireland)
13. Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland)
12. Jamie Roberts (Wales)
11. Ugo Monye (England)
10. Stephen Jones (Wales)
9. Mike Phillips (Wales)
8. Jamie Heaslip (Ireland)
7. David Wallace (Ireland)
6. Tom Croft (England)
5. Paul O’Connell (Ireland) C
4. Alun-Wyn Jones (Wales)
3. Phil Vickery (England)
2. Lee Mears (England)
1. Gethin Jenkins (Wales)

Replacements:
16. Matthew Rees (Wales)
17. Adam Jones (Wales)
18. Donncha O’Callaghan (Ireland)
19. Martyn Williams (Wales)
20. Harry Ellis (England)
21. Ronan O’Gara (Ireland)
22. Rob Kearney (Ireland)

PDV has released the Match day 22 for the first test against the British and Irish Lions in Durban.
Frans Steyn will be the starting fullback after the Springbok selectors did not choose a specialist for this position. No doubt that Fans will make good use of his massive boot and get the Springboks on to the front foot. Many people have suggested Frans at Fullback and now we will get to see if the position is a good move for him or not.

Ruan Pienaar is the starting fly half and Morne Steyn will be on the bench. Pienaar has had little game time this season due to injury so I’m expecting a change possibly half way through the game. Heinrich Brussow has been named the starting open side flanker in place of Burger and this no doubt has to do with Burgers calf injury.

See the list below:

Springboks:
15 Frans Steyn
14 JP Pietersen
13 Adi Jacobs
12 Jean de Villiers
11 Bryan Habana
10 Ruan Pienaar
9 Fourie du Preez
8 Pierre Spies
7 Juan Smith
6 Heinrich Brussow
5 Victor Matfield
4 Bakkies Botha
3 John Smit (c)
2 Bismarck du Plessis
1 Beast Mtawarira
Subs: 16 Deon Carstens, 17 Gurthro Steenkamp, 18 Andries Bekker, 19 Danie Rossouw, 20 Ricky Januarie, 21 Morne Steyn, 22 Jaque Fourie.

Donncha O’Callaghan will be the British and Irish Captain against the Southern Kings this Tuesday at Nelson Mandela Bay. Shane Williams has been named in the starting lineup and many believe this is a sign that he has not made his way into the test team. ‘

The Southern Kings are not a regular team and have been put together for this Lions tour and possibly will be added to the Super 14 which of course will become the Super 15.

British & Irish Lions:
15 Keith Earls (Ireland), 14 Shane Williams (Wales), 13 Riki Flutey (England), 12 Gordon D’Arcy (Ireland), 11 Luke Fitzgerald (Ireland), 10 James Hook (Wales), 9 Mike Blair (Scotland), 8 Andy Powell (Wales), 7 Joe Worsley (England), 6 Nathan Hines (Scotland), 5 Donncha O’Callaghan (Ireland, C), 4 Simon Shaw (England), 3 Euan Murray (Scotland), 2 Ross Ford (Scotland), 1 Andrew Sheridan (England).

Subs:
16 Matthew Rees (Wales), 17 Adam Jones (Wales), 18 Tom Croft (England), 19 David Wallace (Ireland), 20 Harry Ellis (England), 21 Ronan O’Gara (Ireland), 22 Ugo Monye (England)

Donncha O'Callaghan will be the Lions Skipper this Tuesday

Weak defense lead to France beating the All Blacks in their own back yard on the weekend. The French forwards were also very aware of the fact that the All Blacks had not dealt with rolling mauls during the Super 14 and used this to get their backs going on the front foot. The French also managed to dominate the All Black forwards at the break down and caused havoc for them all night.

The tactical kicking of the All Blacks was also a concern and Wayne Smith said himself at half time that the AB’s were kicking the ball too far and not getting any good chasers to put pressure onto the French. Once again proving the fact that a kick in Rugby is only as good as its chase. However for me the biggest weakness that was shown by the AB’s was the feeble tackling. Francois Trinh-Duc managed to bounce off 4 tackles before he crossed the try line.

Have a look at the Highlights Video below. Congrats France!

The Lions have once again come away with win. This time they took on W.P. at Newlands in Cape Town. W.P. were missing their Springboks as have the rest of the Provincial teams in South Africa. However that did not stop W.P. putting up a fight. With only a few minutes to go both teams were on 23 points.

James Hook was given the responsibility of having a shot at goal from 40m which he managed to put over for the win.

Well done to W.P. for putting up a good fight and well done to the Lions for remaining unbeaten so far on tour.

Below is the highlights video of the match.

Phil Vickery has been handed the Captain responsibility for the 5th match against Western Province (Stormers) this Saturday as Paul O’Connell and Brian OI’Driscoll are not in the Match day 22.

W.P have named a strong squad however they will be without they will be without their two Super star players Schalk Burger and Jean de Villiers. Luke Watson has been selected as Captain for W.P. against the Lions. Morgan Newman who was taken to the Springbok training camp will start at 13. Newman was a shock selection by Peter De Villiers for the training camp. Peter Grant who has 5 Springbok caps to his name will start at inside center.

W.P’s squad is pretty strong and I think we will have a good game on our hands.

Western Province squad:
15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Morgan Newman, 12 Peter Grant, 11 Gcobani Bobo, 10 Willem De Waal, 9 Dewaldt Duvenage; 8 Luke Watson (c), 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Pieter Louw, 5 Anton Van Zyl, 4 Martin Muller, 3 Brok Harris, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Subs: 16 Hanyani Shimange, 17 JD Moller, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Zandre Jordaan, 20 Conrad Hoffmann, 21 JJ Engelbrecht, 22 Gio Aplon.

British & Irish Lions:
15 Rob Kearney (Ireland), 14 Tommy Bowe (Ireland), 13 Keith Earls (Ireland), 12 Riki Flutey (England), 11 Ugo Monye (England), 10 Stephen Jones (Wales), 9 Harry Ellis (England), 8 Andy Powell (Wales), 7 Martyn Williams (Wales), 6 Joe Worsley (England), 5 Nathan Hines (Scotland), 4 Donncha O’Callaghan (Ireland), 3 Phil Vickery (England), 2 Matthew Rees (Wales), 1 Andrew Sheridan (England)
Subs: 16 Ross Ford (Scotland), 17 Euan Murray (Scotland), 18 Simon Shaw (England), 19 Tom Croft (England), 20 Mike Blair (Scotland), 21 James Hook (Wales), 22 Gordon D’Arcy (Ireland)

Peter Grant will provide experience for WP's backline

One of my favorite memories of both Rugby and for my Country is of course the Rugby World Cup 1995. It was a very special time in South Africa and this great sporting even helped unite a Nation for the first time behind their Springboks or Ama-boko-boko (Zulu). I recall this world cup well even though I was a young boy and had just started my Rugby Career.

I recently learnt that a movie is currently in production about Nelson Mandela (Madiba) and his life around the time that apartheid fell and his term as President of the New South Africa. The movie also goes into how Mandela used the 95 RWC as a tool to unite South Africa. Even though I was young seeing Nelson in a Springbok jersey made me realize that change is happening and still to this day gives me goose bumps.

I found these pics of Morgan Freemen who plays Nelson and Matt Damon who plays the role of the Springbok captain Francois Pienaar. I think that Mr Damon should have bulked up for his role as he looks like a bit of a school boy in this pic.

Origional from 95

Morgan as Nelson Mandela

Matt as Francois Pienaar

As the First Lions test gets closer and closer, Jamie Roberts has
revealed that the fight for a place in the team is intensifying every
single day. The Lions take on South Africa on 20th June and every
single man in the squad will be doing all they can to get themselves
in the starting fifteen.

Roberts is set to play in the latest tour match tomorrow when the
Lions take on the Sharks, so he will have a chance to impress coach
Ian McGeechan ahead of the matches that everyone has been waiting for.

Speaking about the competition for places, Roberts said that ‘everyone
is fighting for that Test spot’, otherwise they wouldn’t be on the
tour. He also revealed that the coaches will not be picking the team
to face South Africa ‘until Test week’, meaning that each and every
player has a ‘fighting chance’ of being selected.

The Welshman is set to partner Brian O’Driscoll in the centre tomorrow
after the same pair impressed during the Lions’ 74-10 victory in last
week’s tour match against the Golden Lions.

This is something that Roberts is very happy about, because O’Driscoll
is a ‘really tough character’ that is ‘great to play alongside’. He is
also looking forward to being outside Irishman Ronan O’Gara who has
been ‘extremely successful this season’. Overall, Roberts is confident
that playing with these two will bring the best out of him as an
individual.

As much as he is keen to cement his place for the first South Africa
test though, Roberts believes that the team’s success has to come
first. He says that ‘individual ambition is put aside’ on this tour
because it is ‘all about the team over here’.

If Roberts was completely honest with himself though, he would admit
that he is desperate to play a huge part against South Africa.
Obviously he wants the team to win, but if they do so with him pulling
the strings in the centre, that would be perfect for the 22-year-old.

The Sharks have now announced the their match day 22 for Wednesday against the British and Irish Lions. Deon Carstens has been released from the Springbok training camp and has been named at No 1 for the Sharks. Rory Kockott will team up with Monty Dumond who had little game time in the Super 14.

The Sharks have Riaan Swanepoel and Andries Strauss as their centers and they have a great challenge ahead of them when they face Jamie Roberts and Brian O’Driscoll who are tipped to be the favorites for the test matches.

The Sharks will be missing 8 players from their Squad due to Springbok duties. These players are Ruan Pienaar (10), Francois Steyn (utility back), JP Pietersen (wing), Adrian Jacobs (Center), John Smit (Hooker/Prop), Ryan Kankowski (8th man), Bismarck du Plessis (Hooker) and Beast Mtawarira (Prop).

1. Deon Carstens
2. Skipper Badenhorst
3. Jannie du Plessis
4. Steven Sykes
5. Johann Muller (C)
6. Jacques Botes
7. Jean Deysel
8. Keegan Daniel
9. Rory Kockott
10. Monty Dumond
11. Luzuko Vulindlu
12. Riaan Swanepoel
13. Andries Strauss
14. Chris Jordaan
15. Stefan Terblanche

Replacements:
16. Craig Burden 17. Patric Cilliers
18. Albert van den Berg
19. Michael Rhodes
20. Charl McLeod
21. Guy Cronje
22. Lwazi Mvovo

Players to watch: Kockott, Deysel, Terblanche, Sykes and Muller