Waratahs
Kurtley Beale, Mark Nawaqanitawase, Alex Newsome, Karmichael Hunt, Jack Maddocks, Will Harrison, Jake Gordon, Jack Dempsey, Michael Hooper, Lachlan Swinton, Rob Simmons , Tom Staniforth, Harry Johnson-Holmes, Robbie Abel, Angus Bell

Reserves: Damien Fitzpatrick, Tom Robertson, Tetera Faulkner, Jed Holloway, Ryan McCauley, Mitch Short, Lalakai Foketi, James Ramm

Lions
Andries Coetzee, Tyrone Green, Manuel Rass, Dan Kriel, Jamba Ulenga, Elton Jantjies , Andre Warner, Len Massyn, Vincent Tshituka, Marnus Schoeman, Marvin Orie, Ruben Schoeman, Carlu Sadie, Jan-Henning Campher, Dylan Smith

Reserves: Pieter Jansen, Sithembiso Sithole, Frans van Wyk, Willem Alberts, Wilhelm van der Sluys, Hacjivah Dayimani, Morne van den Berg, Wandisile Simelane

So the Tahs should finally pick up a win tonight?

The next two weeks don't look easy for the Tahs. Chiefs in Wollongong then Brumbies in Canberrra. So Rob Penney really needs this one

The Lions have been ok apart from week one.. however I'm not convinced they are good enough to get many away wins.

The only thing that would surprise me in this fixture is a big Tahs win.

@antipodean said in Waratahs v Lions:

The only thing that would surprise me in this fixture is a big Tahs win.

How about an awesome quality game?

Penney has been talking pretty tough but largely rolled with the same group of players for this one.

Will be interesting if they respond.

If not there could be some big time changes next week.

Looks like a tiny crowd

YC looked a bit harsh?

Good start from Angus Bell.

@Stargazer
You mean complete and utter bullshit the wrong way.

Holding guys down like that should earn you a slap and sit down.

@Stargazer looks like a gun. Some quality young players coming through Australia atm. Let’s hope they can keep them in the country. #makeaustraliarugbygoodagain

Definitely (at least) YC for Swinton, but you can bet on it that the Citing Commissioner will have another look at it to see whether it deserved more.

Haha, and Elton Jantjies provides the defence for Swinton, saying there was only contact with his chest, not his head.

@Stargazer

I watching without sound, but I can only guess the ruling was that it wasn't high (contact not definitely on the throut/head).

Not sure that is the way we want to be erring with late no arm hits.

@SidBarret said in Waratahs v Lions:

@Stargazer

I watching without sound, but I can only guess the ruling was that it wasn't high (contact not definitely on the throut/head).

Yep, that's what Gardner said.

How far have the Lions sunk since they last made the Final! Lost too many players to Europe, I guess.

Tahs miss another chance to make the game safe. They’re making hard work of this

Now they finally bury the Lions with a tidy lineout move

Chiefs should beat them easily next week

Nice to get the win. Back row stood up (finally) but the best performance came from Will Harrison at 10. The first sign he could be a long-term option in that spot.

That Waratah try to Ramm was an absolute beauty.

The first 20 mins of that game were really pleasing. Good lines, accurate passing - just need to keep it up and the season could look very different in a few months.

@KiwiMurph said in Waratahs v Lions:

That Waratah try to Ramm was an absolute beauty.

The three bombed tries due to stupid short kicks were not.

Decent atmosphere at the ground despite the small head count - best stadium in Sydney deserves a bigger crowd tho.

Tahs aren't going to win many other games going straight out the back like that. Really took them 65 minutes to start attacking up front, which was after Bell and HJH had gone off.

Bell is impressive. Knows his way around a scrum and will only get better as he gains more experience. Decent hands, speed, and fitness too.

Tahs got disjointed as their subs came on. Losing Gordon early was the first unsettling part, which is why I think they stopped firing in the first half.

Lions didn't have much ball but all their outside backs tried that steppy-steppy shit and got hammered when they DID have the ball. Thought they should have softened the Tahs up more in the middle to build some continuity, as when they scored under the posts.

I got to shake Jannie Du Plessis' hand after the game which was a great pleasure. Both the Tahs and Lions guys who came around to say hi were all polite, happy to chat, and take photos etc.

I mentioned the bushfire appeal that the Lions ran and asked their 9 to thank all the players, and he seemed a bit chuffed that someone brought it up, and also said "Ja we happy to help. That's rugby"

(Note that photo Of Schoeman and Simmons is from 23rd minutes, so after he came back from the yellow card).