Who is popular today?

Invitational AU & NZ XV 0-48 British & Irish LionsVan der Merwe hat-trick leads eight-try routThe Lions were never going to rival Sir Donald Bradman’s scoring rate at this historic ground but they did their best to keep Adelaide Oval’s beautiful old scoreboard ticking over. It was certainly the first time the first six tries of a modern-day Lions’s victory have all been contributed by Scotland players, allowing the touring team to take the psychological high road to Brisbane for next week’s first Test.Aside from the premature departure of Luke Cowan-Dickie, who was carried off after misjudging an attempted first-half tackle, and a possible doubt over Garry Ringrose, not involved here, there was almost nothing to ruffle the Lions’ management. Duhan van der Merwe claimed a hat-trick of tries, Henry Pollock stole in for a typically opportunist second-half score that few others would have made and, defensively, the AUNZ side were barely given a sniff. Continue reading...