Lions beat the odds ... again
The Lions won their third match on tour, beating the Reds 18-17 in a thrilling Super Rugby Round Seven encounter in Brisbane on Friday.
It was the first time ever the Lions had won three out of four matches on an Australasian tour.
The teams scored two tries each, but it was a 71st-minute penalty by Springbok flyhalf Elton Jantjies that won the game for the Lions.
Wallaby flyhalf Quade Cooper, returning from a broken collarbone injury in his first game for the Reds this season, was positioned for a shot at drop-goal to win the match after the full-time siren, but the desperate Lions defence charged down the kick to preserve the win.
The result means the Reds slumped to second-last on the overall standings.
It was a galling defeat for the beleaguered 2011 Super Rugby champions, who had Cooper and Wallaby back James O'Connor among four key players returning from injury.
Instead the Reds crashed to their fifth defeat in six matches, while the Lions climbed to 10th on the back of their third win of the season.
The Lions led 8-3 at half-time, after a 14th minute try from centre Harold Vorster.
The Reds made a mess of a line-out, before impressive flank Warwick Tecklenburg crashed over in the 49th minute to stretch the Lions' lead to 15-3.
But the Reds hit back with a 53rd-minute penalty try before giant centre Samu Kerevi crashed over in the 68th minute off a set piece to trail by two points.
However, Ben Tapuai was penalised for not releasing the ball in a ruck and flyhalf Elton Jantjies kicked the South Africans to the front with eight minutes left.
"We probably did the hard work in the first half, we stayed composed when they put us under pressure and we scored some good tries," Lions skipper Warren Whiteley said.
"We are extremely happy with three out of four wins and we're still a bit off our best, we can improve in our set piece."
Reds counterpart James Slipper said his team paid for poor execution.
"Essentially with all the blokes coming back into the side we had a few changes and it's hard to build consistency with that sort of player movement," he said.
"I thought the effort was there, I just think our execution let us down."
Man of the match: Given all his off-the-ball antics Quade Cooper only qualifies for villain of the match. James O'Connor had a few promising runs, Will Genia was a good link, while Adam Thomson worked hard, as usual. Lionel Mapoe and Harold Vorster were rock solid on defence, Elton Jantjies directed traffic well and Warren Whiteley was again among the top players in the tackle count in the game. Our award goes to Lions flank Warwick Tecklenburg, who was powerful with ball in hand, a monster on defence and won a couple of crucial penalty turnovers at the breakdown.
The scorers:
For the Reds:
Tries: Penalty try, Kerevi
Cons: Cooper 2
Pen: Cooper
For the Lions:
Tries: Vorster, Tecklenburg
Con: Jantjies
Pens: Jantjies 2
Yellow card: Ruan Combrink (Lions, 50 – professional foul, killing the ball)
Teams:
Reds: 15 Lachie Turner, 14 Chris Kuridrani, 13 Samu Kerevi, 12 Anthony Fainga'a, 11 James O'Connor, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Jake Schatz, 7 Curtis Browning, 6 Adam Thomson, 5 Dave McDuling, 4 James Horwill, 3 Sam Talakai, 2 James Hanson, 1 James Slipper (captain).
Replacements: 16 Saia Fainga'a, 17 Ben Daley, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Marco Kotze, 20 Michael Gunn, 21 Nick Frisby, 22 Ben Tapuai, 23 Chris Feauai-Sautia.
Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Sampie Mastriet, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Warren Whiteley (captain), 7 Warwick Tecklenburg, 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Robert Kruger, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Schalk van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Armand van der Merwe, 17 Jacques van Rooyen, 18 Julian Redelinghuys, 19 Martin Muller, 20 Jaco Kriel, 21 Francois de Klerk, 22 Marnitz Boshoff, 23 Howard Mnisi.
Referee: Glen Jackson (New Zealand)
Assistant referees: Matt O'Brien (Australia), James Leckie (Australia)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)
@rugby365com & AFP
Statistical information provided by Opta Sports