Lions beat Connacht in dance of the desperates

MATCH REPORT: The Lions ended a five-match losing streak with a 26-7 win over Connacht in their encounter at Ellis Park, in Johannesburg, on Saturday to keep their mathematical chance alive of reaching the United Rugby Championship play-offs.

It was a scrappy game between two desperate teams that were struggling with confidence after some poor form.

The Lions, normally keen to employ a free-flowing, expansive approach, opted for a more pragmatic game of territorial play that involved a lot more kicking..

The big concern for the Lions will be the injury to first-choice scrumhalf Morné van den Berg, who hobbled off in the 56th minute.

* To recap all the drama, CLICK HERE!

* The article continues below …

After a nervy start, with several turnovers and penalties, flank Renzo du Plessis opened the scoring with a try for the Lions in the 13th minute – some great interplay between the forwards setting up the score. Flyhalf Kade Wolhuter was wide of the ark with the conversion attempt – 5-0.

An offside penalty in the 18th minute saw Wolhuter add three more points – 8-0.

It remained an arm-wrestle, littered with errors, turnovers and licking, for the next 10 minutes.

A scrum penalty in the 36th minute saw Wolhuter make it 11-0 from right in front.

On the stroke of half-time, the Lions set up a maul five metres from the Connacht line, but the visitors killed the move successfully and won a scrum feed, allowing the visitors to go into the break still just 11 points down.

The second half started with an ‘off-the-ball’ penalty to the Lions, which Wolhuter slotted for a 14-0 lead.

Just short of the 50-minute mark, Lions flank Renzo du Plessis was yellow-carded for tripping an opponent.

It did not help Connacht much as they were penalised for obstruction at a line-out and had a potential try scratched off.

The Lions then had a try chalked off for a high tackle by Henco van Wyk.

With 10 minutes remaining, Lions flank JC Pretorius made the most of the few opportunities that came in the second half, finishing off a great counter-attack. Wolhuter was again wide of the mark with the conversion attempt, but at 19-0 the Lions were in command on the scoreboard and on the field.

Connacht now threw everything at the Lions, and after several forward raids, replacement Eoin de Buitléar barged over. Centre David Hawkshaw added the conversion to give the visitors a glimmer of hope – 7-19.

However, the Lions put the seal on the win with an Edwill van der Merwe try after the hooter – a stray Connacht pass hacked through and the wing sprinting clear.

Replacement Lubabalo Dobela slotted the conversion to make the final score 26-7 in favour of the home team.

Man of the match: Argentine wing Santiago Cordero was the most ambitious and energetic of the Connacht players. The Lions’ loose trio of Jarod Cairns, Renzo du Plessis and JC Pretorius were industrious. In a game of very little excitement, at least in the first hour, Lions wing Richard Kriel produced the most to celebrate for the Lions team and wins my award.

The scorers

For the Lions
Tries: Du Plessis, Pretorius, Van der Merwe
Con: Dobela
Pens: Wolhuter 3

For Connacht
Try: De Buitléar
Con: Hawkshaw

Yellow card: Renzo du Plessis (Lions, 49 – foul play, tripping an opponent)

Teams

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Jarod Cairns, 7 Renzo du Plessis, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Jaco Visagie (captain), 1 Morgan Naude.
Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Izan Esterhuizen, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Lubabalo Dobela, 23 Rynhardt Jonker.

Connacht: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Shayne Bolton, 13 David Hawkshaw, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Shane Jennings, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Matthew Devine, 8 Sean Jansen, 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Cian Prendergast (captain), 5 Joe Joyce, 4 Josh Murphy, 3 Jack Aungier, 2 Dylan Tierney-Martin, 1 Peter Dooley.
Replacements: 16 Eoin de Buitléar, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Oisín Dowling, 20 Paul Boyle, 21 Colm Reilly, 22 Hugh Gavin, 23 Santiago Cordero.

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Scotland)
Assistant referees: Morné Ferreira (South Africa), Hanru Van Rooyen (South Africa)
TMO: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

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