URC: Connacht 14 Lions 38
Connacht’s 100 per cent record against South African teams at Dexcom Stadium was smashed by a rampant 14-man Lions on Saturday evening.
With just four points between the two outfits, there was much at stake, but the visitors were deserving winners for their superior pace and power, both with and without the ball.
“To be blunt it’s as disappointing as I have seen,” said Connacht head coach Pete Wilkins. “We pride ourselves on staying in the fight, and there might be errors in games or days when we play better than others, but overall it was a huge anticlimax.
“We had opportunities to control the game better, we had opportunities to hurt the Lions more, and we didn’t take them, and we gave them some soft ones, and ultimately you get what you deserve.”
The visitors, who made Connacht work hard for possession and points, struck first after seven minutes. Capitalising on two successive penalties, eventually they made the breakthrough with a try for number Francke Horn, converted by outhalf Jordan Hendrikse.
The home side responded well when outhalf JJ Hanrahan kick-started an attack, and left wing Andrew Smith looked certain to score but for the handy work of Lions fullback Quad Horn who was able to strip the ball in the last-ditch tackle.
Eventually, however, Connacht capitalised, going through the phases from a penalty. Although they made hard work of it, eventually Cian Prendergast bagged a 16th-minute try.
Although the visitors lost prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye with a red card for a no-arms tackle on Conor Oliver, it did not disarm them. Their ability to keep the ball in hand put Connacht on the defensive, forcing them to make twice as many tackles as their opponents.
However, the home side was gifted a lucky a break when just before the half-time whistle Lions scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba was denied a third try for a previous infringement, keeping Connacht’s deficit to 7-12 at the break.
However, Connacht’s errors continued to mount as they gifted the Lions a try, left wing Edwill Van Der Merwe intercepting from the 10-metre line. Hendrikse converted before Connacht replied through Hanrahan, who also added the conversion to keep them within a score.
But when Lions centre Erich Cronje took advantage to skip through two props for their fourth try, and then Horn broke through porous Connacht cover to score again, there was no way back for the Wilkins’s men, lagging by 14-31.
Replacement Morne van den Berg posted the visitors’ sixth try to seal a comprehensive victory, putting a major dent in Connacht’s aspirations to make the playoffs. The South African side have now leapfrogged the western province into the top eight.
SCORING SEQUENCE – 7 mins: Horne try, Hendrikse con, 0-7; 16: Prendergast try, Hanrahan con 7-7; 25: Pretorious try 7-12; Half-time 7-12; 48: Van der Merwe try, Hendrikse con, 7-19; 55: Hanrahan try, con, 14-19; 62: Cronje try, Hendrikse con 14-26; 69: Horne try 14-31; 78: Van den Berg try, Hendrikse con 14-38.
CONNACHT: T O’Halloran; B Ralston, D Hawkshaw, C Forde, A Smith; JJ Hanrahan, C Blade (capt); D Buckley, T McElroy, J Aungier; N Murray, J Joyce; C Prendergast, C Oliver, S O’Brien.
Replacements: S Hurley-Langton for Oliver (17 mins); D Heffernan for McElroy, J Duggan for Buckley, S Illo for Aungier (all 49); D Murray for Joyce (53); J Carty for Hanrahan (56); P Boyle for O’Brien (65); C Reilly for Blade (67).
LIONS: Q Horn; R Kriel, E Cronje, M Louw, E van der Merwe; J Hendrikse, S Nohamba; JP Smith, PJ Botha, A Ntlabakanye; E Oosthuisen, R Nothnagel; JC Pretorious, E Tshituka F Horn.
Replacements: D Landsburg for Oosthuisen (10 mins); C van Vuuren for Tshituka (18); J Visagie for Botha, M Naude for Smith (both 56); H Sirgel for Pretorious (72); S Pienaar for Cronje, I Esterhuisen for Nothnagel, M van den Berg for Nohamba (all 77).
Red card: Ntlabakanye (16 mins).
Referee: Craig Evans (WRU).
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