Lions 33

Connacht 21

CONNACHT’S WAIT FOR a place in the top eight of the United Rugby Championship will continue as they made little impression in Johannesburg on the in-form Lions team, going down 33-21 at the intimidating Ellis Park Stadium.

Connacht were held scoreless in the first half and, although they were better after the break, they left themselves with too much to do, trailing 0-21, and a second successive victory in South Africa was never in sight against a team that have now won six matches in a row.

Stuart Lancaster’s side, after their outstandingly gutsy win over the Stormers last weekend in Cape Town, tried to play in the Lions’ faces, but seldom really stretched an incorrigible defence.

Connacht kept ball-in-hand for long stretches, with lots of players around the ball, but could only score one try when the match was still in the balance, and that was in the 49th minute, replacement scrumhalf Matt Devine sniping over the line when the Lions had a man in the bin.

Devine scored again in the 77th minute, jinking his way through a maze of defenders, with some pace, for a fine individual try, and eighthman Paul Boyle scored in the 82nd minute after a clever back-flick from the base of a ruck by replacement tighthead Fiancha Barrett.

So Connacht remain on 44 points, in ninth place. The Bulls are above them by one point, but play the Scarlets later on Saturday night.

Connacht host fellow playoff contenders Munster and then visit Edinburgh in the final fortnight of the round-robin stage.

The majority of the first half was played between the two 10m lines, with the Lions dominating the early kicking battle.

The Connacht defence was first breached in the fifth minute as fly-half Chris Smith’s lovely short pass found prop SJ Kotze roaring up on his shoulder to charge into the 22. The ball was recycled quickly, and the pivot was there again to send a long pass out wide for wing Angelo Davids to score.

The visitors then dominated territory and possession, but the next try went to the Lions as well, pugnacious centre Henco van Wyk breaking the line and running 30 metres to score.

Connacht pounded the Lions’ line for 15 minutes, with Italian referee Filippo Russo ruling that the most promising lineout maul they had was not illegally taken down.

The first half then ended with the Lions scoring their third try, through the impressive flanker Siba Mahashe — a possible forward pass in the build-up was never checked by the officials.

The second half started with Connacht again under pressure from the Lions’ kicking game, and the 44th-minute try scored by left wing Erich Cronje, after classy work by the eighthman and skipper Francke Horn, was the death knell for the Irish team.

Scorers
Lions – Tries: S. Kotze, H. van Wyk (2), S. Mahashe, E. Cronje. Conversions: C. Smith (4).

Connacht – Tries: M. Devine (2), P. Boyle. Conversions: S. Gilbert (3).

Teams

Lions - Q. Horn, A. Davids (K. Mpeku 61st), H. van Wyk, R. Kriel, E. Cronje, C. Smith, M. van den Berg, S. Kotze, P. Botha (M. Brandon 61st), A. Ntlabakanye (S. Lombard 61st), R. Venter (R. Nothnagel 58th), D. Landsberg (S. Qoma 62nd), S. Mahase, B. Hlekani (E. Davids 53rd-58th), F. Horn (J. Pretorius 69th).

Connacht - S. Gilbert, H. West, J. Devine, H. Gavin (S. Bolton 56th), S. Jennings, J. Carty (S. Naughton 47th), C. Reilly (M. Devine 41st), P. Dooley (B. Bohan 41st), D. Tierney-Martin (M. Victory 41st; D. Tierney-Martin 81st), J. Aungier (F. Barrett 66th), N. Murray (D. Murray 47th), J. Joyce (S. Jansen 47th), C. Prendergast, S. Hurley-Langton, P. Boyle.