Lions captain Francke Horn scored the only try for his side in a tough URC battle with Leinster on Saturday evening.
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For 70 minutes, the Lions stayed in the fight against Leinster, refusing to give an inch to the defending champions in their United Rugby Championship (URC) clash on Saturday evening in Dublin.
However, with 10 minutes left in the match, a third try by the home side, after slicing through the visitors’ stubborn defence, opened the contest, and they eventually scored two more tries at the death to secure a 31-7 victory, despite the scoreline remaining tight for most of the match.
The Lions competed well throughout. They matched Leinster physically and, at times, even overpowered them, while the scrums and lineouts also mostly went according to plan for the South Africans. But their inability to create and finish genuine scoring opportunities ultimately led to their downfall.
Although they spent plenty of time in their opponents’ half, their failure to convert those chances proved costly — a problem they will need to address ahead of the final round-robin match of the competition.
Certain calls also failed to go their way, such as when flanker Siba Mahase crossed for a brilliant breakaway try that would have put the Lions on the scoreboard early on. The effort was ruled out after winger Erich Cronje was adjudged offside following a TMO review.
Leinster led only 14-7 at half-time after a try by captain Francke Horn kept the Lions firmly in the clash. The visitors came out firing in the second half, searching for an equaliser. The hard running of Mahase, Horn and replacement loose forward Batho Hlekani, who came on early for the injured Springbok Ruan Venter, caused problems for the hosts’ defence at times.
Venter was carted off the field after 15 minutes of play with what looked like a serious knee injury.
Apart from their powerful carries, which consistently earned gainline success, poor decision-making with kicks — particularly from scrumhalf Morné van den Berg — offered little reward. Leinster’s defence, shaped in the mould of the Springboks under senior coach Jacques Nienaber, also frustrated the Lions’ attack.
In the end, the three tries in the final 10 minutes secured a bonus-point win for the home side and lifted them into third place on the URC standings. Meanwhile, the Lions slipped to fifth after starting the weekend in third, although they could still drop to sixth depending on Munster’s result later on Saturday evening when they face Connacht.
A win for Munster will also seal the Lions’ place in the URC quarter-finals for the first time.
Points scorers
Lions 7 (7): Try: Francke Horn. Conversion: Chris Smith. Leinster 31 (14): Tries: Jamie Osborne, Tom Clarkson, Hugo Keenan, Rieko Ioane, Jimmy O’Brien. Conversions: Sam Prendergast (2), Ciaran Frawley.