SOUTH AFRICA 26, GB&I LIONS 21
Brian O'Driscoll leads the way as brave Lions go down fighting
BLOOD cascading from his ear, brain no longer talking sense to his legs, Phil Vickery swayed from the field and sunk into a chair on the sidelines.
A broken man, a tamed Lion, rendered senseless by the God-fearing guy they call The Beast. Never had Vickery's own nickname, Raging Bull, seemed less appropriate.
Barely 45 minutes had passed and Vickery seemed to be a sad, slumping symbol of British and Irish fortunes in the land of the Zulus.
It was turning out to be their worst nightmare. Pummelled by the Springbok pack, shamed in the scrum, humiliated in the lineout.
And the last consoling pat had barely landed on Vickery's back - a pat that probably bid farewell to his international career - when Heinrich Brussow capped a move that had bullied the Lions along for 30 metres.
The home lead was 19 points. But numbers didn't really matter at that stage. The Lions stood on the brink of oblivion.
Their tour was melting down in the sort of time it takes to say Tendai Mtawarira - which is presumably what his mum calls The Beast.
They were heading for the sort of calamitous defeat from which few sportsmen could recover. They were heading for ignominy.
And that is why you can look at this scoreline and hope that a series win has not become an impossible dream.
There is hope because of a fightback that showed spirit runs deep in this touring party. There is hope because in Jamie Roberts and Brian O'Driscoll, the Lions have a midfield partnership who can dismantle any defence.
There is hope because Tom Croft's two tries were two glowing beacons in the darkness of their forward performance.
There is hope because the Lions will have sat down last night and have known they left so much out there on the Kings Park.
No recriminations from this game, but plenty of regrets.
Not only did they outscore the South Africans by three tries to two, they crossed the line on two other occasions but failed to ground the ball. Mike Phillips - who darted over to set up the tense finale - was the culprit on once occasion, Ugo Monye the other.
Monye will have better days. He had two clear finishing opportunites and failed to take either. He came close but, against the world champions, close is not good enough. And it won't be for the Lions coach Ian McGeechan.
As for the 30,000 visiting supporters who trooped off into the Durban evening, most were cursing those missed opportunities. Or wondering how 68 per cent of second-half possession was not turned into a triumph. McGeechan must turn those feelings into positives.
The Springbok spin was to attribute the Lions fightback - which took them to within one score of an unlikely victory - to their own rustiness, complacency and substitutions. But make no mistake, the champions of the world were rattled. Ragged. Retreating.
They barely celebrated after the match, walking slowly off knowing that the Lions back line had shown they are capable of cutting Boks to ribbons.
Those are the images that the Lions must take to Pretoria on the highveld for next Saturday's Test.
And they must believe that those first 50 minutes were an aberration that is unlikely to be repeated. Everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
When their tour opened up with a Stephen Jones missed penalty (one of two in the game), a botched lineout (one of three in the game), a botched scrum (one of four in the game), a knock-on (one of countless) and a routine try for John Smit, all the talk of a flying Lions start seemed to be some sort of a sick joke.
But it was no laughing matter when Monye seemed certain to score, only for Jean de Villiers to scoop up the ball as the winger had put leather to within a millimetre of grass.
And although O'Driscoll put Croft in to provide a chink of light in the darkest of first halves, the boots of Ruan Pienaar and Francois Steyn pulled the Springboks into the most comfortable of zones.
The Lions were giving away penalties in flurries, Vickery bemused not only at his battering from The Beast but also by his mauling from Bryce Lawrence.
The Kiwi referee walked off at half-time with Paul O'Connell's frustrated questions for company and the Lions' skipper's grim post-match press conference suggested his team were hardly content with yesterday's officialdom.
But after Brussow's try appeared to have crushed Lions' hopes in double- quick time, O'Driscoll and Roberts inspired a rousing and unlikely rally.
O'Driscoll again put Croft over and Phillips scampered in untouched. But in four frantic final minutes, a clinching try (assuming it was converted) proved elusive.
And no sooner had Lawrence blown his whistle for what seemed like the 100th - but last - time than the debate about his officiating began.
Deep down, the Lions will know that Lawrence was not to blame. They had only themselves to blame. But they will also know they have the talent and the tenacity to rebound from this.
Their dream of an opening win died in Durban yesterday. But their hopes of eventual glory are far from buried.
SCORERS - S Africa: tries Smit, Brussow; cons Pienaar 2; pens Pienaar 3, Steyn. Lions: tries Croft 2, Phillips; cons Jones 3.
This article has 11 comments
The Lions have the SA coach to thank for allowing them back into the game. Up until the ridiculous substitutions the Lions were nowhere. The Lions' best chance of a victory in this series has come and gone and the chances of them winning 1 test, let alone 2, on the highveld are remote. The Boks will be a lot sharper this saturday and will probably drop Jacobs, and replace him with Jaques Fourie, which will strengthen their midfield defence. The Lions' backs had the upper hand towards the end but all SA need to do is play like they did in the first 55 minutes and the Lions will see the series lost on saturday. The so called Lions strength, the scrum got hammered, and not by the ref but by a particularly well drilled forward pack. My series prediction 3-0.
By Mark. Posted June 22 2009 at 11:50 AM.
how can u question O'Connell's leadership n say he shud'nt b in the team, sober up ffs, Lions wer out muscled for 45mins and deserved 2b behind, but did well 2 fight bak and almost stole it, Monye shud hav scored twice at key moments, but wif O'Driscoll n Roberts we stil hav a chance.
By J.Moore. Posted June 21 2009 at 2:18 PM.
The lions have got themselves into a hole by picking a captain who should not get in the 1st team. Any one of the other 3 locks would be more mobile and better line out jumpers ,the captain should be an inspiration and first name on sheet not a bit part player.
The lions centres totally dominated there opposite numbers yet we kept going on the blind side or giving to forewards who often went backwards.
By steve hay. Posted June 21 2009 at 9:50 AM.
Mtawarira was constantly coming into the scrum on an angle leaving Vickery no choice, the penalties should have been again Mtawarira but as alsways a referee who has never played in the front 5 doesnt know whats going on and favours the home side. That said the boks were very good up until 60mins.
My major concern was that everyone who knows rugby knows to counter the scrummage issue you bring on a shorter prop to get under the oppositions, so then why didnt we do this at half time, 4 minutes into the second half only adds another disruption to the game (which only benefited SA) and make a great player have to walk from one side of the ground to the other.......
My other point is that Connel showed why he shouldnt have been picked as captain. Line outs were poor and I honestly think he did very little around the pitch.
Plus points were we were ounlucky not to ground the ball twice and if it hadnt have been for some brilliant last minute tackling by SA we would have won this game comfortably despite being second best for most of the game.
I'm off to put a bet on us winning the next 2 tests!!
By Northern Boy. Posted June 21 2009 at 9:07 AM.
All about the pack in the first half, they crushed us, literally!
Bad team selection to start with for the Lions, and SA made some bad substitutions that almost let us back in it.
SA are not unbeatable but I cannot see them being so complacent next time around.
By ipd. Posted June 21 2009 at 7:23 AM.
Fantastic Lions...The Boks may have won this battle but they havent won the war. Phillips you are WORLD CLASS MATE. Come on the LIONS
By Phil Davies. Posted June 21 2009 at 7:30 AM.
well as being a welsh man myself, i thought the welsh front row who finally came together after some changes really played well together thought i was watchin the welsh scrummage again from the six nations! but it wasn't just down to those Brian O'driscoll really played hard and out of his skin, always rallying the boys for another go... he to me should be lions captain not O'conell, As for Ugo Monye he shouldn't be in the next test side bring back our IRB Player of the year Shane Williams!!!
By michael evans. Posted June 21 2009 at 5:24 AM.
As an Aussie I really don't have an axe to grind for either side but as real Rugby fan I thought Bryce Lawrence was PATHETIC and did his best to kill the game. To blame the Lions loss on Vickery is a joke .. penalty after penalty went one way for collapsing offences that could be argued for either team.
By Keith. Posted June 21 2009 at 4:23 AM.
Total diference when Vickery went off. He should never have been picked for the lions squad . His discapline was pathetic as always.How many penalties does the guy give away i have lost count, got to be the weakest link in any international squad
By wigo. Posted June 21 2009 at 1:06 AM.
"Deep down, the Lions will know that Lawrence was not to blame. "
Well why pretend he was, then ? The reason we lost was down to pathetic scrum technique of past-it Phil Vickery, and wayward throwing in the line-out of Lee Mears. Add that to Ugo Monye's woeful finishing and you have the real story. None of these three should start the next test if we are to have a chance to redeem ourselves
By Keith Price. Posted June 21 2009 at 12:51 AM.
S.A didn't take full control !
By Luke Powell. Posted June 20 2009 at 4:55 PM.