Emerging Springboks 13 Lions13:IN A dramatic finale, replacement outhalf Willem de Waal landed a thumping touchline conversion to deny the Lions a morale-boosting win prior to Saturday's second Test. The home team celebrated as if they had won, the Lions trooped off as if they had lost and the home fans went into a wildly wet and windy night happy they'd come along.
The collective disappointment was perhaps as relevant as any individual aspects, and of the latter there were certainly a few negatives.
Shane Williams has been given every chance on this tour to find his missing form, and while strong under the high ball, he was again out of sorts and highly culpable for the try eight seconds before the end which made de Waal’s heroics possible.
The conditions probably were tougher on the Emerging Springboks than their more experienced visitors, although it limited the case of inclusion which prospective Test candidates could make.
Nonetheless, they adapted their tactics to give the Lions’ back three a fearful aerial bombardment which they withstood manfully, and if there is a promotion it ought well be Luke Fitzgerald, who again looked sharp off limited rations in drawing the short straw once more.
Keith Earls scored the Lions try and performed superbly, but the Lions didn’t have the force of will and strength of character up front, or the maul, to force home their early advantage.
Timings of replacements were potentially interesting pointers towards tomorrow’s selection for the pivotal second Test, such as James Hook coming on for O’Gara within five minutes of the start of the second half.
But that could be interpreted in two ways.
Either they were preserving O’Gara for a starting role next Saturday, or they wanted to give Hook a half with the view to promoting him to the bench against South Africa.
Ultimately, the Emerging Springboks’ bench had the bigger impact, and man-of-the-match blindside Jean Deysel impressed in a dynamic, hard and straight running backrow.
The Lions began full of purpose and intent, and just as encouragingly Alain Rolland – easily the referee of the tour so far – began penalising home forwards for playing the ball off their feet. After an initial sequence of pick-and-go drives, O’Gara took the ball up, and though his straight-ish penalty was blown wide, the Lions came knocking again.
After a good counter by the back three, Rikki Flutey and Fitzgerald sliced and danced through the middle, and after loosehead Wian du Preez killed the ball under the posts O’Gara tapped over the penalty.
Better followed when the Emerging Boks’ back three ended a bout of aerial tennis by moving the ball across field, but the talented Bulls fullback Sane Kirchner kicked straight into the arms of Martyn Williams.
He released Flutey, who appeared to have butchered the chance by veering away from the line of support inside, but a couple of recycles later Earls stepped inside scrumhalf Jano Vermaak beautifully to score his second Lions try and 13th of what has been effectively his rookie season. And, not a bad one at that.
Tim Payne, who’d handled well in the build-up to that try, was penalised at the first scrum when buckling inwards, but as Earl Rose addressed the 45-metre penalty the ball was blown off its tee by one of those sudden torrents of rain that makes the Cape Town weather so capricious.
As fans ran towards the back of half-empty stands for shelter, Rose was no doubt wondering whether they should have gone down the line before the kick was blown wildly off course.
The greasy pill was regularly spilled for the next while, and the home youngsters were perhaps a bit too ambitious with some of their passing.
That said, Rose changed tack and began putting the ball into the night sky as Earls took a fearful battering, but his bravery never wavered.
When the Lions briefly threatened after some quick thinking off a tap penalty and another stunning step by Earls, the Boks responded in kind with one of their own, and it required a try-saving tackle by Fitzgerald from behind to deny Bjorn Basson.
Defensive scrum ball became tangled at Andy Powell’s feet as Harry Ellis left the ball behind for Vermaak, with Fitzgerald again and Earls coming to the rescue.
But when O’Callaghan played the ball off his feet, Rose made it 10-3 before the break.
He added another soon after it, and then the Emerging Boks introduced the heavyweight left boot of de Waal, whose kicking had caused the Lions so much damage here against the Stormers.
However, as the exchanges degenerated into a cautious battle for territory, de Waal possibly became too blinkered in the tactical approach when kicking away a sizeable advantage.
Soon after, substitute loosehead Tiaan Liebenberg dropped a scrum on impact, ironically against Phil Vickery, for Hook to make it 13-6.
He atoned after Rose had found a sensational touch in the corner with a penalty, and though Simon Shaw produced a try-saving tackle on Franco van der Merwe, the Boks recycled quickly for de Waal to locate Danwel Demas for a routine run-in.
However, he was helped significantly by Williams recklessly running infield to leave the gap.
With the last kick of the game, de Waal landed the touchline conversion.
It was a hell of a kick.
SCORING SEQUENCE: 9 mins: O'Gara pen 0-3; 15: Earls try, O'Gara con 0-10; 37: Rose pen 3-10; (half-time 3-10); 50: Rose pen 6-10; 77: Hook pen 6-13; 80: Demas try, de Waal con 13-13.
EMERGING SPRINGBOKS: Z Kirchner (Blue Bulls); L Vulindlu (Sharks), D van Rensburg (Leopards), M Newman (Western Province), B Basson (Griquas); E Rose (Golden Lions), J Vermaak (Golden Lions); W du Preez (Free State Cheetahs), B Maku (Blue Bulls), W Kruger (Blue Bulls), S Sykes (Sharks), W Steenkamp (Blue Bulls), J Deysel (Sharks), D Vermeulen (Western Province). Replacements: T Liebenberg (Western Province) for Maku, W de Waal (Western Province) for Kirchner (both 53 mins), P Cilliers (Sharks) for du Preez, F van der Merwe (Golden Lions) for Sykes, J Botes (Sharks) for Deysel, H Adams (Blue Bulls) for Vermaak (all 64 mins), D Demas (Free State Cheetahs) for Basson (73 mins).
BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: K Earls (Munster/Ireland); S Williams (Ospreys/ Wales), R Flutey (London Wasps/England), G D'Arcy (Leinster/Ireland), L Fitzgerald (Leinster/Ireland); R O'Gara (Munster/ Ireland, capt), H Ellis (Leicester/England); T Payne (London Wasps/England), R Ford (Edinburgh/Scotland), J Hayes (Munster/ Ireland), D O'Callaghan (Munster/Ireland), N Hines (Perpignan/Scotland), J Worsley (London Wasps/England), M Williams (Cardiff Blues/Wales). Replacements: J Hook (Ospreys/Wales) for O'Gara (44 mins), S Shaw (London Wasps/England) for Hines (57 mins), U Monye (Harlequins/ England) for Fitzgerald (65 mins), P Vickery (London Wasps/England) (67 mins), D Wallace (Munster/Ireland) for Powell (68 mins), L Mears (Bath/England) for Ford (75 mins). Not used: M Blair (Edinburgh/Scotland).
Referee: Alain Rolland (IRFU).
