Royal XV 25 British & Irish Lions 37: The Lions squeezed home in the final 10 minutes, thereby avoiding what had for large tranches of the afternoon at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace looked like been an excruciatingly embarrassing defeat.
That they managed to survive was down to series of outstanding individual displays in marked contrast to the team performance, which was inept in general and downright careless in most facets.
Lions captain Paul O’Connell had a colossal game, leading by deed, carrying relentlessly and effectively and was only outshone by fullback Lee Byrne, who enjoyed a magnificent afternoon.
Ronan O’Gara (22 points) can be very happy with his contribution and not just with the boot, so too Jamie Roberts who ran powerfully. Tommy Bowe took his try cleverly and looked sharp in general while Martyn Williams was generally on hand to support the ball carrier.
The home side will reflect on the fact that only a little over 12,000 turned up to see the game because galvanised by more vocal support they might just have hung on.
Ian McGeechan couldn’t have countenanced just how poor the Lions would be in the opening 40 minutes, littering their performance with error after basic error.
Only the most hard-hearted could fail not to have sympathy for 21-year-old centre Keith Earls. Every player, no matter how experienced, appreciates a positive touch or two in the opening throes of a match but for Earls it couldn’t have been worse.
His handling errors scuppered a couple of promising counter-attacking opportunities, one gilt edged try scoring chance, and from a dropped high kick, he angrily punted the ball high into the stands.
Referee Marius Jonker didn’t blow for the knock-on but the Royal XV did profit conclusively when their captain Wilhelm Koch took a great supporting line and profited from a wonderful offload from centre Hanno Coetzee to score a try. Outhalf Nass Olivier posted a conversion, having earlier kicked a penalty, to put the home side 10-3 ahead.
Ronan O’Gara had kicked the Lions penalty but the visitors’ ambition was not matched by their precision as they augmented a catalogue of handling errors with two turnovers out of touch, one at scrum time where they had been utterly dominant.
In fairness to Earls his defence was resolute, making a couple of fine tackles, and as the match progressed he showed character in never hiding and offering a better representation of his talent.
Scrumhalf Mike Blair also struggled after a promising opening, too often caught at the base of the scrum and guilty of over-using the short side where there was neither the room nor the numbers.
A mix-up with Wallace at the base of the scrum eventually led to a penalty which Olivier posted. The home side was 13-3 ahead and things were about to get even better.
The Lions line speed was far too pedestrian and they were far too slow in setting up the maul, other shortcomings that merely adding to a long list. This was in marked contrast to the Royals, whose dynamism in that facet of the game led to a try for hooker Rayno Barnes on 26 minutes.
Olivier couldn’t convert but at 18-3 Lions faces were as red as their jerseys.
There were exceptions; notably Roberts, O’Gara, O’Connell and the truly brilliant Byrne but many of the unit skills were lacking.
The visitors did finish the half strongly, Bowe running a fine line to take O’Gara’s beautifully weighted inside pass and score under the posts. O’Gara converted to leave the visitors trailing by 18-10 at the interval.
The Irishman narrowed the gap with another penalty two minutes after the re-start as the Lions finally managed to go through the phases without gifting back possession but those crass mistakes continued with Shane Williams failing to give Bowe a scoring pass and then the Welshman was guilty of white line fever with others better placed.
When prop Bees Roux scored the home side’s third try on 65 minutes, history beckoned, especially when replacement outhalf Riaan Viljoen kicked the touchline conversion.
Unfortunately for the home team, they conceded within 60 seconds and it was appropriate that Byrne crafted and finished it by himself; it was a brilliant individual effort.
O’Gara converted, added a penalty to take the Lions back to 25-23 down and within minutes the visitors hit the front after replacement secondrow Alun Wyn-Jones barged over following a prolonged period of pressure.
O’Gara rounded off the scoring with 14 seconds on the clock following another barnstorming surge by O’Connell, carried on by Martyn Williams, with a try under the posts which he converted.
The Lions must reflect on this performance because they won’t get a second chance to be this error strewn on tour.
Scoring sequence.
6 mins: O'Gara penalty, 0-3; 10 mins: Olivier penalty, 3-3; 17 mins: Koch try, Olivier conversion, 10-3; 22 mins: Olivier penalty, 13-3; 26 mins: Barnes try, 18-3; 39 mins: Bowe try, O'Gara conversion, 18-10. Half-time: 18-10. 42 mins: O'Gara penalty, 18-13; 65 mins: B Roux try, Viljoen conversion, 25-13; 66 mins: Byrne try, O'Gara conversion, 25-20; 72 mins: O'Gara penalty, 25-23; 75 mins: Wyn-Jones, O'Gara conversion, 25-30; 79 mins: O'Gara try, O'Gara conversion, 25-37.
Royal XV: R Jeacocks; E Seconds, D van Rensburg, H Coetzee, B Basson; N Olivier, S Pretorius; A Buckle, R Barnes, B Roux; R Mathee J Lombard; W Koch (capt), D Raubenheimer, J Mokuena.
Replacements: S Roberts for Buckle 54 mins; R Landman for Lombard 55 mins; R Viljoen for Olivier 55 mins; P van der Westhuizen for Barnes 68 mins; J Coetzee for Pretorius 68 mins.
Lions: L Byrne (Wales); T Bowe (Ireland), K Earls (Ireland), J Roberts (Wales), S Williams (Wales); R O'Gara (Ireland), M Blair (Scotland); A Sheridan (England), M Rees (Wales), A Jones (Wales); P O'Connell (Ireland, capt), S Shaw (England); J Worsley (England), M Williams (Wales), D Wallace (Ireland).
Replacements: P Vickery (England) for Jones 66 mins; A Wyn-Jones (Wales) for Shaw 66 mins; J Heaslip (Ireland) for Wallace 66 mins; M Phillips (Wales) for Blair 66 mins; R Flutey (England) for Earls 66 mins; L Mears (England) for Rees 68 mins.
Referee: M Jonker (South Africa).
