THE FINAL provincial match of the Lions' tour at the North West Stadium, Welkom, yesterday was marked by an anticipated victory as the Lions defeated Northern Free State by a 28-point margin.
By scoring 67 points, the Lions recorded the highest tally of the tour. However, Northern Free State's total of 39 was also the highest score recorded against the Lions by any provincial team, on any tour, exceeding, as it did, the 38 scored by Waikato in New Zealand in 1993.
The match was also marked by a controversy that could have serious repercussions.
Lions manager Fran Cotton was incensed by what he believed was the dangerous play of some of the home players which went unpenalised by referee Danie de Villiers, who, Cotton said, "did not exercise the necessary level of control and was not up the required standard". But given the score they attained, the home team will take some consolation from the match.
For the vast majority of the players in the Lions team yesterday, this was their final tour appearance and it was marked by the scoring of 10 tries. There was, too, for full back Tim Stimpson the distinction of scoring 27 points, to bring his total on the tour to 111 - he is now the leading points scorer.
There was an air of unreality about the closing stages of the match and, certainly, it could be said that the Lions' concentration slipped at times. This allowed a very moderate, if enthusiastic home team to score 27 points in the second half, 20 of them in the final 20 minutes.
It took the Lions exactly one minute to open the scoring when Tony Underwood got the first try and he had completed a hat-trick by the 23rd minute at which point the Lions led 24-7. The seven points that Northern Free State had achieved at this stage came from a penalty try awarded in rather strange circumstances by the referee.
Lions centre Nick Beal and Northern's left wing, Willie Nagel, chased a ball towards the Lions line. Nagel failed to ground it and the penalty try was awarded. Beal did not appear to hinder Nagel, but there was some suspicion that the penalty try was awarded because Underwood had obstructed a home player after the ball was kicked towards the Lions line.
After the penalty try, the score stood at 10-7, with Stimpson having converted Underwood's try and also kicked a penalty. Northern's penalty try was converted by out-half Eric Herbert.
But that decision drew a rapid response from the Lions as they produced some excellent support play at pace and Underwood reaped the benefit as he scored tries in the 21st and 23rd minutes. Stimpson converted both.
The Lions dominated the initial period with Mark Regan, Neil Back and Tony Diprose especially prominent in the loose. Simon Shaw, Back and Kyran Bracken scored tries before the interval and Stimpson converted two of them to leave the Lions 43-12 in front after Northern's full back, Michael Ehrentraut, was awarded a try, even though he did appear to ground the ball short of the line.
Shaw got a second try just after the interval for the Lions before hooker Otto Wegner scored a try for Northern and Herbert converted. However, with 20 minutes remaining, the Lions led 55-19 when Regan broke through for their eighth try and Stimpson converted.
A penalty from Herbert and a try from van Buuren, converted by Herbert, cut the arrears before Stimpson got a try and converted it in the 67th minute to bring the Lions past the 60-points mark.
After another penalty from Herbert, Stimpson scored his second try, which left the Lions 67-32 in front as the match entered injury time. Herbert then got his team's fifth try in the 81st minute and added the points for a personal total of 19 points.
It was the fourth time the Lions had broken the 50-points mark in midweek. However, some lapses in concentration did allow the home team to build up a flattering total.
