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14-man Lions too good for Dragons despite a first-half red card
The Dragons suffered a sixth defeat of their United Rugby Championship campaign as the Lions triumphed 49-24 in Johannesburg. Despite the Lions having lock Ruben Schoeman red-carded after 26 minutes, they claimed a bonus-point victory.
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Centre Henco van Wyk, full-back Quan Horn, wing Edwill van der Merwe (two), scrum-half Morne van den Berg and number eight Francke Horn scored tries, while fly-half Sanele Nohamba kicked five conversions and three penalties for a 19-point haul.
The Dragons had their moments – notably impressive tries from flanker Harri Keddie, wing Ashton Hewitt and hooker Bradley Roberts – with Will Reed adding a penalty and three conversions, but defensive deficiencies were ruthlessly exposed by a free-flowing Lions outfit.
The Dragons, crushed 69-14 by the Sharks in Durban last weekend, made a superb response after scrum-half Rhodri Williams was yellow-carded inside five minutes for a deliberate knock-on.
Centre Aneurin Owen broke from deep inside his half before Wales back row Aaron Wainwright surged clear and quickly recycled possession, resulting in Keddie touching down and Reed converting.
The Step ? The Pass ? They Try ?
Emirates @LionsRugbyCo are on ?#BKTURC #URC | #LIOvDRA pic.twitter.com/hfYJ73tkTC
— BKT United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial) December 2, 2023
The Dragons showed plenty of adventure, but they were undone by a charged-down kick seven minutes later which allowed van Wyk an unopposed 60-metre run to the line.
Nohamba edged the Lions ahead through a 22nd-minute penalty, yet Schoeman was then sent off for a dangerous challenge on Hewitt.
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It made no difference to the Lions’ ambition, though, which was magnificently illustrated when they attacked from behind their line, wing Richard Kriel sprinted to halfway before Quan Horn finished off in style.
Nohamba converted, but Reed kept the Dragons in touch with a 39th-minute penalty that cut their interval deficit to 18-10. The Dragons made a miserable start to the second period, seeing Roberts sin-binned for a deliberate trip before their defence was unlocked when wing Rio Dyer slipped and van der Merwe touched down, with Nohamba converting.
The Welsh side needed a quick response and it arrived courtesy of Hewitt, who started and finished a flowing move, with Reed’s conversion bringing them back to striking distance, only for Nohamba to land another penalty.
Missed tackles led to the Lions claiming a bonus-point try when Kriel sent van den Berg sprinting over and Nohamba again added the extras before Roberts’ driving maul effort came too little, too late as Francke Horn and Van der Merwe completed the scoring.
- Click here for all the RugbyPass stats from the Lions versus Dragons URC game
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Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
2 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
2 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
1 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments