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Scarlets defeated as Lions claim back-to-back United Rugby Championship wins

By PA
Vincent Tshituka of the Lions on the attack and scores a try during the United Rugby Championship match between Emirates Lions and Edinburgh at Emirates Airline Park(Photo by Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

Scarlets suffered a 32-15 United Rugby Championship away defeat to Lions, who made it back-to-back wins at Emirates Airline Park.

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A brace from man-of-the-match Emmanuel Tshituka helped the Johannesburg-based outfit clinch a bonus-point success with Rabz Maxwane and Jaco Kriel also crossing over.

It was a fourth-consecutive loss for visiting Scarlets, who grabbed tries from Dan Davis, Tom Rodgers and Sam Lousi but left with nothing to show for their effort.

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Jordan Hendrikse had starred in Lions’ win over Dragons last weekend and he did not need long to get into his groove with a penalty sent over successfully in the sixth minute.

Scarlets had barely left their 22 by this point and it was no surprise when the hosts went over for a first try after 12 minutes.

It was Maxwane who produced an outstanding finish on his first start of the campaign but only after a sumptuous offload by Marius Louw, who had been tackled by opposite number Scott Williams.

Lowe’s brilliant pass still left Maxwane with plenty of work to do but the Lions speedster checked inside and out to fool Jonathan Davies and leave plenty of other Scarlets’ players trailing behind as he raced over the try line.

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An incredible last-ditch intervention from Lousi prevented further damage when he held up Sanele Nohamba by grabbing the shirt of the home scrum-half, who was a matter of yards from scoring but it was brief respite.

Tshituka powered over from close range with 20 minutes played after an excellent Lions scrum and Hendrikse added the extras on this occasion to make it 15-0.

Slowly but surely Scarlets began to impose themselves on the contest against their Southern Hemisphere opponents and after a try was chalked off for offside, Davis did jot down with eight minutes of the first half remaining.

A smart line-out saw Davis profit from a driving maul but Wales youngster Sam Costelow saw his difficult afternoon continue with another missed kick.

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Costelow would also enter the sin-bin before the opening 40 minutes were up and another Hendrikse penalty made it 18-5 at the interval.

Vaea Fifita was forced off for Scarlets following a bang to the face early in the second period before they were denied a try when Ryan Conbeer was held up in the corner after Dane Blacker’s brilliant break.

It was not long before Lions turned the screw again with Darrien Landsberg claiming the line-out and finding the onrushing Kriel to go over for the hosts’ third score in the 55th minute.

Back came the visitors though with Rogers finishing impressively three minutes later to ensure a hard-fought final quarter would occur in South Africa.

A yellow to Hendrikse with 10 minutes to go raised further hope of Scarlets being able to close the gap but it was player of the match Tshituka who saved his best until last.

The number eight barged his way past Conbeer to go over but circled back round to jot down under the posts to leave an easy conversion for replacement Zander Du Plessis.

Scarlets did have the final say on proceedings when Lousi crossed over with the clock in the red but it failed to prevent a fourth-straight URC loss for the Welsh outfit, who stay 15th while Lions are now up to fifth.

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Hammer 922 days ago

Lions are starting to flex muscles. They have surprised many teams with their great forward play and excellent skills with their backs. I am very happy to see them run and pass the ball so well and if they can better their defensive play and be better at the breakdown I feel they can go further than most think.

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JW 46 minutes ago
Crusaders outlast fast starting Blues to reach another Super Rugby final

Yeah nar, but that’s kinda the thing, I don’t think the old approach was working either!


You might have it right though, leading up, in all rugby/competitions mean, to the last WC it did feel like there had been better discipline/less than the normal amount of cards. Well, at least a certain demographic of teams improved at least, but not so much NZ ones is my point.


I bet you also think going harsher would be the best way to go reducing head contact and the frequency of concussions?


I would hate to have your theory tested as it requires subjective thinking from the officials but..

AI Overview

In Super Rugby Pacific, a red card means the player is sent off for the rest of the match, but with a 20-minute red card, the team can replace the player after 20 minutes of playing with 14 men. If the foul play is deemed deliberate and with a high degree of danger, a full red card is issued, and the player cannot be replaced. A second yellow card also results in a 20-minute red card with a replacement allowed. 

is there to stop that from happening. The whole subjective thing is why we have 20min cards, and I worry that the same leniency that stopped them from red carding a player who ran 30 meters and still didn’t get his head low enough would stop them straight redn them too.


Back to the real topic though, right after that WC we saw those same angles getting red carded all over the show. So do some players actually have control over their actions enough to avoid head collisions (and didn’t gaf after the WC?), or was it pure luck or an imaginary period of good discipline?


So without a crystal ball to know the truth of it I think you’ll find it an immeasurably better product with 20m red cards, there just does not appear to be any appropriate amount of discipline added to the back end, the suspensions (likely controlled by WR), yet.

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