Lions suffer record defeat at Coca-Cola Park
The Lions lost a record 12th successive match in a Super 14 season when they went down 56-14 to the Blues at Coca-Cola Park on Saturday.
Turning around at 24-14, the Blues ran in four tries and 32 points without any reply after the break to finish up with seven tries to the Lions’ two.
The visitors’ flyhalf Stephen Brett contributed 26 points, slotting nine of his ten kicks at goal and also scoring a try.
Once again, the Lions’ early defence lapses put them at a disadvantage despite some good play with ball in hand, some solid scrummaging against an All Blacks front row and some good touches at times.
But, too frequently, they turned over possession, passed poorly or knocked on when the potential for opportunities was there.
If not quite, the Lions were nearly as good as the Blues in the first half.
The difference between the two sides was the two tries, one in the fifth minute and the other after 36 minutes, which the home side let in through poor defence.
With the Blues up 17-0 after 30 minutes, the Lions had to do some serious catch-up on the scoreboard. This they did to some extent with two excellent tries – but they also let in that 36th minute seven-pointer.
They fought back to 24-14 at the break and will wonder how they didn’t score over a period of nearly 15 minutes when they dominated territory. A repeat of this period at the end of the match followed, and again the Lions could not penetrate.
It looked all over when the Blues scored their fourth try eight minutes after the restart. With flyhalf Stephen Brett on target with all his kicks to that stage – the score had escalated to 34-14 and even the diehards supporting the Lions must have given up hope by then.
Excellent passing and backing up and nine transfers for the first, and good distribution for the second had led to the Lions’ two first-half tries, both scored by Carlos Spencer. But then Spencer was the culprit with the Blues score increasing through another Brett penalty after Spencer was yellow-carded for tripping at the same time his captain Cobus Grobbelaar went to the blood-bin (37-14).
The Blues nearly botched a certain try, but it was rescued by good work from hooker Tom McCartney who forced over. Brett again found the target from the tryline (44-14).
It was now very much one-way traffic. Joe Rokocoko scored after 63 minutes and then Brett missed his first from nine kicks (49-14). The half-century came on the board five minutes later when the big winger scored again and also took the lead in the race as top try-scorer in this year’s Super 14 competition. Brett converted (56-14).
The Lions then had a good period on the visitors’ line, but poor handling and turnovers cost them as much as good the Blues’ defence did.
Scorers:
Lions:
Tries: Carlos Spencer (2)
Conversions: Herkie Kruger (2)
Blues:
Tries: Rene Ranger, Stephen Brett, Alby Mathewson, Paul Williams, Tom McCartney, Joe Rokocoko (2).
Conversions: Brett (6).
Penalties: Brett (3).
[SAPA]
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