St.George Queensland Reds fall to Lions despite late charge
The St.George Queensland Reds have fallen 18-17 to the Lions in Brisbane tonight in a thrilling Asteron Life Super Rugby clash.
After a 72nd minute penalty from Elton Jantjies had put the Lions in front the returning Quade Cooper had a snatch at field goal from 30 metres out in the final moments but the attempt was charged down.
Earlier the Reds had scored a try through Samu Kerevi and a scrum penalty try while for the Lions Warwick Tecklenburg and Harold Vorster crossed for five pointers.
Reds head coach Richard Graham said: “We’re incredibly disappointed by this result. We put ourselves in a position to win the game. Had we managed the last portion of the game better we probably could have left here with a win tonight.
“Early on we lacked a bit of cohesion due to introducing so many players back into the backline and there was a noticeable lack of combinations there, but we expected that. The longer the game went on, the more cohesive we looked and the more challenging we became. We’ll continue to build that heading into our next game against the Rebels.
“We created a number of opportunities tonight that we hadn’t created in previous games. There were 23 very disappointed players in the changerooms after that match. We know how important this match and our next block of four games are.”
The match had started well for the home side with Cooper putting the Reds in front with a close range penalty goal after 12 minutes before the Lions hit back with a try to Vorster out wide.
The Reds had a chance to go ahead again on 33 minutes but this time Cooper’s attempt was unsuccessful. Jantjies then landed a penalty from 37 metres out on the stroke of half time to make it 8-3 at the break.
After a tight first half the match opened up in the second 40, with Cooper putting wing James O’Connor into a yawning gap on 46 minutes.
But it was the Lions who were next to score two minutes later. The Reds failed to gather the ball at the back of a lineout close to their line and the Lions pounced with Tecklenberg going over next to the posts. Janjties conversion making it 15-3.
But the Reds rallied and Kerevi was prominent, splitting the Lions defensive line on 50 minutes after a clever pass from Will Genia.
The Lions were scrambling and Ruan Combrinck was sent to the bin for killing the ball close to the line when it seemed the Reds were certain to score.
The Reds then used their scrum domination to earn a penalty try on 53 minutes with Cooper’s conversion closing it back up to 15-10.
Then on 67 minutes a superb move from a scrum saw the Reds get in position to take a well deserved lead.
Firstly O’Connor swapped positions with Cooper at first receiver and got a quick pass to Ben Tapuai, whose inside pass sent Cooper away.
The Reds kept the momentum going and a minute later Kerevi charged over with Cooper’s conversion making it 17-15 lead.
But the Lions hit back with Tapuai penalised on 72 minutes for holding on at the breakdown in front of his posts, which saw Jantjies put the Lions back in front.
Cooper had a difficult late chance of field goal heroics but in the end the Reds fell to the smallest of margins after a pulsating encounter.
The Reds now travel to Melbourne to meet the Rebels next Friday, before heading overseas for a two-week tour of South Africa.
ASTERON LIFE SUPER RUGBY
ROUND 7
ST.GEORGE QUEENSLAND REDS 17 (Samu Kerevi, penalty try; Quade Cooper 2 conversions, penalty) lost to LIONS 18 (Warwick Tecklenburg, Harold Vorster tries; Elton Jantjies conversion, 2 penalties) at Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane. (Referee: Glen Jackson [NZL]) (Half time: Reds 3 Lions 8).
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