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Connacht tamed by 14-man Lions
By PA
The Lions brushed off prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye’s early red card to win in Ireland for the first time as they overcame Connacht 38-14 at Dexcom Stadium.
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Having put 40 points on the Sharks last time out, Ivan van Rooyen’s side stunned the Irish province to move into the top eight of the United Rugby Championship.
Francke Horn and JC Pretorius both crossed to give the Lions a 12-7 half-time as they reacted impressively to Ntlabakanye’s sending-off for a 16th-minute high tackle.
Despite Cian Prendergast’s try, Connacht were struggling and Edwill van der Merwe’s 48th-minute intercept score raised real hopes of the Lions’ first away win since beating the Scarlets in November.
JJ Hanrahan doubled Connacht’s try tally, pulling it back to 19-14 with his second conversion, but Erich Cronje, Horn and replacement Morne van den Berg turned it into a runaway six-try victory, with Jordan Hendrikse finishing with four conversions.
The Lions went ahead in the seventh minute when JP Smith’s well-timed pass sent number eight Horn in under the posts, with Hendrikse adding the extras.
Connacht were inches away from responding but a crucial Quan Horn tackle just dislodged the ball to deny the jinking Andrew Smith.
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The complexion of the game initially changed through two TMO reviews as Wayne Davies confirmed Prendergast’s score from a ruck before Ntlabakanye saw red for making direct contact with Conor Oliver’s head.
Hanrahan landed the levelling conversion but the 14-man Lions were back ahead by the half-hour mark. From a well-worked maul, flanker Pretorius powered over from Darrien Landsberg’s aerial take.
Scrum-half Sanele Nohamba almost added a third try just before the interval but captain Marius Louw was guilty of taking out Joe Joyce.
Just as Connacht were building momentum on the resumption, Lions full-back Horn expertly dealt with a Caolin Blade kick through and set up a lineout downfield.
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The Westerners were stung further when van der Merwe swooped on a Byron Ralston pass for a 50-metre run-in and Hendrikse’s conversion made it 19-7.
Hanrahan replied within seven minutes, using Cathal Forde’s pullback pass to go in behind the posts and convert, leaving five points in it again.
Nonetheless, Connacht’s nine-match winning run at home to South African opposition was ended in some style by the Lions as Cronje dummied and darted his way to a 62nd-minute bonus-point score.
Terrific hands from Pretorius and van der Merwe set up Horn to complete his brace before van der Berg finished off a speedy breakaway effort in the 78th minute.
Impressive and well-earned Lions win, with over 60 minutes of 14 v 15, and rock solid defense, scrums and lineouts.
But what a disappointing refereeing performance, backed by biased replay editing and poory informed Irish commentary.