Northern Edition

Select Edition

Northern Northern
Southern Southern
Global Global
New Zealand New Zealand
France France

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

Video Spacer

Video Spacer

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

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.

ADVERTISEMENT

LIVE

{{item.title}}

Trending on RugbyPass

Comments

0 Comments
Be the first to comment...

Join free and tell us what you really think!

Sign up for free
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest Features

Comments on RugbyPass

A
AM 39 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

72 Go to comments
LONG READ
LONG READ Would a Springboks B team really conquer the world? Would a Springboks B team really conquer the world?
Search