The Lions produced a brave performance but were haunted by some silly mistakes and poor decision making that led to a 20-all draw with USA Perpignan in their final EPCR Challenge Cup pool clash at the Stade Aime Giral in France on Saturday night, that sees them dumped out of the competition.
The draw sees the Lions finish the pool phase with one win, one draw and two losses, the same as Perpignan and both teams locked on eight points, but the French side finish in the fourth and final qualifying place in their pool thanks to a better points difference.
It’s a very disappointing outcome for the Lions, as they are in a pool that they should have been confident of progressing from, but end up missing out and finishing below teams like Dragons, Newcastle Red Bulls and Perpignan, who they should be finishing ahead of.
With them now out of the Challenge Cup, and not making the last 16 for the first time, they will need to turn their focus fully to the United Rugby Championship and put all their efforts into making the knockouts there for the first time.
In the match it was a massive arm wrestle in wet and windy conditions in Perpignan, that saw both teams unable to be separated at halftime and fulltime, but the Lions will know they missed out after a brilliant performance from their scrum saw them on top for most of the second half.
Start of play
At the start of play it was the hosts who were first on the board, as flyhalf Antoine Aucagne slotted a third minute penalty to give them the lead.
The Lions then weathered a bit of a storm and slowly worked their way into the contest, and finally opened the scoring in the 20th minute.
After kicking a penalty onto the Perpignan 5m they secured the lineout and set a powerful maul, which was going to rumble over the line, only to be pulled down illegally with the ref awarding a penalty try and yellow carding hooker Igancio Ruiz for his indiscretion.
Lions flyhalf Chris Smith extended their lead four minutes later, nailing a penalty to put them 10-3 to the good.
But Perpignan hit back almost immediately, as they pressured the Lions from the kick-off and eventually earned a lineout in their 22m, which they attacked from, going through some phases before eighthman Joaquin Oviedo powered through some weak defence to score.
Aucagne’s conversion drew the team’s level in the 28th minute, and although both sides had chances over the last 12 minutes, neither was able to break the deadlock as they entered the break at 10-all.
Second half
The second half saw the rain start hammering down, which saw the match become even more of an arm wrestle.
But the Lions were being powered by their impressive scrum, which had kicked up a notch, and saw them being rewarded with penalties at will due to their massive dominance.
The Lions finally retook the lead in the 57th minute, after earning a penalty in the hosts 22m, dead in front, which Smith duly popped over.
Seven minutes later the Lions extended their lead after earning a penalty from a scrum, as they kicked to the corner, secured the lineout and rumbled the maul over for replacement hooker PJ Botha to dot down, with Smith’s extras making it 20-10.
But again the home side wouldn’t lie down and hit back in the 68th minute, as they attacked from a scrum on the Lions 22m, and went through a few phases, before wing Alivereti Duguivalu showed great strength to shrug off a few weak tackles from the visitors to get over for the seven pointer.
Perpignan then again levelled the match in the 73rd minute, after a silly penalty was given away by outside centre Erich Cronje for obstruction, which allowed Aucagne to slot a superb long ranger to
Scorers
USA Perpignan: Tries – Joaquin Oviedo, Alivereti Duguivalu; Conversions – Antoine Aucagne (2); Penalties – Aucagne (2)
Lions: Tries – Penalty Try, PJ Botha; Conversion – Chris Smith; Penalties – Smith (2)
