Lions so valiant, and so flawed

Luke Burgess © Gallo Images

The Lions must surely end the season with the unwanted status as the Super 14’s most charitable team following their narrow 38-33 loss to the Waratahs in Johannesburg on Friday night.

It was a result that kept the Waratahs in the hunt for their first Super 14 trophy. They started the game needing five log points to stake a realistic claim for a semifinal spot, and that is what they got as they crossed for their four tries before half-time on a night where the turn-out was more enthusiastic than voluminous.

It puts them into the top four, but with the Hurricanes, Crusaders and Sharks all poised to overtake them if they win their final games of the league stage of this competition on Saturday. As Phil Waugh, their captain, said afterwards however, it was incumbent upon his team to fulfil their part of the deal – they have no control over what happens from here, they just have to wait and see.

One point that should be made from the outset about this game relates to the effect that an all-out attacking mindset can have on the defensive system. Before this game the Waratahs had the best defensive record in the competition, but you wouldn’t have said that if you had just returned this week from a three month sojourn as a guest of the Man on the Moon and had not watched any Super 14 rugby.

The Waratahs defence, probably because their mindset was so committed to attack, was way short of its usual high standards, and very nearly cost Waugh’s team the match. Indeed, in the end the Waratahs had referee Marius Jonker’s marginal call for a forward pass to thank for their victory. It was the penultimate move of the match, the Lions were throwing everything into attack, and it looked for all the world, in real time, that the Lions had crossed for the winning try with a minute left.

But Jonker, who was perfectly positioned, ruled that the final pass from Andre Pretorius was forward, and in truth the television replay never told us whether he was right or wrong – it was that close.

Had the try been awarded, it would have been a just reward to the Lions for a spirited second half fightback from a 28-13 halftime deficit. Indeed, when the Waratahs led 14-0 after just 10 minutes, it looked like the Waratahs would win at a canter.

As always, the Lions contributed handsomely to their demise by gifting the opposition points through mistakes – and that is what is so frustrating. That said, however, the Waratahs counter-attack from deep inside their own half off turn-over ball that led to the Lachly Turner try that opened the scoring had a class look to it.

A few minutes later scrumhalf Luke Burgess burst through a gap, and from there the Waratahs were always going to score, with lock Dean Mumm the man to round off. Credit to the Lions, some of their predecessors would have thrown in the towel at that point. But they mounted a spirited piece de resistance for the next 20 minutes, with skipper Andre Pretorius kicking a penalty before the impressive scrumhalf Jano Vermaak launched himself over a loose-scrum to make it 14-10 with the conversion.

Pretorius then kicked two goals, one a drop and the other a penalty, to shrink the Waratahs lead to one point, before the arrival of one of those really frustrating moments, for Lions supporters, on the half hour mark. It came courtesy of a poor lineout throw on the Lions goalline, the ball finding Waugh rather than it’s intended recipient, and the flanker just needing to fall over the line.

In a flash wing Peter Playford had crossed for another, the fourth and bonus point score, and the Lions looked out of it.

But it is hard for opposition teams to keep the irrepressible Vermaak down, and after a great tackle by Doppies la Grange, the Lions were able to dispossess the Waratahs inside their own territory with two minutes gone in the second half to send Vermaak in for his second try, his fourth in three matches.

The conversion made the deficit eight points before a penalty and drop from Pretorius cut it to two. In the 58th minute the Lions took the lead in the match for the first time when the impressive, bullocking No8 Willem Alberts (don’t SA have wonderful talent in this position?) bulldozed his way across the tryline.

But the Lions are a bit like those frustrating parts of British comedies, like Fawlty Towers, where everything nearly comes right, only for the position of comfort to be squandered by sheer stupidity. The Lions tackling was woeful in the buildup to the winning try, scored by Tom Carter, with Waratahs flyhalf Daniel Halangahu making the initial break deep inside his own half before a host of tackles were missed later on in the movement, which went through several phases.

Indeed, while the Lions were able to console themselves afterwards with platitudes relating to their comeback and character, and made the correct point that it all bodes well for the Currie Cup season, what they should really be thinking of doing is amalgamating with the Stormers. Then they would be a sure-fire winner, for a team which only knows how to attack would be getting together with a team that knows only how to defend – in short, the right mix.

And as for the Waratahs, if they do live beyond this game, they are going to have to give some serious thought about where they nearly fell short. It isn’t rocket science really – they just have to remember what got them this far. It was the defensive effort that was lacking in this game.

Scorers:
Lions - Tries: Jano Vermaak (2), Willem Alberts. Conversions: Andre Pretorius (3). Penalties: Pretorius (2). Drop Goals: Pretorius (2).
Waratahs - Tries: Tom Carter, Phil Waugh, Peter Playford, Lachlan Turner, Dean Mumm. Conversions: Daniel Halangahu (5). Penalty: Halangahu.

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