Africa-Press – South-Africa. It says much of the state of Lions rugby that the greatest Easter Saturday thrill derived by their loyal fans came in the shape of men dressed in outsized bunny costumes who at halftime raced each other in a show of breathtakingly uncoordinated frivolity.
The Lions did outscore Benetton in the second half of this United Rugby Championship clash at Ellis Park, but it was their close resemblance to the halftime entertainment that made their situation irretrievable.
The Lions were Benetton’s bunnies in a match that produced a 42-31 scoreline which effectively puts paid — for a fourth straight year — to their chances of playing in this competition’s quarterfinals. This should trigger an inquest at Ellis Park but then, do chocolate bunnies vote for Easter?
Sure, Benetton is laden with Italian internationals but the Lions were error strewn, displaying poor discipline and, perhaps more damningly for their coaches, there were times the hosts looked bereft of ideas.
The Lions didn’t just lack cohesion, they were disjointed, if not fractured. That was showcased in no more unedifying fashion than when lock Darrien Landsberg and flank Ruan Venter were at each other’s throats, well verbally at least, in the first half.
By contrast the team in green operated as a united front, and in the second half they had to as they lost three players to the sin bin.
Benetton were full of guile and unlike the Lions went about their business with incisiveness and precision.
No 8 Lorenzo Cannone, scrumhalf Allesandro Garbisi, flyhalf Jacob Umaga and inside centre Nacho Brex gave the Benetton spine much of its rigidity.
The Lions’ Springboks Morne van den Berg and Venter set themselves apart in a den increasingly denuded of quality.
By the sixth minute the Lions frailties that have handicapped them for much of the season started to surface. In what can only be described as a complete lack of focus Landsberg spilt what should have been a routine catch and much to his horror the ball bounced kindly for visiting flyhalf Jacob Umaga who scooted through untroubled for the game’s first try.
Their discipline, or lack thereof, then stung them.
They conceded a penalty just inside the visitors’ half but were made to pay when the visitors found touch just five metres out. From the resultant pressure Benetton ran in their second try through Ignacio Mendy in the right-hand corner.
To add insult, soon after Lions captain Francke Horn was forced to depart the scene injured. When Umaga raised the flags with a 17th minute penalty to hand the visitors a 15-3 lead soon after the portents looked grim for the hosts.
Their prospects under the mostly leaden skies grew gloomier when after a Kade Wolhuter handling error the visitors advanced upfield from the ensuing set piece and fashioned a splendid try for fullback Leonardo Marin. The 22-3 scoreline with just over a quarter of the game played didn’t flatter the visitors.
The Lions emerged from their midday slumber when Venter benefited from a marauding maul and crashed over after 27 minutes.
In the 38th minute another handling error handed the visitors another window of opportunity and Mendy took the gap with blistering speed for his second try.
The Lions conceded 42 points in the first half of their recent defeat in Glasgow and this felt on a similar scale of embarrassment in front of their really faithful fans.
A contentious Marius Louw try clawed back a smidgen of respectability before the referee dropped the curtain on the first half but many inside the stadium had already arrived at the dreaded conclusion that it had long been curtains for the Lions.
Scorers
Lions (17) 31 — Tries: Ruan Venter, Marius Louw, Edwill van der Merwe, JC Pretorius. Conversion: Kade Wolhuter (4). Penalty: Wolhuter.
Benetton (32) 42 — Tries: Jacob Umaga, Ignacio Mendy (2), Leonardo Marin, Federico Ruzza. Conversions: Umaga (4). Penalties: Umaga (3).
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