Lions beat Connacht at Ellis Park to maintain faint URC quarterfinal hopes

The interplay between backs and forwards was as slick as that between Naude and Ntlabakanye.

Probing wide the Lions found reward when Du Plessis barged over but somehow Kade Wolhuter failed to convert from ‘gimme’ location. 

Wolhuter did raise the flags with an 18th minute penalty before doubling his contribution off the tee with another earned from a powerful scrum a few minutes out from the break. 

It was a first half that produced precious little to shout about. 

The Lions played well enough to deserve a double digit lead but they would have gone into the break with the nagging feeling their opponents had not yet fired a shot. 

There was no need to fret.

Wolhuter added a third penalty shortly after the restart. 

A yellow card to Du Plessis in the 49th minute opened the door for the visitors and though they got over the tryline via a maul their modus operandi did not stand up to the full scrutiny of the law. 

The Lions too drew a blank when Van der Merwe’s fine dash and questionable dive was chalked off due to an earlier infraction by Henco van Wyk. 

Van der Merwe scored at the death but it did little to lift the pall over Ellis Park. 

Scorers 

Lions (11) 26 – Tries: Renzo du Plessis, JC Pretorius, Edwill van der Merwe. Conversion: Lubabalo Dobela. Penalties: Kade Wolhuter (3). 

Connacht (0) 7 – Try: Eion de Buitleur. Conversion: David Hawkshaw