The battle between Cardiff and the Emirates Lions in Wales proved to be a humdinger as both teams looked to bounce back from defeats in their last outing. A yellow card to Gianni Lombard sealed a 20-17 for the hosts.
The Lions will be "disappointed" trailing 07-10 at the halftime break as they dominated territory (70%) and possession (71%) but could not convert their dominance into points on the scoreboard. The Lions continued their "dominance" in the second half, however, Cardiff hung on during the final minutes of the match to claim four log points to the one earned by the Lions.
The Lions were patient in their onslaught on the Cardiff tryline and following wave after wave of attacks, Asenathi Ntlabakanye bulldozed his way over the tryline. Gianni Lombard converted to extend the visitors lead to 07-00 after thirteen minutes of play.
Seven minutes later Cardiff scored their first try of the match launching wave after wave of attacks and finally, a brilliant pass by Johan Mulder put flanker Ben Donnell in space to thunder over the tryline to level the scores after Callum Sheedy added the extra two points.
Cardiff took the lead 08-07 with a converted penalty by Callum Sheedy with seven minutes to play in the first half.
The Lions scored the first points of the second half with a converted penalty by Gianni Lombard to level the scores at 10-10 after four minutes of play. Five minutes later Callum Sheedy edged Cardiff into a 13-10 lead with a converted penalty.
The Lions upped their physicality and again patiently in their built-up to score their second try of the match when Francke Horn forced his way over the tryline. Lombard converted to put the Sharks in the lead with four points after twenty minutes of play in the second half.
A silly pass by Marius Louw was intercepted by winger Harri Millard who ran sixty meters to score Cardiff's second try in the corner, Sheedy converted to edge Cardiff back into a 20-17 lead.
Cardiff's bench had a bigger effect than that of the Lions, however, a yellow card to Gianni Lombard with six minutes to play sealed the game for the hosts despite the Lions' desperate efforts on Cardiff's tryline during the final minutes of the match.
Scorers:
Cardiff Rugby: Tries: Ben Donnell, Harri Millard. Conversions: Callum Sheedy (2). Penalties: Callum Sheedy (2).
Emirates Lions: Tries: Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Francke Horn. Conversions: Gianni Lombard (2). Penalty: Gianni Lombard.
Teams:
Cardiff Rugby: 15 Cam Winnett, 14 Gabriel Hamer-Webb, 13 Rey Lee-Lo, 12 Rory Jennings, 11 Harri Millard, 10 Callum Sheedy, 9 Johan Mulder, 8 Alun Lawrence, 7 Alex Mann, 6 Ben Donnell, 5 Seb Davies, 4 Josh McNally, 3 Rhys Litterick, 2 Liam Belcher (c), 1 Danny Southworth. Replacements: 16 Efan Daniel, 17 Corey Domachowski, 18 Keiron Assiratti, 19 Teddy Williams, 20 James Botham, 21 Thomas Young, 22 Ellis Bevan, 23 Tinus de Beer.
Emirates Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Siba Qoma, 21 Layton Horn, 22 Jarod Cairns, 23 Henco van Wyk.
