Emirates Lions kept their United Rugby Championship playoffs dreams alive with a 26-07 win over Connacht Rugby, who suffered their worst away defeat of the season.
The Emirates Lions dominated the opening half and were first to score after 13 minutes. Dominating the early exchanges, it was their pack, as expected, which led the charge through their set piece, giving them sufficient front-foot ball. On an advantage, the home side recycled the ball and eventually flanker Renzo du Plessis slipped through a porous cover to score.
Connacht did well to stop another possible Lions' try just before the halftime break with solid defence of a rolling maul, but a penalty from outhalf Kade Wolhuter kept the home side in the driving seat, adding a second penalty from the scrum with Wolhuter stretching the lead to 11-00.
Connacht turned around in the second half and immediately took some control, winning a penalty with Lions’ flanker Du Plessis yellow carded. And when Dylan Tierney Martin touched down from driving maul, Connacht looked to have turned the corner, but the try was denied by a technical infringement in the preceding maul.
By the 60th minute and Connacht still scoreless, the Lions struck again through leftwing Edwill van der Merwe, but it was also struck out due to a previous high tackle on David Hawkshaw by centre Henco Van Wyk.
It made little difference for Connacht, who continued to struggle with both the physicality of their opponents and the environment, leaking a second try when number eight Jarod Cairns delivered to flanker JC Pretorious, who stretched the lead to 19-00.
There was no coming back for Connacht when they leaked a third try, scored by Van Der Merwe. A late try by Eoin de Buitlear was of little consolation for the visitors.
Scorers:
Emirates Lions: Tries: Renzo du Plessis, JC Pretorius, Edwill van der Merwe. Conversion: Lubabalo Dobela. Penalties: Kade Wolhuter (3).
Connacht Rugby: Try: Eoin de Buitléar. Conversion: David Hawkshaw.
Teams
Emirates Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Jarod Cairns, 7 Renzo du Plessis, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Jaco Visagie (c), 1 Morgan Naude. Replacements: 16 PJ Botha, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Izan Esterhuizen, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Lubabalo Dobela, 23 Rynhardt Jonker.
Connacht Rugby: 15 Piers O’Conor, 14 Shayne Bolton, 13 David Hawkshaw, 12 Cathal Forde, 11 Shane Jennings, 10 Jack Carty, 9 Matthew Devine, 8 Sean Jansen, 7 Conor Oliver, 6 Cian Prendergast (c), 5 Joe Joyce, 4 Josh Murphy, 3 Finlay Bealham, 2 Dave Heffernan, 1 Peter Dooley. Replacements: 16 Eoin de Buitléar, 17 Jordan Duggan, 18 Sam Illo, 19 Oisín Dowling, 20 Paul Boyle, 21 Colm Reilly, 22 Hugh Gavin, 23 Santiago Cordero.