The Emirates Lions slumped to a 42-24 loss against Benetton Rugby at the Emirates Airline Park. This defeat ended their hopes of making the top eight of the United Rugby Championship.
The Lions struggled in the first half to contain Benetton to trail 32-17 at the half-time break. The Lions did not look interested in the match, and their lacklustre performance is clear on the scoreboard. The lacklustre performance by the Emirates Lions continued in the second half, handing Benetton an easy win.
Kade Wolhuter opened the scoring with a converted penalty for the Emirates Lions. However, Benetton replied with tries by Jacob Umaga and Ignacio Mendy to lead 12-03 after twelve minutes of play.
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Jacob Umaga converted a second penalty after seventeen minutes of play, extending Benetton's lead to 15-03.
Benetton continued their dominance and scored a "simple" try when fullback Leonardo Marin scored in the corner off a first-phase ball to lead 22-03 following a conversion by Umaga.
The Lions struck back immediately with a try by Ruan Venter off the back of a line-out maul. Wolhuter converted to cut Benetton's lead to 22-10 and thirteen minutes still to play.
A late penalty by Jacob Umaga extended Benetton's lead to 25-10, whereafter a silly loose pass by the Lions was intercepted and Ignacio Mendy ran a brilliant line to score Benetton's bonus-point try. Umaga converted to extend Benetton's lead to 32-10.
With time up on the clock, Kade Wolhuter pounced on a bouncing ball inside Benetton's in-goal area to score the Lions' second try. Wolhuter converted, cutting Benetton's lead to 32-17.
Benetton started the second half with a bang when their backs exposed the lack of defence by the Lions to score their fifth try of the match. Captain Federico Ruzza scored, and Umago converted to extend Benetton's lead to 39-17.
The Lions spread the ball wide from a scrum, and great hands by Quan Horn put Edwill van der Merwe in space to score the Lions' third try to cut Benetton's lead to 39-24 after twenty minutes of play in the second half.
Jacon Umaga added a second penalty before JC Pretorius scored a late try to cut Benetton's lead to 42-31, which was also the final score.
Scorers:
Emirates Lions: Try: Ruan Venter, Kade Wolhuter, Edwill van der Merwe, JC Prtorius. Conversions: Kade Wolhuter (3). Penalty: Kade Wolhuter.
Benetton Rugby: Tries: Jacob Umaga, Ignacio Mendy (2), Leonardo Marin. Conversions: Jacob Umaga (3). Penalty: Jacob Umaga (2).
Teams:
Emirates Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Tapiwa Mafura, 13 Rynhardt Jonker, 12 Marius Low, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Morné van den Berg, 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 Jaco Visagie, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Sibabalo Qoma, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Renzo du Plessis, 23 Kelly Mpeku.
Benetton Rugby: 15 Leonardo Marin, 14 Ignacio Mendy, 13 Tommaso Menoncello, 12 Ignacio Brex, 11 Paolo Odogwu, 10 Jacob Umaga, 9 Alessandro Garbisi, 8 Lorenzo Cannone, 7 Manuel Zuliani, 6 Riccardo Favretto, 5 Federico Ruzza (c), 4 Niccolò Cannone, 3 Simone Ferrari, 2 Bautista Bernasconi, 1 Thomas Gallo. Replacements: 16 Siua Maile, 17 Ivan Nemer, 18 Giosué Zilocchi, 19 Scott Scrafton, 20 Eli Snyman, 21 Michele Lamaro, 22 Andy Uren, 23 Rhyno Smith.