The Lions secured a bonus-point 29-18 win over the visitors’ Scarlets in Johannesburg. They led 05-03 at the halftime break. However, a good final ten minutes helped them to secure their first win of the 2025/26 United Rugby Championship.
The first ten minutes were scrappy as both teams were trying to get some sort of dominance. The Lions conceded a soft penalty, which Sam Costelow converted with ease to give the Scarlets a deserved 03-00 lead.
Following another twenty minutes of scrappy play, JC Pretorius controlled a cross kick, and following a splendid run, he passed the ball inside with Quan Horn receiving the final pass to score in the corner. They led 05-03 after twenty-five minutes of play in the first half.
Despite leading at the halftime break 05-03, the Lions must question their effort as they dominated the territorial and possession stats by large margins and could not convert their dominance into points due to loose passes, lack of urgency on the attack, and losing the battle on the ground.
Chris Smith converted an early penalty in the second half to extend the Lions' lead to 08-03.
A penalty following a late charge by Jarrod Cairns was converted by Sam Costelow to make it a two-point game after ten minutes of play in the second half.
Two minutes later, Gianni Lombard also converted a penalty. The Lions led 11-06.
The Lions looked a lot better in the second half on the back of the introduction of Jarros Cairns and a much better performance in the scrums.
Franco Marais scored the Lions' second try, off the back of a lineout maul, extending the Lions' lead to 16-06.
The Scarlets upped the intensity of their play and were awarded a penalty try following Darrien Landsberg's collapse of the maul. The Lions still led 16-13 with twelfe minutes still to play in the second half.
Morne Brando scored two tries in quick succession to extend the Lions' lead to 26-13 with five minutes still to play.
A mistake by Eduan Keyter led to Joe Roberts. scoring in the corner to cut the Lions' lead to 26-18 and three minutes to play.
A penalty converted by Gianni Lombard with time up on the clock secured the Lions a 29-18 bonus-point win.
Teams
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Franco Marais, 1 SJ Kotze. Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 RF Schoeman, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Jarod Cairns, 21 Layton Horn, 22 Gianni Lombard, 23 Kelly Mpeku
Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Macs Page, 12 Johnny Williams (c), 11 Blair Murray, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Archie Hughes, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Jarrod Taylor, 5 Alex Groves, 4 Harvey Cuckson, 3 Archer Holz, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Alec Hepburn. Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Sam O’Connor, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Dan Gemine, 20 Ben Williams, 21 Dane Blacker, 22 Joe Hawkins, 23 Joe Roberts.