The Lions and Ospreys played to a 24-24 draw in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) match on Friday, 23 January 2026, at the Swansea.com Stadium.
The match, a round ten fixture, saw the two teams battle to a stalemate, with the result keeping both sides in the hunt for a top-eight finish. The Lions were able to secure three bonus points.
Captain Francke Horn opened the scoring off the back of a line-out maul after ten minutes of play to lead 05-00.
Fourteen minutes later, James Ratti crashed over from the back of a line-out maul, and Dan Edwards added the extra two points to edge the Ospreys 07-05 into the lead.
With seven minutes still to play in the first half, the Ospreys showed a lot of patience and tremendous composure, and following several pick-and-goes, Kieran Hardy sent the ball out wide, sending Lestyn Hopkins over in the corner to extend the Ospreys’ lead to 12-05.
With time running out in the second half, a yellow card to SJ Kotze to set up a maul, off which Morgan Morse crashed over for the Ospreys' third try. Dan Edwards converted to extend the Ospreys’ lead to 19-05.
With time up on the clock, Francke Horn burst through tackles to score his second try of the match. Chris Smith converted to cut the Ospreys’ lead to 19-12, which was also the halftime score.
Following a “bad” kick by the Ospreys, the Lions attacked, allowing SJ Kotze to bulldoze his way over the tryline for the first points of the second half. The Ospreys led 19-17 after ten minutes of play in the second half.
Following twenty minutes of play in the second half, Quan Horn controlled a chip by Richard Kriel to score the Lions fourt and bonus-point try. Chris Smith converted to extend the Lions’ lead to 24-19.
Three minutes later, the Ospreys struck backwith Daniel Kasende scoring in the corner to level the scores at 24-24.
The Ospreys missed a conversion as well as a dropgoal attempt during the final minutes of the match, and the teams had to accept a disappointing 24-24 draw.
Scorers:
Ospreys: Tries: James Ratti, Iestyn Hopkins, Morgan Morse, Daniel Kasende. Conversions: Dan Edwards (2).
Lions: Tries: Francke Horn (2), PJ Botha, Quan Horn. Conversions: Chris Smith (2).
Teams:
Ospreys: 15 Iestyn Hopkins, 14 Dan Kasende, 13 Owen Watkin, 12 Keiran Williams, 11 Keelan Giles, 10 Dan Edwards, 9 Kieran Hardy, 8 Morgan Morris, 7 Harri Deaves, 6 James Ratti, 5 Ryan Smith, 4 Rhys Davies, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Dewi Lake (c), 1 Steffan Thomas. Replacements: 16 Lewis Lloyd, 17 Cam Jones, 18 Kian Hire, 19 Lewis Jones, 20 Ross Moriarty, 21 Morgan Morse, 22 Reuben Morgan Williams, 23 Phil Cokanasiga.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Richard Kriel, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Batho Hlekani, 6 Renzo du Plessis, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 SJ Kotze. Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 RF Schoeman, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Darrien Landsberg, 21 Jarod Cairns, 22 Haashim Pead, 23 Erich Cronje.
