South Africa "A" played the B&I Lions tonight in a Castle Lager Lions Series match at Cape Town Stadium @ 20h00. SA "A" has to work extremely hard to beat the B&I Lions with 17-13.
The SA "A" team started the match like a house on fire, attacking with intend and defending like demons. The SA "A" team were in the lead 17-03 at halftime, however, two yellow cards and 11 penalties conceded was a testament to their ill-discipline especially when they were under pressure.
The second half belonged to the B&I Lions as they found their rhythm and penned SA "A" for most of the second half in their own half.
Although both teams "struggled" the SA "A" team with several first-choice Springboks in the team "disappointed" with their efforts on the day. The SA "A" team did not score any points in the second half with their defence the main reason for their win.
05:59 Morne Steyn Converted the first penalty for SA "A", (03-00).
12:30 A SA "A" charge down of B&I lions flyhalf Owen Farrell kick allowed Sbu Nkosi to finish off a 78m run to score SA"A"'s first try, (10-00).
20:00 SA "A" started the match like a house on fire, however, the B&I Lions managed to "claw" their way back into the contest. With the 1st quarter of the match played the SA "A" team might just have the momentum on their side. SA "A" were the more clinical team on the pitch at that stage, however, the B&I Lions were bossing the scrums.
27:36 Owen Farrell converted the B&I Lions first penalty to open their account, (10-03).
31:46 Some magic from Cheslin Kolbe sets Lukhanyo Am free to stroll over the goalline for SA "A"'s second try, (17-03).
38:28 A yellow card was shown to Faf de Klerk.
39:43 A second yellow card for SA "A" against Marco van Staden.
40:00 The B&I Lions had a try disallowed on the stroke of halftime after spending several minutes in the SA "A" team's red zone. The momentum slowly shifting to the B&I Lions during the last minutes of the first half. SA "A" will play the first 8 minutes of the second half with only 13 players.
43:57 Wyn Jones scored his first try for the B&I Lions. The patience of the B&I Lions rewarded as they again set camp in the SA "A" red zone, (17-10).
51:04 Owen Farrell convert his second penalty for the B&I Lions, (17-13).
60:00 A definite momentum shift with the B&I Lions finding their rhythm on the attack. A try not awarded to the B&I Lions was also "questionable" which would have given them their first lead of the match.
80:00 SA "A" win 17-13.
Scorers:
South Africa "A": Tries: Sbu Nkosi, Lukhanyo Am. Conversions: Morne Steyn (2). Penalty: Morne Steyn.
B&I Lions: Try: Wyn Jones. Conversion: Owen Farrell. Penalties: Owen Farrell (2).
Teams:
South Africa A: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Cheslin Kolbe, 13 Lukhanyo Am (captain), 12 Damian de Allende, 11 Sbu Nkosi, 10 Morné Steyn, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Jasper Wiese, 7 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 6 Marco van Staden, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Trevor Nyakane, 2 Joseph Dweba, 1 Steven Kitshoff. Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Coenie Oosthuizen, 18 Vincent Koch, 19 Nicolaas Janse van Rensburg, 20 Rynhardt Elstadt, 21 Herschel Jantjies, 22 Jesse Kriel, 23 Damian Willemse.
British and Irish Lions: 15 Liam Williams, 14 Louis Rees-Zammit, 13 Chris Harris, 12 Bundee Aki, 11 Anthony Watson, 10 Owen Farrell, 9 Conor Murray (captain), 8 Taulupe Faletau, 7 Tom Curry, 6 Josh Navidi, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Ken Owens, 1 Wyn Jones. Replacements: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Mako Vunipola, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Adam Beard, 20 Tadhg Beirne, 21 Sam Simmonds, 22 Gareth Davies, 23 Elliot Daly.