Despite extremely wet conditions, the Emirates Lions hung on to their unbeaten run with a 10-09 win against Zebre Parma in Italy on Saturday.
Despite the wet conditions, both teams showed their willingness to attack with the ball in hand. However, the Lions struggled with their game management in the wet and several opportunities were lost due to their decision-making with the ball in hand.
Zebre converted two early penalties to open their account on the scoreboard and led 06-00 after twenty-two minutes of play in the first half.
The Lions refused an opportunity to convert a penalty and following several pick-and-drive attempts from the five-meter lineout, the ball was spread wide to Edwill van der Merwe who danced past a defender to score the Lions' first five-pointer.
The final fifteen minutes were scoreless. The Lions going into the second half lead 07-06.
Both teams converted a penalty each within the first ten minutes of the second half, whereafter the game continued to be a kicking competition with both times looking for mistakes by the defenders to create a "penalty" opportunity.
Following a missed opportunity to convert a penalty Zebre kept up the pressure on the Lions and set up camp in the Lions' twenty-two for extended periods. The Lions desperately hung on during the final minutes of the match to win 10-09 and continue their unbeaten run,
Scorers:
Zebre Parma: Penalties: Giovanni Montemauri (3).
Emirates Lions: Try: Edwill van der Merwe. Conversion: Sanele Nohamba. Penalty: Sanele Nohamba.
Teams:
Zebre Parma: 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Giulio Bertaccini, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giovanni Montemauri, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Iacopo Bianchi, 6 Davide Ruggeri, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Matteo Canali, 3 Juan Pitinari, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti (c). Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Matteo Nocera, 19 Leonard Krumov, 20 Luca Andreani, 21 Gonzalo Garcia, 22 Giacomo Milano, 23 Fetuli Paea
Emirates Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Jarod Cairns, 6 Johannes Pretorius, 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Reinhard Nothnagel, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Juan Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Pieter Botha, 17 Heiko Pohlmann, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Renzo du Plessis, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Rynhardt Jonker/Erich Cronje, 23 Rabz Maxwane.