Cape Town — Ultimately it was three second-half yellow cards that ended the Lions’ hopes, but coach Ivan van Rooyen will still be wondering exactly how his team managed to go down 17-7 to Stade Francais in the Challenge Cup on Saturday.
Flyhalf Gianni Lombard’s 10 minutes in the sin-bin, followed by loosehead prop JP Smith soon afterwards, halted the Johannesburg side’s momentum in the middle stages of the second half in wet and windy conditions at the Stade Jean-Bouin in Paris.
The home side capitalised by scoring 10 points when the visitors were down to 13 men, and eventually when they were back to their full complement of players, centre Henco van Wyk was also yellow-carded to prevent any thoughts of a late rally by the South Africans.
But the video review on Monday will show how the Lions wasted several opportunities in the first half in particular, when they could have put the result beyond doubt by half-time already.
Two missed penalties at goal by Lombard — admittedly in tricky conditions — and a whole host of handling errors cost the Lions dearly.
Their pack of forwards, with the charge led by veterans Willem Alberts and Jaco Kriel, as well as powerhouse tighthead prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye, put the Joburgers on the front foot all afternoon long.
But as soon as the ball went to the back or wide, an inevitable knock-on followed. There were some spirited carries from the classy young midfielder Van Wyk, wings Quan Horn and Edwill van der Merwe and scrumhalf Morne van den Berg, and some dazzling offloads from Lombard, but it didn’t amount to much.
Van den Berg’s handling mistake with an open tryline in front of him in the fourth minute was the biggest of them all, while No 1 Smith was also held up over the line 10 minutes later.
The only success came in the 15th minute, with hard-working No 8 Emmanuel Tshituka barging over from a 5m lineout drive.
When Stade No 12 Alex Arrate was yellow-carded for yet another breakdown infringement, the Lions were unable to take advantage of their extra man, and it came back to haunt them after half-time.
Paris flyhalf Joris Segonds slotted a penalty, and then came the double whammy for the Lions, with Lombard off in the 53rd minute for taking out Stade wing Stephane Ahmed in the air, and then Smith getting a tough call for a shoulder to the head of flank Julien Ory, who had been nailed in the same tackle by Alberts.
Segonds closed the gap to 7-6 immediately, and then the knockout blow came on the hour mark when replacement hooker Laurent Panis forced his way over from a maul.
Van Rooyen threw on his replacements in the final quarter, but it didn’t make much difference as the Lions’ handling skills let them down, while they continued to give away too many penalties.
Segonds wrapped up the result with a late penalty with two minutes to go to seal the visitors’ fate.
Points-Scorers
Stade Francais 17 — Try: Laurent Panis. Penalties: Joris Segonds (4).
Lions 7 — Try: Emmanuel Tshituka. Conversion: Gianni Lombard (1).
IOL Sport