Ben Smith sparked a second-half blitz of long-range tries to give the Highlanders a 34-15 victory, which brought an abrupt halt to the Golden Lions flying start to the Super Rugby season.
The defending champions held a narrow 10-3 lead at halftime in Dunedin, but four minutes into the second half it had blown out to a 24-3 advantage with two 70m tries.
Ten minutes later they produced another try from their own 22m line on their way to outscoring the South Africa-based side four tries to two.
The Lions, who started the year with back-to-back wins over the Sunwolves and Waikato Chiefs, never recovered from yielding 21 points in the third quarter as they crashed to their first defeat. They produced two tries in the closing stages of the game, but the outcome was beyond doubt.
The Highlanders laid the foundation for the victory with a kick-and-chase first half to keep the Lions on the back foot and a dominant pack who restricted the amount of clean ball the Lions were able to secure.
“Our forwards played really well. We knew they were going to come hard at set-piece time and our forwards fronted there and we made the most of the ball we had,” captain Smith said.
Lima Sopoaga, who had a 100 percent kicking success rate, engineered all of the Highlanders’ first-half points with a penalty and then a delicate chip-kick to put right wing Matt Faddes in for his first try.
With a seven-point lead at the break the Highlanders were not comfortable, but everything changed two minutes into the second half. Smith took a quick lineout with halfback Aaron Smith on the Highlanders’ 22, which led to a try to Ben Smith.
From the restart, Faddes pulled off an intercept to run 70m for his second and that was followed by an Alex Ainley turnover deep in Highlanders territory that resulted in a try to Malakai Fekitoa at the other end of the field.
Sopoaga, who converted all the tries, added a drop goal to have the Highlanders up 34-3 before the Lions finished off with tries to Rohan Janse van Rensburg and Ruan Ackermann.
In Melbourne, the Rebels edged the visiting Queensland Reds 25-23 through a Jonah Placid try, converted by Jack Debreczeni, who also landed six penalties. Nick Frisby and Andrew Ready scored for the Reds.
In Singapore, the Sunwolves were beaten 32-31 by the Cheetahs.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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