A fast-flagging Otago Highlanders escaped with the narrowest of victories to put their season back on track with a 23-22 victory over the Golden Lions in their Super 15 clash in Dunedin yesterday.
The Highlanders led 23-0 at halftime, but failed to score a point in the second half as the Lions stormed back with the outcome hinging on a conversion attempt by replacement flyhalf Elton Jantjies after the final whistle. The ball hit the posts and bounced back onto the field, and an appeal by Lions captain Warren Whiteley for the kick to be taken again because the Highlanders had charged too soon was turned down by Australian referee Angus Gardiner.
The victory put the Highlanders, who lost last week in South Africa to the lowly Stormers, just five points behind the New Zealand conference leaders the Waikato Chiefs, but with a game in hand.
Photo: AFP
For the Lions the wafer-thin loss meant further misery. After starting the season strongly, they have now lost five in a row, although they still remain third in the South African conference behind the Coastal Sharks and the second-placed Northern Bulls.
In the high-paced game, the Highlanders were immediately on the board when Richard Buckman scored the first of his two tries by wrong-footing the defense down the right wing.
The Lions had enough possession to be threatening and produced every variation in their playbook only to be constantly stalled by the well-drilled Highlanders, who gradually edged away with a penalty and drop goal by Hayden Parker.
The Highlanders broadened the buffer in the final four minutes of the half when they punished the Lions with two quick tries. The first, from turnover ball, produced Buckman’s second try when he outsprinted the Lions defense after Phil Burleigh had booted the ball 50m downfield. Then on the stroke of halftime, replacement Gareth Evans scored in the corner after Ben Smith had shredded the Lions’ defensive line.
The short turnaround after the journey back from South Africa during the week began to take its toll on the Highlanders from the moment play resumed. Two minutes after the restart, Francois de Klerk drove over to cap a series of pick-and-goes by a Lions pack able to find holes where the Highlanders tight five should have been.
Marnitz Boshoff landed the conversion, but then crucially the normally reliable kicker missed his next two shots at goal when Lionel Mapoe and Armand van der Merwe scored to leave the Lions six points down at 23-17.
On the stroke of fulltime, Courtnall Skosan scored in the corner, but Boshoff’s replacement Jantjies was unable to seal the game.
BRUMBIES, SHARKS
Reuters
The ACT Brumbies prevailed in a kicking duel to hold off the Super Rugby-leading Sharks 16-9 at home on a soggy night in Canberra yesterday.
With both teams playing for territory in incessant rain at Canberra Stadium, the Brumbies scored the only try through lock Sam Carter in the 62nd minute.
Inside center Christian Lealiifano’s subsequent conversion gave the home side a seven-point lead, which they grimly held to the finish.
Cementing their place at the top of the Australian conference, the Brumbies also enjoyed a victory over their former coach Jake White, who midway through a four-year contract walked out on the Canberra team last season to join the Coastal Sharks.
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