Force too strong for Lions

Western Force closed out their South African tour with a hard fought, but unimpressive win over the Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Friday.

Leading 16-15 at half time, the home side might have seen the light at the end of the tunnel.

It seems that light must have blinded them because the Force were the only side to make a contribution to the scoreboard in the second half to run out 18-15 winners.

Both teams were incapable of maintaining possession for any decent period of time, and for all their hard work, the Lions will need to do even more if they expect to win again this season.

Far too many poor passes made for a stop-start affair. The Force did manage to show their hosts just how to be 'clinical' with two well worked tries in the first half but unfortunately the entertainment stopped there.

Error-strewn

The Lions the ball 14 times, and it seemed they sent more passes astray than there were spectators in the stadium. Winger Rayno Benjamin made five handling errors in the first half an hour alone.

A solid scrum set a steady platform for them to earn a penalty and Louis Strydom did the necessary to give the home side the lead.

The Force came right back showing composure, making their passes stick to go about scoring the first try.

From the middle of the field centre Scott Daruda drew two defenders, timed a great skip-pass perfectly to full-back Cameron Shepard who was flying down the touch line and waltzed over the line.

The Australians, as expected, seemed far more threatening with ball in hand. The teams exchanged penalties and with the score at 10-6 to the visitors, Matt Giteau showed why he is rated one of the best fly-halves in world rugby.

He made a mockery of the Lions defence and carved through the line before off-loading to number eight Tamaiti Horua. Lions fans might have thought the pass was a little forward, but the try counted five points all the same.

Lions roar

Before the half was over however the team in red scored a try of their own.

Centre Doppies La Grange charged down a Daruda clearance, pulled a hamstring in the process of picking up the ball, but still managed to whip a pass out to Jaco van Schalkwyk who stepped inside two Force defenders to finish in style.

Stydom secured two more points and the home side went ahead. At half time the Lions would have felt that they were worth their lead purely thanks to their hard work.

The second half started out with a bang, but faded quickly.

The Force were all over the Lions until scrum-half Jano Vermaak found a way through a myriad of players at the end of a dodgy Force line-out and raced away to send the crowd delirious with a wonder dive behind the posts.

It was not to be given though. The referee reckoned there had been a knock-on. The replay showed otherwise and the Force can count themselves lucky.

Five minutes later Shepard kicked a long range penalty which, as it turned out, would seal the Lion's fate.