MATCH REPORT: The Lions booked their spot in the Challenge Cup play-offs with a 60-10 rout of a hapless Dragons team at Ellis Park, in Johannesburg, on Saturday.

Employing their all-action, high-tempo game the Lions outscored their Welsh visitors by nine tries to one.

The Lions dominated possession (75 percent) and territory (76 percent) in a frantic opening half.

Also dominating the set pieces, the Lions won a string of scrum penalties and the Dragons were penalised at half of their line-outs for skew throws.

Added to that the Dragons made four times as many tackles as the Lions – missing 20-odd, for a tackle success rate of only 75 percent.

Those stats only marginally improved in the second half, as the Lions eased into the Round of 16.

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The Lions got off to an energetic start – great interplay earning a penalty, allowing flyhalf Sam Francis to open the scoring in the third minute, 3-0.

Soon after the restart, the Lions were penalised for playing the ball in the tackle and the visiting flyhalf Will Reed hit the upright. That was followed by another breakdown penalty soon afterwards, with Reed levelling the scores – 3-all.

From the restart, the Lions won a turnover and some sublime interplay eventually opened space on the right wing for No.8 Francke Horn – the scoring pass coming from namesake Quan Horn. Francis added the conversion – 10-3.

Francis was also the next to score – darting over from close range after a series of forward charges by the Lions. The flyhalf added the conversion – 17-3 after as many minutes.

Flank Ruan Venter celebrated his return from injury by finishing off a counter-attack that started inside the Lions’ half and was a team try in every sense. Francis added the conversion – 24-3, still scoring a point per minute.

Tapiwa Mafura finished off the next raid – a sweeping move from their territory that had the visitors chasing ghosts. Francis’ conversion made it 31-3 after 28 minutes.

However, the rest of the half was a string of missed opportunities, as the Lions became sloppy – taking that 28-point lead into the half-time break.

The Dragons came out in determined fashion after the break, but their execution let them down. The Lions reciprocated with errors of their own in the red zone.

It was the Lions’ captain, Francke Horn, breaking the second-half duck with a charge down the left wing and shrugging off several defenders. Gianni Lombard, on as a replacement, was wide of the mark with the conversion – 36-3.

The Dragons launched another sterling raid on the Lions’ line. It was the replacement Paula Latu who charged over after a number of forward charges close to the line. Reed added the conversion – 10-36 after 55 minutes.

The Lions hit back with a sublime backline move that saw Gianni Lombard score the sixth try, again missing the conversion – 41-10.

The penalties continued to pile up and the referee now had a chat with the visitors about repeated infringements.

That was followed by a maul try to Jaco Visagie, Lombard still unable to find the target – 46-10.

Ruan Venter, from a line-out five metres out, strolled over for the eighth try and his second, with Lombard finally adding a conversion – the Lions going past the half-ton mark, 53-10.

There was enough time for Manuel Rass to pounce on a chip-kick from Nico Steyn, Lombard adding the conversion for a 60-10 rout.

The scorers

For the Lions
Tries: F Horn 2, Francis, Venter 2, Mafura, Lombard, Visagie, Ras
Cons: Francis 4, Lombard 2
Pen: Francis

For the Dragons
Try: Latu
Con: Reed
Pen: Reed

Teams

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Tapiwa Mafura, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sam Francis, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Jarod Cairns, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Gianni Lombard, 23 Manuel Rass.

Dragons: 15 Huw Anderson, 14 Rio Dyer, 13 Joe Westwood, 12 Aneurin Owen (captain), 11 Ewan Rosser, 10 Will Reed, 9 Che Hope, 8 Taine Basham, 7 Shane Lewis-Hughes, 6 Ryan Woodman, 5 George Nott, 4 Joe Davies, 3 Chris Coleman, 2 Elliot Dee, 1 Rodrigo Martinez Manzano.
Replacements: 16 Brodie Coghlan, 17 Dylan Kelleher-Griffiths, 18 Paula Latu, 19 Barny Langton-Cryer, 20 George Young, 21 Morgan Lloyd, 22 Lloyd Evans, 23 Harri Ackerman.

Referee: Evan Urruzmendi (France)
Assistant referees: Ludovic Cayre (France), Vincent Blasco Baque (France)
TMO: Eric Gauzins (France)

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