Lions inability to capitalise on chances directly led to Stade Francais defeat

The Lions inability to capitalise on numerous chances in the first half of their Challenge Cup match against Stade Francais in Paris on Saturday, directly led to a poor 17-7 defeat in the end.

Despite going into the game as underdogs the Lions produced a strong first half showing where they dominated most facets of play,  but despite spending the majority of it in the opposition half they could only take a 7-0 lead into the break.

ALSO READ: Lions prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye taking advantage of his opportunity

They were guilty of butchering a number of scoring opportunities, the most glaring of which saw scrumhalf Morne van den Berg knock on with the tryline begging, while flyhalf Gianni Lombard missed a penalty right in front of the posts on a forgettable night for the pivot.

Having played with the wind at their backs in the first half, the Lions then played against it in the second and produced a dismal show, making a plethora of schoolboy errors, while also conceding three yellow cards in a 15 minute period as the hosts battled back to win.

“Looking at our first half we managed to dominate the set piece and the collisions. We probably left three tries out there in the first half which would have changed the outcome of the game,” said Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen.

“At one stage the penalty count was eight to one (in favour of the Lions) in the first half without real action from the referee.

“In the second half, we couldn’t manage to get out of our half against a very strong wind, due to errors or conceding penalties. Also conceding three yellow cards in such short time made it extremely tough to try and swing momentum back our way.”

Heavy defeats

The loss was the Lions fourth in a row, after heavy United Rugby Championship (URC) defeats against the Sharks, Stormers and Munster in previous weeks, and it will be bitterly disappointing for the team to have gone down again in a match that they had a real chance of winning.

They now have to pick themselves up for their final two games on tour, in the Challenge Cup against Dragons in Newport this coming Sunday, and in the URC against Connacht in Galway the following weekend.

The Lions will be targeting the Dragons match as a must win one to break their losing streak and get themselves back on track, especially considering that they are unbeaten in three games against the hosts, having picked up two wins and a draw.

“In cold, wet and windy conditions like we are experiencing on this tour so far, we need to capitalise playing with the wind more and find a way to gain more territory and still create attacking opportunities against the wind,” said Van Rooyen.

“For the next two games, it’s important for us to grow in those areas as both games are going to be in similar conditions.”