Fortune fails to favour brave

SSPRINGBOK captain John Smit warned the British and Irish Lions early last week of the lung-bursting experience at altitude in Loftus Versfeld, but he said nothing of the heart-breaking experience they’d leave it with.

The Lions almost survived the thin air, a battalion of injured stars and a Springboks resurgence, but fate intervened to allow youth win out over experience and clinch a Test series for South Africa.

We were 30 seconds away from a draw which carried the series into a Johannesburg shoot-out when Ronan O’Gara launched a high kick up the middle and followed through recklessly to tackle Fourie Du Preez in the air; from five metres inside his own half, youngster Steyn knocked over the resultant penalty and O’Gara could only hold his head in anguish.

For ever and a day, the finger of blame will be pointed at the Irish out half who was called into action only because of injury to Jamie Roberts. There is no doubt he was ultimately responsible for the defeat, but the Lions had other opportunities to close this game down and to keep the series alive in a frantic few minutes of a classic match.

Paul O’Connell was one of the first to spring to O’Gara’s defence, insisting the loss was more about a variety of issues: “Of course (Ronan) is very disappointed; that’s understandable and there is not a lot you can say to a guy in that situation but it’s a tough time for everyone. To be honest we shouldn’t have been in that situation. We needed to come out and play in the second half more than we did. We left ourselves vulnerable to any mistake going into those last few minutes and it should not have been the case,” he said.

Had they held on to draw the game at 25-25 it would have been nothing less than the Lions deserved, but now with the series lost and the party ravaged by injury, it’s going to be a long, lonely, and frustrating week.

Twelve years ago, the English centre Jeremy Guscott was the Lions hero when he dropped a last-minute goal in the second Test to clinch a South African series. He knows of the anguish O’Gara must now feel: “The take I have on it was that it wasn’t about that one late penalty incident. I think the game changed utterly when both Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones (the Lions props) were injured. It went belly-up from that point on, and it the problem became more acute when Brian O’Driscoll and Jamie Roberts had to retire. All the shape in the Lions performance went out the window.

“The game was being played all over the shop at that stage; there was no way to control it and there was always a danger something would happen to change everything,” he said.

The Lions had a dream opening, sprinting into a 10 points lead while the yellow-carded Schalk Burger was in the bin.

Stephen Jones kicked a penalty and then converted a smashing try from Rob Kearney. Man-of-the-match Simon Shaw did the damage when he ploughed through the midfield defence before Mike Phillips moved quickly on the narrow side; Jones’ beautiful pass being expertly caught by Kearney who backed himself and charged through for the try.

South Africa caught the Lions cold from a line out with JP Pietersen scorching in for a try from a rehearsed move off a line out, but Jones responded with a second penalty to push the lead back to 13-5.

The Lions might have gone further ahead when Kearney sent a long range drop goal wide but they had to wait for Jones to drop a goal. It was a pity to concede a late, long-range penalty to Francois Steyn, having been pinged for crossing in midfield.

THAT penalty, awarded unfairly in the opinion of many, not only denied the Lions a try but came back to haunt them when South Africa scored at the death. The Lions hit back to build on the 16-8 half time advantage with a further penalty from Jones midway through the second half, but they conceded a fantastic try to Brian Habana, and Ruan Pienaar cut the deficit to four points with the conversion.

When Pienaar was called ashore, substitute Steyn stepped up to kick a penalty, Jones responded to make it 22-18 but then the Boks hit for a corner flag try from Jacque Fourie that was awarded after a lengthy video examination and Steyn converted.

Jones hit back with a 76th minute penalty and the Lions looked destined to keep the series balanced until next Saturday’s Ellis Park encounter – until that late and disastrous passage of play.

The harsh facts for the Lions are a third successive Test series loss, eight years without a Test match victory and inevitable questions from some quarters about their future in an increasingly-demanding professional sport.

But while they might have lost another series, the Lions can at least fly home next week with heads held high after restoring credibility to a reputation tarnished by Clive Woodward’s travelling circus in New Zealand four years ago.

SOUTH AFRICA: F. Steyn (Sharks), JP Pietersen (Sharks), A. Jacobs (Sharks), J. de Villiers (Western Province), B. Habana (Blue Bluss), R. Pienaar (Sharks), F. du Preez (Blue Bulls); T. Mtawarira (Sharks), B. du Plessis (Sharks), J. Smit (Sharks, capt), B. Botha (Blue Bulls), V. Matfield (Blue Bulls) S. Burger (Western Province), J. Smith (Blue Bulls), P. Spies (Blue Bulls).

Replacements: J. Fourie (Lions) for de Villiers (55), A Bekker (Western Province) for Botha; D. Rossouw (Blue Bulls) for Smith (both 57); H. Brussow (Free State Cheetahs) for Rossouw (60, inj), M. Steyn (Blue Bulls) for Pienaar (60)

BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: R. Kearney (Ireland), T. Bowe (Ireland), B. O’Driscoll (Ireland), J. Roberts (Wales), L. Fitzgerald (Ireland), S. Jones (Wales), M. Phillips (Wales); G. Jenkins (Wales), M. Rees (Wales), A. Jones (Wales), S. Shaw (England), P. O’Connell (Ireland, captain), T. Croft (England), D. Wallace (Ireland), J. Heaslip (Ireland).

Replacements: A. Sheridan (England) for Jenkins (44, inj); A-W Jones (Wales) for A. Jones (45, inj); S. Williams (Wales) for O’Driscoll (65, inj); R O’Gara (Ireland) for Roberts (68, inj); M. Williams (Wales) for Wallace (68).

Referee: C. Berdos (France)