Just three days after the first Test the Lions are up again, this time against a combined First Nations & Pacifika team. The FNP squad has had only a few days to sort things out but, there are some very good players in their side. The Lions have called in the cavalry and should easily account for their opposition.
The Match.
The match started poorly for the FNP side with Triston Reilly copping yellow card for a high shot just four minutes in. The Lions scored twice while he was off, the first to Osborne off a nifty little chip to the in goal and the second from a nice long pass to Graham on the wing who had too much gas for Muirhead.
But Reilly partially made up for the 14 points scored while he was on the sideline by intercepting a Lions attempted breakout and running 30m to score under the posts. Five minutes later, Seru Uru barged over next to the posts to even up the scores.
James Ryan, for the Lions, was the next player yellow carded. Seru Uru and Pollard got into a little scuffle that managed to catch the TMO’s eye and elicited a stern talking to the boys from the ref. But the game was heading towards 14 all at half-time, a better scoreline than any of the Super Rugby teams could manage, when Jack Debreczeni intercepted the ball and threw an almighty scare through the Lions team. The FNPs didn’t manage to score, but the team is clearly pumped and out to prove a point.
The Lions scored again four minutes after half-time to lead the FNPs 19-14. They tightened up their play and started using their forwards more, and controlled the territory trapping the FNPs in their own half for a long time but, they couldn’t manage to score.
The FNPs did break out at about the 60-minute mark, but it was temporary, and Duhan van der Merwe went over with about 15 minutes to go to take the score to 24-14,
Rob “top deck” Leota bought the FNPs back in contention after they bashed away at the Lions defence for a few minutes. The final 10 minutes ended up with the FNPs trying to score and the Lions defending. As much as everyone wanted the FNPs to win it wasn’t to be but, they were far from disgraced and played with enormous heart.
The final score was 24-19.
