Highland sting: Banks penalty seals epic win
A late Marty Banks penalty goal edged the Highlanders to a remarkable 23-22 win against the British and Irish Lions in Dunedin last night.
Banks, a 54th-minute substitute for Lima Sopoaga, slotted a 30m penalty with six minutes remaining.
As clutch as the kick was, Highlanders fans can thank their forward pack for doing a demolition job on the visitors’ scrum to give Banks a chance to kick his side to victory.
Referee Angus Gardner had no choice but to blow a penalty.
Lions substitute Elliot Daly missed a 57m penalty a few minutes later and the rest is history. The Highlanders did what the Crusaders couldn’t do on Sunday, and joined the Blues in nabbing an historic win against the tourists.
Unlike in Christchurch three days ago, when the Lions beat the Crusaders 12-3 in a tryless affair, the match was high in quality.
There were no scrum woes, considerably fewer mistakes and, most import- Highlanders 23 (Waisake Naholo, Liam Coltman tries; Lima Sopoaga 2 pen, con, Marty Banks con, pen) Lions 22 (Jonathan Joseph, Tommy Seymour, Sam Warburton tries; Dan Biggar pen, 2 con). HT: 10-10. antly, the 26,920-strong crowd at Forsyth Barr Stadium saw five tries.
With the likes of All Blacks Ben Smith, Aaron Smith and Liam Squire missing, some might have expected the depleted Highlanders to struggle. Yeah, right. The home side was into everything and more than played its part in the entertaining and fast-paced clash.
No doubt All Blacks coach Steve Hansen liked what he saw from wing Waisake Naholo. To say Naholo, a double tryscorer in his previous match against the Crusaders, put his hand up for a starting spot in the looming test series, would be an understatement.
It wasn’t just the 26-year-old’s firsthalf try, which gave the home side a 10-3 lead after 26 minutes; the Fijian-born flyer was everywhere.
He chalked up 60 metres through his speed and elusiveness, was solid under the high ball and got on the end of a couple of delicate Sopoaga kicks.
Had it not been for a peach of a trysaving tackle by Lions fullback Jared Payne, who otherwise had an average game, Naholo would have had a brace.
With just 65 minutes of rugby behind him since returning from a lengthy hamstring injury, Sopoaga was more of a mixed bag in his first start since March.
He delivered a couple of crisp cutout balls and delicate kicks, but it was two Sopoaga mistakes which led to tries to Tommy Seymour and Sam Warburton.
Seymour pounced on a loopy crossfield kick and raced away from 40m, while Warburton dived over moments after a loose pass resulted in an attacking 5m scrum.
But the Highlanders wouldn’t go away. Hooker Liam Coltman crashed over via a perfectly executed driving maul to cull the lead to 22-20 with a quarter to play.
It was then time for a huge scrum and a Banks penalty to seal the deal for a depleted team, and not just on the field.
Remember too that Highlanders coach Tony Brown was watching the match in Japan, leaving interim head coach Scott McLeod to run the cutter.