HEARTBREAK
Lions are left to rue missed chances as Boks battle back to clinch series
THE British and Irish Lions suffered devastation as South Africa fought back to secure a dramatic 2-1 series victory in the third and decisive Test match in Cape Town.
With a painful sense of déjà vu, it was veteran Springbok fly-half Morne Steyn who came off the bench to kick the winning penalty in the dying seconds, just as he had done in 2009.
The Lions had been in front 10-6 at half-time — and were led quite superbly by Finn Russell (right). The Scotland fly-half inspired his side to play some of their best attacking rugby of the series.
Showing typical flair and ambition,
Russell was quite comfortably the Lions’ best player after coming off the bench to replace the injured Dan Biggar in the 11th minute.
But his heroics proved to be in vain as, despite Russell helping the Lions carve out a number of opportunities, Warren Gatland’s side were unable to
make it count. Gatland, though, seemed to aim a thinly-veiled dig at Russell for a late knock-on.
But that should not be allowed to cloud what was an otherwise outstanding display from the Scotland man. He brought an otherwise dull Test series to life.
Russell was pitched into the game early after the injury to Biggar, having not played any competitive rugby in almost five weeks since suffering an Achilles injury in a warm-up game last month.
‘Finn was good,’ said Gatland. ‘We talked about moving the ball more and the ball went through his hands a lot which was good. We shortened them up on a few occasions when we went to fourth or fifth phase and that created some space for us.
‘But he’ll be disappointed that he’s dropped a ball in the air that he would normally take and he was unlucky on the tackle. Probably a left-foot kick down the middle of the park wasn’t one of his best moments but he showed how quick he can get the ball through his hands. For someone who hasn’t played a lot, he was excellent.’
On the match itself, Gatland admitted the Lions missed too many chances to put the world champions to the sword. ‘I’m disappointed but I’m proud of the effort the boys put in,’ said the Lions head coach. ‘We went out there to be positive and play some rugby. We missed one or two chances and they got a lucky bounce to score a try against the run of play. A couple of 50/50 calls probably didn’t go our way.
‘They gave everything but they’ll probably look back individually and go, ‘there was an error there’ or feel that they’ve given a penalty away.
‘It was a proper Test match, it was tough and physical, that’s what you want with a Lions series. It was never going to be easy away from home playing the world champions and they were tight contests. We’re disappointed but it really could have gone either way.
Congratulations to South Africa.’
It was Gatland’s first series defeat as a Lions coach but the Kiwi was non-committal over whether he would return to lead the 2025 tour to Australia.
He added: ‘On my involvement, there’s a lot of water under the bridge in four years. A lot of things can happen in that time. I’ve loved my time with the Lions.’