A free-scoring Lions span mauled Connacht despite prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye being sent off early in their United Rugby Championships (URC) encounter in Galway, with the Joburgers running in six tries for a memorable 38-14 victory.
The Pride showed they were honger early on, with No.8 Francke Horn scoring the first of his two tries in the seventh minute, and they kept going despite conceding a try and a red card to Ntlabakanye.
š![CDATA[]]>š![CDATA[]]>š¹![CDATA[]]>š¹ š![CDATA[]]>š¶![CDATA[]]>šŗ![CDATA[]]>š²: Connacht 14 ā 38 Emirates Lions
ā Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) March 23, 2024
Clinical performance by our boys this evening, the hard work continues. #CONvsLIO @Vodacom #URC #UnitedWeRise #LionsPrideš¦ pic.twitter.com/sZYOpiLrUA
JC Pretorius touched down in the 25th minute and the Lions held on for the rest of the half to enter the break 12-7 up.
They made the most of their opportunities after the restart, and the rewards followed as Edwill van der Merwe and Erich Cronje scored before Horne earned his brace with 11 minutes to play.
Morne van den Berg struck again in the last minute, and Ivan van Rooyenās ouens backed this up with a determined defensive effort which bagged the win and moved into the top eight on the log.
Connacht ā Tries: Cian Prendergast and JJ Hanrahan. Conversions: Hanrahan (2).
Lions ā Tries: Francke Horn (2), JC Pretorius, Edwill van der Merwe, Erich Cronje and Morne van den Berg. Conversions: Jordan Hendrikse (4).
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