DRAGONS’ disastrous record against South African sides in the URC continued in Johannesburg as they were grinded down by a ruthless playoff chasing Lions.
The South African side scored four successive tries in a 17-minute spell mid-way through the second-half to secure an unassailable lead and boost their push for the top eight at Ellis Park.
Despite the home side getting an expected victory, Lions didn’t have things all their own way with Dragons claiming a deserved try bonus point.
Lions double try scorer Nico Steyn said: “It was a tough 80 minutes, especially late on where we had to grind it out. Dragons are a good side and we had to fight hard for this victory.
“It’s unbelievable as a nine behind the pack that we’ve got. All the credit goes to our big boys up front as without them the team can’t function.
“We’ve built some momentum in the back end of this competition and we know that the last few games is very crucial for us. We’ve got all the motivation we need and it’s all about continuing to execute on the day.”
Within five minutes of kick-off, Lions opened their account off a counter-attacking play through blindside Siba Mahashe, who defeated several defenders to dot down.
Moments later Mahashe denied Dragons by holding up Thomas Young over the try line, but the Gwent men took the lead on the quarter-hour mark as an inside offload sent centre Aneurin Owen over before Angus O’Brien’s conversion made it 5-7.
The URC’s leading scorer Chris Smith kicked a penalty before a quick move allowed replacement Richard Kriel to race over the whitewash.
Dragons dotted down either side of half-time; a long lineout move allowed Owen to power over, then after half-time an O’Brien crossfield kick allowed Rio Dyer to dot down in the left corner and go 21-18 ahead.
Smith quickly scored, then Steyn got on the end of a Francke Horn offload to dot down and after Rio Dyer’s sin-binning Steyn scored a second down a maul’s blindside before wing Erich Cronje powered over into the corner.
Dyer raced over on the 70th minute for Dragons’ bonus point try.
An upbeat Dragons coach Filo Tiatia said: “There were parts of the game we were disappointed with, but overall, I was proud of the grit and fight to stay in it.
“We had two HIAs with our half backs coming off, so we had to adapt and stay agile to try and apply pressure.”
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