The Lions now need to beat French sides Lyon and Perpignan in January to make the playoffs.
It is the same old story for the Lions as they continue to flatter to deceive and squander opportunities, which has left their Challenge Cup campaign hanging by a thread after two rounds.
After a bitterly disappointing 26-18 home loss against Benetton in their competition opener a week earlier, the Lions sent a fringe team for their clash against Newcastle Red Bulls in England at the weekend, and for long spells it seemed like their back-up brigade would pull off a win, before crashing to a 14-10 defeat.
To be fair to the team, a number of them hadn’t played together before – it was a much-changed side from what had previously done business this season – and the conditions were extremely tough. But it was still frustrating as they had plenty of chances to put Newcastle away, and they didn’t.
They took a 10-7 lead into the break, but the gap should have been bigger, and they did not capitalise in the first 20 minutes of the second half.
The hosts, having weathered the storm, then went on the attack in the final quarter, and after losing the ball over the line a few minutes previously, finally crashed over with time practically up, to send the Lions back home with a solitary losing bonus point.
Tough conditions
“Obviously, it was tough conditions. It was really, really windy, something we’re not used to. But even with that, I felt we created more than enough opportunities to get the result,” admitted Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen.
“I think our set piece was dominant. At stages we played really good rugby and had good defensive sets. In the last five or six minutes of the first half, we didn’t capitalise when we had all the possession in their 22.
“Against the wind, you know you’re going to spend a lot of time on the back foot in the second half. One score there and I think the game would have been totally different.”
The result left the Lions bottom of their six-team pool, on one point, and with the top four in the group progressing to the knockouts, they were basically in must-win mode going into their final two pool matches in January.
Pool placings
The Dragons occupied fourth place in the group on five points, and Perpignan were lying third on five, with both sides in range of the Lions, but Newcastle on eight and Benetton on nine were in the pound seats at the top of the pool.
A home match against Lyon at Ellis Park on January 10 is now vitally important for the Lions, with the French side level with them on one point, and they have to win that game, preferably with a bonus point to keep themselves in the playoff hunt.
They then close out their pool stage campaign with a match against Perpignan in France a week later, where they will also likely need to win to make it into the knockouts.
“We’re probably going to need nine points out of the last two games. A home win is essential and then we’ll see if we can get an away win against Perpignan,” said Van Rooyen.
