URC: Lions maintain one hundred percent record with hard-fought victory over Zebre

By SABC Sport
19th October 2024

The Lions kept their one hundred percent winning record in the United Rugby Championship intact with their fourth victory in a row courtesy of a narrow 10-9 win over Zebre at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi.

Both teams had a shaky start, with the very wet weather leading to a game dominated by kicking.

The first significant scoring chance came in the 14th minute when a penalty awarded for a breakdown allowed Zebre flyhalf Giovanni Montemauri to kick for a 3-0 lead. He doubled that to 6-0 shortly after, capitalizing on a high tackle.

This put the visitors in a position to play catch-up, and they relied on their formidable driving maul to make progress.

Wing Edwill van der Merwe finally got the Lions on the board with a try on the left after the forwards had come close with several attacks. Flyhalf Sanele Nohamba converted from the touchline, putting the visitors ahead 7-6.

Just before half-time, Nohamba had the opportunity to extend the lead, but his penalty attempt drifted wide to the right, leaving his team with a narrow one-point advantage at the break.

The second half began with a scrum penalty awarded to the Lions, which Nohamba converted to extend their lead to 10-6. Montemauri then narrowed the gap again with an offside penalty, making it 9-10.

From that point on, the Lions focused on defence, hanging on for a narrow win.

The scorers

For Zebre

Pens: Montemauri 3

For the Lions

Try: Van der Merwe

Con: Nohamba

Pen: Nohamba

Teams

Zebre: 15 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 14 Jacopo Trulla, 13 Giulio Bertaccini, 12 Luca Morisi, 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Giovanni Montemauri, 9 Alessandro Fusco, 8 Giovanni Licata, 7 Iacopo Bianchi, 6 Davide Ruggeri, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Matteo Canali, 3 Juan Pitinari, 2 Tommaso Di Bartolomeo, 1 Danilo Fischetti (captain).

Replacements: 16 Luca Bigi, 17 Luca Rizzoli, 18 Matteo Nocera, 19 Leonard Krumov, 20 Luca Andreani, 21 Giacomo Milano, 22 Gonzalo Garcia, 23 Fetuli Paea.

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Sanele Nohamba, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Jarod Cairns, 6 Johannes Pretorius, 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Reinhard Nothnagel, 3 Conraad van Vuuren, 2 Jaco Visagie, 1 Juan Schoeman.

Replacements: 16 Pieter Botha, 17 Heiko Pohlmann, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Renzo du Plessis, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Erich Cronje, 23 Rabz Maxwane.

Referee: Ben Connor (Wales)

Assistant referees: Ben Whitehouse (Wales) and Rhys Jones (Wales)

TMO: Aled Griffiths (Wales)