British & Irish Lions player ratings vs South Africa after the first test, brought to you by Lovell Rugby.
Warren Gatland’s men moved 1-0 up in the series against South Africa as they won the opening Test 22-17 at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday.
An enthralling opening 40 saw no tries with all of the points coming from the tee with Handre Pollard giving the Springboks a 12-3 lead with Dan Biggar slotting one of his two attempts at goal.
The tourists got back into the game after the restart with Luke Cowan-Dickie crashing over from the back of a rolling maul with Biggar converting, 12-10.
But Gatland’s men were then lucky to see a Willie le Roux try disallowed, but they wouldn’t be so lucky a few minutes later when Faf de Klerk touched down to give the hosts a seven point lead.
Biggar narrowed the gap once again with another three-pointer before slotting a fourth penalty on the hour to put the Lions in front for the first time, 17-19.
Owen Farrell completed the scoring late on to secure the famous win for the Lions.
More to follow.
SOUTH AFRICA: 17 (12)
- Tries: de Klerk 49
- Cons:
- Pens: Pollard 13,17,26,30
BRITISH & IRISH LIONS: 22 (3)
- Tries: Cowan-Dickie 43
- Cons: Biggar 44
- Pens: Biggar 19,52,55,62, Farrell 77
RAGING BULL MAN OF THE MATCH:
STATS ZONE – British & Irish Lions:
- Most carries: Jack Conan – 9
- Most metres made: Jack Conan – 43
- Most tackles: Courtney Lawes – 10
- Most tackles missed: Elliot Daly – 3
- Defenders beaten: Anthony Watson – 7
- Offloads: Tom Curry – 2
- Turnovers won: Maro Itoje – 3
- Turnovers conceded: Stuart Hogg – 2
Lions player ratings vs South Africa:
15 Stuart Hogg: 6
14 Anthony Watson: Was easily the Lions’ most potent attacking threat out wide. 7
13 Elliot Daly: Give away a number of needless penalties and failed to make any impact in attack. Also missed his one opportunity with a long-range penalty. 4
12 Robbie Henshaw: Made the cardinal sin of not carrying the ball with two hands on his most significant break of the match. Excellent in defence though and always a willing ball carrier. 7
11 Duhan van der Merwe: Despite his lack of ball, he brought a lot of physicality to the back-three and successfully kept world-class winger Cheslin Kolbe quiet. 7