The Lions looked punch-drunk in all but surrendering their slim United Rugby Championship play-off hopes with a tame 42-31 defeat against Bennetton at Ellis Park on Saturday.
They looked, and played, like a team that can’t wait for the end of the season. Mercifully for Lions fans that is only likely to last another three matches.
It seemed far-fetched to expect the Lions to magically bounce back from a rotten run of form where they have now lost five matches in a row across the Challenge Cup and URC.
And just like in the last four matches, they looked disjointed, short of ideas on attack and extremely error prone.
Even a slew of yellow cards for the visitors in the second half could not give the Joburg side the impetus to string together a decent passage of play.
Yet it all started so promisingly in the first few minutes as the home side gave the ball plenty of air. But they were moving more sideways than forward, despite some promising half-breaks.
Lions flyhalf Kade Wolhuter got the first points on the board with a long-range penalty. But the home side conceded a sloppy opening try after allowing the ball the bounce off an up and under hoisted into the Lions 22.
It would not be the first time that the Lions would switch off at a crucial time, with frustration spilling over among the players at times.
Benetton fyhalf Jacob Umaga cantered over the try-line and slotted the conversion to give Benetton a 7-3 lead.
Benetton added a second try after great patience at the ruck allowed Igancio Mendy to dot down in the corner, the first of his two tries.
Benetton tails were up, and they were moving the ball around, with a penalty stretching their lead to 15-3.
The home side were looking increasingly ragged in all aspects of play. An injury to skipper Franke Horn was also a huge blow. His leadership would be sorely missed for the rest of the match.
The Lions were guilty of a number of handling errors and coughed the ball up at the ruck, where the Benetton forwards were dominant. They also struggled in the line-out early on.
Their insistence on forcing the blind side option on attack played into Benetton hands.
The Italians once again showed off their slick interplay with another try in the 22nd minute (22-3). But the Lions hit back off a line-out maul, with Ruan Venter dotting down. Wolhuter converted the try (22-10).
The error count continued to mount for the Lions, however, and the defence parted like the Red Sea to allow Mendy in for the bonus-point try. With the score 32-10 and time running out at the end of the half, a chip kick from Lions scrumhalf Morne van den Berg was pounced on by Marius Louw.
The rather fortuitous try added some respectability to the half-time scoreline of 32-13. But it was frankly flattering of the Lions’ toothless display.
Benetton stretched the lead to 39-17 with a fifth try early in the second stanza.
The visitors were then reduced to 13 men after picking two yellow cards. They produced a brilliant rearguard action to keep the Lions at bay until they were back to 14 thanks to another yellow, making full use of the bench. A comeback win never looked likely, however, with the Lions flagging visibly. Benetton never released their stranglehold on the match.
The Lions did eventually manage to get the breakthrough in the 60th minute, via winger Edwill van der Merwe.
Wolhuter kicked the conversion to bring the Lions back to within 15 (39-24). A Umaga penalty would be the last Benetton score.
Lions workhorse JC Pretorius got a deserved five-pointer with a few minutes left on the clock. The loose forward showed real heart and energy in everything that he did, on attack and in defence. Unfortunately, it was not replicated by his teammates.
Scorers:
Lions:
Tries: Venter, Louw, Van der Merwe, Pretorius
Conversions: Wolhuter (4)
Penalty: Wolhuter
Benetton:
Tries: Umaga, Mendy (2), Marin, Ruzza
Conversions: Umaga (4)
Penalties: Umaga (3)
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Tapiwa Mafura, 13 Ryhnhardt Jonker, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruben Schoeman 3, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie 17 SJ Kotze 18 RF Schoeman 19 Ruan Delport 20 Sibabalo Qoma 21 Nico Steyn 22 Renzo du Plessis 23 Kelly Mpeku.