Advertisement League of Ireland Horse Racing TV Listings GAA Fixtures The Video Review Sport meets news, current affairs, society & pop culture Rugby Weekly Extra Dive into all the news and analysis 3 times a week The Football Family Weekly insights from the week’s big talking points Advertisement More Stories Richard Kriel of the Lions is tackled by two Connacht defenders.Steve Haag Sports/Christiaan Kotze/INPHO FreeFrustration Connacht's play-off hopes suffer huge blow with disappointing defeat to Lions The visitors will need a minor miracle to finish in the top eight with two regular-season games remaining. 4.55pm, 26 Apr 2025 Share options Ken Borland reports from Ellis Park CONNACHT’S HOPES OF reaching the URC play-offs and booking Champions Cup rugby next season suffered a huge blow in Johannesburg as they fell to a disappointing defeat to the Lions. There was not much fine rugby cuisine dished up at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon, but Connacht were left with an empty plate as they were well beaten, 26-7, by their hosts. Connacht started with promise, hanging on to the ball for a good two minutes from the kickoff, but they then lost patience and kicked it away. Had they known they would only see 43% of the ball in the first half, they perhaps would have shown greater desire to hang on to the ball. But they struggled for both possession and territory in the first half, the Lions leading 11-0 at the break. Apart from losing the kicking game, Connacht also made too many errors when they did have the ball and their attack struggled to create much pressure on the home side. Their were some elegant backline moves, but they were too hasty to go around the Lions defence and did not play enough direct rugby. The Lions’ first-half try came from direct play as their forwards, led by gargantuan tighthead prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye, carried with purpose to gobble up metres and eventually flank Renzo du Plessis was over the line. Connacht were also on the back foot in the scrums, and while the Lions did not exactly feast on them in the set-pieces, they did win a first-half penalty there to stretch their lead to 11-0. Connacht, who were forced to withdraw tighthead prop Finlay Bealham and hooker Dave Heffernan from the starting XV before kickoff, suffered a couple more disruptive injuries to their pack in the first half. Coach Cullie Tucker threw backline subs Hugh Gavin and Argentinean star Santiago Cordero into the fray in the second half. Lions out-half Kade Wolhuter kicked his third penalty in the 43rd minute to put the home side 14-0 up, but Connacht felt more in the game. Cordero did produce a spark, his little dart and stab-through of the ball drawing a trip from Du Plessis, for which he was yellow-carded. Advertisement Connacht set the lineout in the Lions 22 and their maul rumbled over the line for hooker Dylan Tierney-Martin to score. Connacht were back in their half, waiting for the conversion, when TMO Sam Grove-White announced his intervention, spotting an infringement in the set-up of the maul that disallowed the try. The Lions, meanwhile, were finding space in the wide channels, with Springbok wing Edwill van der Merwe scoring a splendid try in the 60th minute, which was also disallowed, due to a high tackle in the build-up. But Connacht did not learn their lesson and flanker JC Pretorius scored in the same channel 11 minutes later after eighthman Jarod Cairns had made good ground. Trailing by 19, Connacht eventually got on the board in the 74th minute, replacement hooker Eoin de Buitléar scoring after a maul as he raced up at pace to take a pass from close to the line. In the closing stages, the Lions twice spilt the ball with a try almost certain, once due to a superb cover tackle by scrum-half Matt Devine. Connacht then decided to keep the ball in play after the hooter, with a losing bonus point still up for grabs. However, Van der Merwe pounced on a loose ball, kicking ahead and dotting down to make up for the try he had seen cancelled. The Lions’ victory meant they replaced Connacht in 12th place in the standings, pending other results on Saturday. LIONS: Quan Horn; Richard Kriel, Henco van Wyk, Bronson Mills, Edwill van der Merwe; Kade Wolhuter, Morne van den Berg; Morgan Naude, Jaco Visagie (captain), Asenathi Ntlabakanye; Ruben Schoeman, Ruan Delport; JC Pretorius, Renzo du Plessis, Jarod Cairns. Replacements: PJ Botha, SJ Kotze, RF Schoeman, Darrien Landsberg, Izan Esterhuizen, Nico Steyn, Lubabalo Dobela, Rynhardt Jonker. CONNACHT: Piers O’Conor; Shayne Bolton, David Hawkshaw, Cathal Forde, Shane Jennings; Jack Carty, Matthew Devine; Peter Dooley, Dave Heffernan, Finlay Bealham; Josh Murphy, Joe Joyce; Cian Prendergast (captain), Conor Oliver, Sean Jansen. Replacements: Eoin de Buitléar, Jordan Duggan, Sam Illo, Oisín Dowling, Paul Boyle, Colm Reilly, Hugh Gavin, Santiago Cordero. Referee: Hollie Davidson [SRU] Ken Borland View 9 comments Send Tip or Correction Embed this post To embed this post, copy the code below on your site Email “Connacht's play-off hopes suffer huge blow with disappointing defeat to Lions”. Recipient's Email Feedback on “Connacht's play-off hopes suffer huge blow with disappointing defeat to Lions”. Your Feedback Your Email (optional) Report a Comment Please select the reason for reporting this comment. 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