The Lions had to dig-deep in the wet and cold conditions to beat the Italian outfit 10-9.

While the Lions weren’t able to earn a bonus point at Stadio Sergio Lanfranchi, it was their fourth-straight win in the competition, and they take tremendous momentum into their next match, which will be Leinster in Dublin, Ireland.

The conditions proved to be the great leveller once again, and it was vital to take the points when they were on offer. Giovanni Montemauri opened the scoring for Zebre in the 14th minute with a penalty. A short while later he doubled the home team’s lead with a second penalty.

The first try of the game belongs to the Lions ??

Edwill van der Merwe's finishes are always top ??

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In the 27th minute Springbok winger Edwill van der Merwe got the Lions on the board with a try in the corner after collecting a skip-pass from the Bloemfontein born-and-bred centre, Marius Louw. Flyhalf Sanele Nohamba landed an exceptional conversion from the touchline for the extra two.

At half time the Lions led the match 7–6. Shortly after the restart, Nohamba extended the Lions lead with a penalty, before Montemauri landed one for Zebre to reduce the lead to one-point again.

In the closing stages of the game, Zebre threw the kitchen sink at the Lions, but their defence and more importantly discipline was up to the task to see out the win. 

Cool heads

The Lions captain and man of the match, Francke Horn, told OFM Sport his team’s character came to the fore in the last five minutes, and their cool heads made it that much easier to steer his troops in the right direction. “You could see the guys were like I said, disciplined.

“We were ready to make our tackles and to wait for an error, and as soon as the guys saw the opportunity to take the guy out in touch, half of the team was in that breakdown.

“I’m really happy with the character, and like I said, everybody was just calm and composed, and they knew what to do. That makes it very easy for a captain just to lead them in the right direction.”

The win move the Lions up to second for the time being. The Lions will now head to Ireland where they face Leinster at the iconic AVIVA Stadium in Dublin next week Saturday.

Scorers:

Zebre: Pen. - Giovanni Montemauri 3

Lions: Try – Edwill van der Merwe Conv. – Sanele Nohamba Pen. – Nohamba

OFM Sport/Morgan Piek