QR Reds draw with Lions on fulltime
A Chris Latham try right on fulltime helped salvage a 24-24 draw with the Lions in the opening Investec Super 14 match of the QR Reds' South African tour.
The conversion by Clinton Schifcofske sealed the draw and maintained his perfect kicking record for the match, with three conversions and a penalty.
The two sides played themselves to a standstill in the match, played at altitude at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, with each team being required to make 90 tackles in a contest both sides were desperate to win.
The Reds led only briefly in the match, after an amazing 70m solo try by Peter Hynes put them 10-9 in front, and with 60 minutes gone were trailing 21-10 and out on their feet.
But to their credit they fought back bravely, with replacement prop Rodney Blake scoring a try to bring them to within four points of the worried Lions.
A match-saving 55 metre drop goal by Lions man of the match Jaco van Schalkwyk meant the Reds would need to score twice to win, a feat that was just beyond them.
Both sides had their chances but for handling errors - the Lions could easily have scored three tries in the first 15 minutes in a helter skelter opening burst, while QR Reds Quade Cooper had the ball jolted from his grasp while diving over the line following a break by Latham and centre Morgan Turinui.
Latham was one of the Reds' best on the day, trying everything possible to spark their attack and leaping high to defuse the Lions' aerial bombardment.
The Reds scored three tries to the Lions' two, but Captain Sam Cordingley was blunt about the Reds' shortcomings, conceding they had hurt their chances to win with poor ball retention against a Lions side desperate to post their second win of the season before leaving for Australasia.
"We turned over far too much ball. When we built pressure we looked good, but ball retention was a bit of an issue today and something that we'll look to improve on for next week," Cordingley said.
"We wanted to get out and run the Lions around: we wanted to play with a bit of space. We did that in patches but not enough."
Lions 24 (Joe van Niekerk, Rayno Benjamin tries, Jano Vermaak 3 pens con, Jaco van Schalkwyk drop goal) drew QR Reds 24 (Peter Hynes, Rodney Blake, Chris Latham tries Clinton Schifcofske pen 3 cons) at Ellis Park, Johannesburg.
