RUGBY/Sharks 3 Lions 39:THE MARGIN of victory at the ABSA Stadium in Durban was emphatic and certainly an accurate reflection of the gap between the teams on the night but this was once again a patchy display from the tourists.

They improved appreciably after the interval primarily because they increased the tempo of the game and players started to make better decisions. Lions’ scrumhalf Mike Phillips was a classic case in point often having to wait until the forwards were finished picking and driving before being allowed to look to the broader picture.

Left to interpret the game he was a real handful, a fact illustrated by picking up the coveted man-of-the-match award. He in turn paid tribute to the pack. “I thought the forwards dominated and were tremendous.”

There were certainly some excellent individual performances up front, notably English hooker Lee Mears – one or two missed throws aside – Gethin Jenkins, David Wallace and the outstanding Jamie Heaslip. The Lions number eight had a storming game in every respect. The Lions nicked three Sharks’ throws out of touch but there will be concern about the 13 turnovers and 16 penalties conceded.

The fact that referee Jonathan Kaplan was a constant source of frustration for the visitors is perhaps the most charitable way of describing his performance.

Behind the scrum Ronan O’Gara landed all bar one kick at goal, Jamie Roberts made a couple of trademark surges but worryingly he was taken off and sat on the sideline with his shoulder in a makeshift sling.

Brian O’Driscoll might have had one try but contributed heavily to a couple of others, showing the usual quota of polished touches. Luke Fitzgerald looked dangerous every time he touched the ball while Lee Byrne once again contributed handsomely.

There is still plenty to work on but the Lions dominated all night without initially helping themselves to the crock of points on offer. Post interval there was an improvement and for the coaching staff, that will be a pleasing aspect of the evening.

The first half was a succession of butchered opportunities from the Lions, some of which beggared belief. The tourists were so heavily patterned as if playing by rote rather than having an appreciation of what was unfolding in front of their eyes. Heads-up rugby would have yielded three or four tries in that period but instead the Lions seemed transfixed by blackboard gambits.

Nowhere was this more apparent than when Phillips found himself bullied by his own forwards, who were intent on forming pods and rumbling around the fringes of rucks. That’s fine if is it done with some dynamism but the visitors were terribly ponderous and this allowed the Sharks defence to regroup, which they did to great effect, particularly flankers Jean Deysel and Jacques Botes.

Phillips needed to clear ball quickly and had he not taken a back seat to his pack would have been able to put any one of three Lions over when they had a four-on-two overlap six metres from the Sharks’ line.

O’Gara was also guilty of a periodic lack of awareness, cross-kicking on one occasion for prop Gethin Jenkins. The same issues with the breakdown resurfaced; not getting enough numbers there and facilitating the Sharks in their efforts to turn over ball, which the home side accomplished with worrying regularity.

Then there was the performance of Kaplan who took a very dim view of Welsh prop Jenkins’ scrum technique.

The most gilt-edged try-scoring chance fell to O’Driscoll who intercepted Monty Dumond’s long pass inside the Lions 22 and raced clear but in looking around and hesitating slightly was hauled down by replacement Lwazi Mvovo with a brilliant tackle two metres from the Sharks line. In supporting at pace Fitzgerald fumbled the ball forward, too anxious with the line in sight.

Heaslip was held up over the line by Deysel after tapping a quick free kick to himself, Phillips failed to spot the numerical overlap as the Lions virtually billeted themselves in the Sharks’ 22 in the opening 40 minutes. They did manage to breach the home side’s defence once on 22 minutes when Phillips’ brilliant offload allowed Heaslip to put the excellent Mears over.

O’Gara converted but the Lions conceded three cheap points to Sharks scrumhalf Rocky Kockott which meant that the visitors only led 7-3 at the interval.

Phillips was far more authoritative and decisive from the restart, using his physique to great effect and availing of a non-existent fringe defence to scamper over on a slaloming run from 30 metres.

O’Gara could not convert but tagged on two penalties to ease the visitors into an 18-3 lead. Soft hands by Tom Croft put O’Driscoll into space and he raced 40 metres before putting Fitzgerald over for a try. O’Gara posted a wonderful conversion and from virtually the same spot close to the touchline he improved upon Byrne’s try on 67 minutes, a fine individual effort that originated from O’Driscoll’s beautifully floated pass.

Heaslip deservedly embellished his excellent night’s work with the final try, taking a quick tap penalty to himself and forcing his way over. Replacement James Hook added the conversion with the final kick of the evening.

SCORING SEQUENCE: 22 mins: Mears try, O’Gara conversion, 0-7; 29: Kockott penalty, 3-7. Half-time: 3-7. 41: Phillips try, 3-12; 49: O’Gara penalty, 3-15; 52: O’Gara penalty, 3-18; 60: Fitzgerald try, O’Gara conversion, 3-25; 67: Byrne try, O’Gara conversion, 3-32; 82: Heaslip try, Hook conversion, 3-39.

SHARKS: S Terblanche; C Jordan, A Strauss, R Swanepoel, L Vulindlu; M Dumond, R Kockott; D Carstens, S Badenhorst, J du Plessis; S Sykes, J Muller (capt); J Botes, J Deysel, K Daniel. Replacements: L Mvovo for Swanpoel (17 mins); C Burden for Badenhorst (26-33 mins); A van den Berg for Sykes (56 mins); P Cilliers for Carstens (56 mins), G Conje for Jordan (60 mins); M Rhodes for Botes (69 mins); C McLeod for Kockott (69 mins); Carstens for Du Lessis (69 mins).

LIONS: L Byrne (Wales); S Williams (Wales), B O’Driscoll (Ireland), J Roberts (Wales), L Fitzgerald (Ireland); R O’Gara (Ireland), M Phillips (Wales); G Jenkins (Wales), L Mears (England), A Jones (Wales); A-W Jones (Wales), P O’Connell (Ireland) capt; T Croft (England), D Wallace (Ireland), J Heaslip (Ireland). Replacements: S Shaw (England) for O’Connell (64 mins), R Flutey (England) for Roberts (64 mins), M Rees (Wales) for Mears (67 mins), M Blair (Scotland) for Phillips (69 mins), P Vickery (England) for Jones (69 mins), J Hook (Wales) for O’Gara (77 mins).

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa)

Sinbin: P Vickery 76 mins; K Daniel 78 mins.