JOHANNESBURG (AP) 鈥� A dogged Lions side that led for more than an hour was pipped by New Zealand 41-35 at Ellis Park on Tuesday.
The All Blacks swept all four provincial teams to remain undefeated on their , but they were given a serious scare in an entertaining 12-try contest.
New Zealand had only three players backing up from last Saturday’s on the same ground and involved five injury replacements summoned on tour 鈥� including one who arrived on Monday 鈥� plus a debut for prop Saula Ma’u.
Their defense struggled and missed 19 tackles. They trailed 14-0 after seven minutes, were still behind at halftime and down 35-17 in the 47th. The Lions threatened to become the first South African provincial side to beat New Zealand since Orange Free State, now known as the Cheetahs, in 1976.
But like the , and the All Blacks had already beaten, the Lions were out of season and not match fit. They hadn’t played since May 30 in the United Rugby Championship quarterfinals.
The All Blacks stormed back in the last half-hour with four successive tries; two by Rieko Ioane, a second for flanker Ethan Blackadder that gave them the lead for the first time in the 62nd, and a second by winger Emoni Narawa in the 79th that finally settled the tourists’ nerves.
鈥淭he Lions came out hissing,鈥� Blackadder said. 鈥淏ut we stayed composed and found a way in the end. They were quality tonight.鈥�
Blackadder 鈥� whose father Todd was on the last traditional tour in 1996 鈥� was one of the New Zealand standouts along with inside center Timoci Tavatavanawai, Narawa, and , back from Japan and in a black jersey for the first time since the 2023 Rugby World Cup final.
All Blacks coach Dave Rennie thought Blackadder was phenomenal: 鈥淗e’s got a massive engine and was everywhere. He picked up some plums (tries) as well.鈥�
Blackadder’s test prospects also improved after Anton Segner was ruled out of the rest of the tour. Segner was a late withdrawal from the first test reserves due to an ankle injury that’s needed two surgeries. The injury was assessed as acute inflammatory arthritis. He won’t be replaced.
Mo’unga, like New Zealand, got better as the game got older, but he and Beauden Barrett could convert only three of their seven tries. On the other hand, Chris Smith, at home, converted all five of the Lions tries and hit the post with a long penalty.
Lions start faster
Early pressure by Lions long-time captain Francke Horn resulted in a dummy and try by scrumhalf Nico Steyn, who has been in the Springboks camp.
Moments later, All Blacks scrumhalf Noah Hotham was intercepted by Siba Mahashe who ran in untouched. Mahashe was only 22 and carrying hype. The recent Junior Bok was wanted by the Blitzbok sevens and regarded as a Bob Skinstad type. He was the player of the match.
Narawa laid off a try for Hotham and finished one that started from a mark by Mo’unga in his 22.
But the Lions shot further ahead again through winger Kelly Mpeku.
Wonderful handling by New Zealand produced a try for Blackadder but one for winger Fehi Fineanganofo on halftime was ruled out by a forward pass.
Rennie’s halftime message to New Zealand was to throw the first punch in the second half. But the Lions did, again.
After 42 seconds, winger Erich Cronj茅 started and finished a Lions try, then captain Horn scored from a pushover try as the All Blacks scrum creaked again. It stopped jarring after the front row was replaced by Xavier Numia, Bradley Slater and Ma鈥檜.
The Lions’ preseason conditioning fell away and the All Blacks were ruthless. Against the four provinces they have owned the last quarter when they have scored 12 of their total 29 tries.
The second test is on Saturday in Cape Town.
The Springboks cleared Siya Kolisi to play after a grade-two hamstring tear on Aug. 8 against Argentina. He will also captain them. Paul de Villiers dropped out of the matchday 23.
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