<Bz37>Lions steal victory at the death
A French defensive error in the last few seconds of overtime gave the Classic Lions a hard-fought victory yesterday afternoon as the 19th edition of the World Rugby Classic got off to a dramatic start at the National Sports Centre.
In atrocious weather, where a biting north wind and stinging rain made ball handling a challenge and forced hundreds of spectators to scamper for the warmth of the hospitality tents, the feisty and physical opening-round match was tied at 12-all after the regulation 60 minutes.
And just when it appeared that overtime would end without any addition to the score, an attempted French clearance 20 yards from their try line was expertly intercepted by pacey Lions scrumhalf David Scully — a member of England’s 1993 World Cup winning sevens team — who scampered through unchallenged to place the ball down underneath the posts to seal his side’s place in Wedneday night’s semi-finals.
Earlier, French lock Christophe Porcu had given Les Bleus the lead after a mix-up in the Lions three-quarter line saw them drop the ball a mere 10 yards from their try line, gifting the former France A player an easy score.
But despite the difficulty of battling into a incredibly strong wind throughout the first half, the Lions continually made life difficult for the French through their powerful set of forwards, with Irish lock Gabriel Fulcher jinking through on the right wing after 19 minutes to bring the scores level.
That try was answered soon after, however, by a typically free-flowing French counter-attack, with fullback Pierre Bondouy rounding off an excellent series of passes to give France a 12-7 lead at the break.
As the conditions became more and more challenging with the rain falling hard, scoring chances were few and far between in the second half — until Scully picked up the ball from a five-yard scrum near the French line, dummied and flew through the subsequent gap to register the first of his two tries of the night.
“The weather made life extremely difficult for both teams and wasn’t quite what we were expecting in a place like Bermuda,” said Lions skipper Tony Diprose afterwards, who was capped ten times for England at number eight in the late 1990s.
“It was a pretty physical game as well. It was a shame it got a little scrappy in the second half but with the rain coming down like it did it was kind of inevitable that that would be the case.
“With the scores even for so long, it was always likely that some sort of error would decide which way the game went and fortunately for us it was the French who made that mistake right on their own try line.”
Having watched the current international team spank England at fortress Twickenham in the opening Autumn international in London just hours earlier, the former greats emerged in inspired mood, scoring three tries to Argentina’s none in the opening 30 minutes through prop Murray Davie, Maori number eight Mutu Ngarimu and winger Paul Simonsson.
But the wind at their backs, the Pumas came out intent on imposing themselves after the break and it paid almost immediate dividends with a try by Eduardo Laborde, before scrumhalf Facundo Soler added a second after intercepting a mis-placed pass.
When that try was converted, Argentina were within three points with over 16 minutes remaining — though some resolutely fierce All Black defending ensured that the men from South America made no further inroads.
New Zealand will play the Classic Lions in the first semifinal on Wednesday night.
In tonight’s matches, meanwhile, Australia take on Canada starting at 7 p.m. while defending champions South Africa play the USA.
