The Lions had suffered two setbacks during the preceding 48 hours, so the retention of their unbeaten tour record at the ABSA Stadium last night was the solace they wanted.
They took their time, admittedly, but 32 points in the second half against a weakened Sharks side helped to confirm some of the likely selections for the first match with South Africa on June 20.
Mike Phillips, with a solo try that finally sparked the Lions into life, confirmed his grip at scrum half and Lee Byrne offered the display of strength, security and skill from full back that the management was looking for. But the situation at prop remains as live an issue as ever. Gethin Jenkins, at loose-head, conceded penalties in quick succession on a night when Jonathan Kaplan, South Africa’s leading referee, did the touring side no favours.
He penalised them 16 times, a high total these days, and was particularly quick on the draw at the breakdown, where it seemed that the Sharks loitered offside with great regularity. To their credit, the Lions accepted their fate, kept their discipline and defensive structure and made their points where it mattered — on the scoreboard.
“We have to adapt and, hopefully, we will get consistency [from referees], which we will understand as well as our opponents,” Ian McGeechan, the head coach, said. He and his staff
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have barred any complaints about refereeing throughout the tour, but McGeechan is diplomat enough to hint at mystification that a Lions scrum that appears to go well — Adam Jones doing himself no end of good on the tight-head side — should be punished as much as it was.
But they have been hurt by the loss of Stephen Ferris and, yesterday, Leigh Halfpenny to injuries that have ended their tour. Halfpenny’s thigh strain, exacerbated during kicking practice on Monday, deprives them of a long-range goalkicker, so it was a comfort to see Ronan O’Gara so dependable on a night when a blustery wind made accuracy difficult. The Ireland fly half missed only one of six kicks and, with his willingness to attack with ball in hand, indicated that the No 10 jersey is by no means a foregone conclusion for Stephen Jones.
The concern of the watching Springboks squad will be mitigated by the knowledge that the Sharks were missing nine of their leading players. Only once did they threaten the Lions line. It is a growing problem for this tour that provincial opponents cannot or will not field their best teams, and the dwindling crowds know it.
Even so, the Sharks included three senior caps and three Emerging Springboks, so they were scarcely a negligible force. But throughout the first period, they were pinned in their own half, frequently on their own line, and that the Lions should have led by a mere four points at the interval was a nonsense, given their domination of possession and territory.
A magnificent scramble defence by the Sharks limited them to a well-earned try by Lee Mears, whose lively play about the field might have set up one of his colleagues but for an inability to finish what they started. A strong breeze out of the north, coupled with their evident desire to practise their driving mauls, informed Paul O’Connell’s decisions not to kick at goal, but to go for set-pieces from close range.
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The Sharks never came to terms with the Lions’ lineout superiority and, once Jenkins had weighed up Jannie du Plessis, he threw himself into the loose effort like an extra back-row forward. For the third time in a Lions jersey, Jamie Roberts posed problems in midfield and, although he bruised his right shoulder in the process, no structural damage is indicated.
Once Phillips, weaving and dummying as he did so frequently before a serious knee injury last year, had shown the way, the Lions took full advantage. O’Gara opened the gap with a couple of straightforward penalty goals and Brian O’Driscoll made the running for Luke Fitzgerald to finish in the left corner. O’Driscoll created the fourth try with a lovely delayed pass that Byrne hit at pace, the full back making 40 metres to the line and, as the Sharks tried desperately to run ball from their own line, Jamie Heaslip capitalised on a penalty award to crash over from close range.
Scorers: Sharks: Penalty goal: Kockott (30min). Lions XV: Tries: Mears (23), Phillips (42), Fitzgerald (61), Byrne (68), Heaslip (80+2). Conversions: O’Gara 3, Hook. Penalty goals: O’Gara 2 (49, 53).
Scoring sequence (Sharks first): 0-7, 3-7 (half-time), 3-12, 3-15, 3-18, 3-25, 3-32, 3-39.
Sharks: S Terblanche; C Jordaan (rep: G Cronje, 60), A Strauss, R Swanepoel (rep: L Mvovo, 18),
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L Vulindlu; M Dumond, R Kockott (rep: C McLeod, 70); D Carstens (rep: P Cilliers, 56), R Badenhorst (rep: C Burden, 26-35, 53), J du Plessis (rep: Carstens, 70), S Sykes (rep: A van den Berg, 56), J Muller, J Botes (rep: M Rhodes, 70), J Deysel, K Daniel (sin-bin, 78).
Lions XV: L Byrne (Ospreys); S Williams (Ospreys), B O’Driscoll (Leinster), J Roberts (Cardiff Blues; rep: R Flutey, London Wasps, 64), L Fitzgerald (Leinster); R O’Gara (Munster; rep: J Hook, Ospreys, 78), M Phillips (Ospreys; rep: M Blair, Edinburgh, 70); G Jenkins (Cardiff Blues), L Mears (Bath; rep: M Rees, Scarlets, 69), A Jones (Ospreys; rep: P Vickery, London Wasps, 69; sin-bin, 76), A W Jones (Ospreys), P O’Connell (Munster; rep: S Shaw, London Wasps, 64), T Croft (Leicester), D Wallace (Munster), J Heaslip (Leinster).
Referee: J Kaplan (South Africa).
Attendance: 21,530.