Lions slump to humiliating defeat at the hands of Glasgow

The Lions were blown away in the first half of their United Rugby Championship match against Glasgow Warriors at Scotstoun Stadium on Saturday evening.

They visitors slumped to a humiliating 42-0 defeat at the hands of the defending champions in Glasgow and now face long odds to play themselves back into top eight contention.

With an enthusiastic 80km/h breeze at their backs the Warriors made the most of the conditions in the first half as they ran in seven tries without reply. The Lions, with the wind already removed from their sails, did not have an answer in the second when they had the benefit of the breeze.

Though they can point to the conditions as a mitigating factor for the Warriors securing favourable field position in the first half, the Lions may find it harder to explain why their defence was breached with such ease by the home team.

The Warriors, to be fair, are a compelling force when they start marauding and the Lions were like lambs to the slaughter once the hosts routinely secured quick ruck ball and positioned multiple runners with which to advance their assault. The visitors were back-pedalling at a rate of knots.

To compound the Lions’ misery, Warriors flyhalf Adam Hastings raised the flags with all six of his conversion attempts.

The visitors were overwhelmed and at times looked out of their depth. Their man-marking left a lot to be desired and when television cameras turned to the visiting coaches’ box there were times when defence coach Jaque Fourie appeared perplexed at the easy passage the Warriors were presented to the Lions’ try line.

In contrast, Warriors coach Franco Smith, who was reintegrating some of his Six Nations players into his group, would have been over the moon by his team’s first-half performance.

The Lions went into the game with the same team that lost to Cardiff a week earlier but coach Ivan van Rooyen’s search for continuity fell flat.

They were consistently beaten to the punch by a more urgent and energised home team at the breakdown, while their lack of clarity when they had the ball, especially in the first half, revealed an alarming lack of nous and wherewithal.

The Warriors under Smith play to a well co-ordinated plan. They are clearly better drilled and operate like a cohesive unit.

Backrowers Sione Vailanu and Henco Venter terrorised the Lions, while wing Kyle Steyn and fullback Kyle Rowe delivered energy and urgency when they laid their hands on the ball.

The defeat leaves the Lions in 14th place on the points table, just two places above cellar dwellers the Dragons.

They have a home run of four matches and can still qualify for the knockout rounds but then they need to go blemish-free against Benetton, Connacht, Scarlets and Ospreys.

All four are above the Lions in the scramble for a top-eight place and taking points off each of them could still see the Ellis Park side sneak into the top eight.

On the evidence of Saturday night, however, that seems unlikely.

Scorers

Warriors (42) 42 — Tries: Nathan McBeth, Jamie Dobie (2), George Horn, Adam Hastings, Grant Stewart. Conversions: Adam Hastings.

Lions 0