The Lions gave as good as they got for nearly an hour, but Leinster showed their class to land the knockout punch at just the right time to set up a hard-fought 24-6 United Rugby Championship victory in Dublin on Saturday night.
It was like a cagey boxing title fight at the Aviva Stadium, with the Johannesburg side proving that their unbeaten status coming into the game was a true reflection of their ability as they went toe-to-toe with the Irish giants.
They reined in their natural attacking style to employ a measured game-plan designed to avoid giving Leinster any free points or 22-metre entries by keeping it tight with big carries from their forwards, and it worked a treat as they conceded just three points in the first 30 minutes and scored six of their own through flyhalf Kade Wolhuter.
The Lions No 10, assisted by scrumhalf Morné van den Berg and fullback Quan Horn, traded several kicks with the Leinster backs in a tense territory battle.
Their strong defence also held firm despite a flurry of angled runs from the loose trio of Caelan Doris, Josh van der Flier and Max Deegan, while centre Robbie Henshaw and fullback Hugo Keenan also made some inroads.
Springbok lock RG Snyman, though, was closely marked and wasn’t able to unlock the Lions’ front-line too often, with captain Francke Horn, flanks Jarod Cairns and JC Pretorius, and lock Ruben Schoeman getting stuck in.
But the departure of Quan Horn in the 11th minute to concussion disrupted the Lions’ kicking game, as they opted to move Edwill van der Merwe to fullback, when it may have been easier for right wing Richard Kriel to shift to No 15 as he has played there for most of his career.
Van der Merwe is not renowned for his kicking, and he chose to run back most of Leinster’s kicks, which played right into the hosts’ hands as they could attack those breakdowns.
But moments after Francke Horn stole a Leinster five-metre lineout, the Dublin outfit broke through the red wall through openside flank Van der Flier in the 32nd minute to make it 10-6 at halftime.
The Lions didn’t help themselves with a couple of unforced errors such as missing touch from penalties, booting kick-offs straight into touch and wasting a few attacking lineouts.
Heavy rain that started falling during the halftime break didn’t help the South Africans either, while their dominant scrum didn’t always get the necessary reward from referee Craig Evans.
Leinster started gaining more momentum the longer the game went on, though, and only a series of superb scramble defence kept the Lions in the contest – with one particular dive from Henco van Wyk denying Lowe a certain try.
But when it mattered most, and before Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen could bring on some much-needed reinforcements off the bench, Leinster pounced from a five-metre tap penalty as No 8 Doris forced his way over in the 59th minute to take the game away from the visitors at 17-6.
The Lions’ performance was summed up in the next play as the kick-off went straight into touch.
And while the Johannesburg side never gave up the fight in the last quarter, Leinster kept their composure to close out the victory with a penalty try in the final play of the game after the Lions collapsed a driving maul.
Points-Scorers
Leinster 24 – Tries: Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris, Penalty Try. Conversions: Sam Prendergast (2). Penalty: Prendergast (1).
Lions 6 – Penalties: Kade Wolhuter (2).