Italian side Benetton inflicted what could turn out to be a fatal blow for the Emirates Lions hopes of making the Vodacom United Rugby Championship top eight with a gutsy 42-31 victory in Johannesburg on Saturday.
The Lions went into this game knowing that a bonus point victory in each of their last four games would give them a chance to make the top eight, and anything less than that would kill off their chances.
And while a congested log may give them some hope of sneaking in via the back door if a host of results go their way, their performance on Saturday certainly didn’t look anything like a top eight side.
But that was hardly surprising, given the season the Lions had, as they started off with four consecutive wins and then slumped back into mediocrity, hardly doing the talent at their disposal much justice.
Yes it is true that the Lions don’t have the depth of other sides in the competition, but few would argue that the starting XV they put on the park can’t go toe to toe with any side in the competition.
But too often - as on Saturday - they were their own worst enemies. They gifted Benetton two easy first half tries, and conceded two more before the break. They conceded no less than 32 first half points - hardly what they promised going into the game.
TOO EAGER AND NOT AS ACCURATE
In many ways the Lions were too eager and not anywhere near as accurate. For most of the first half, all Benetton had to do was play off their mistakes, and there were many. The Italians, who are showing a lot of progress under coach Marco Bortolami, have now moved up to fifth spot on the log. This was despite three yellow cards and twice being down to 13 men, something which the Lions couldn’t punish.
The Lions, with just six wins from 15 outings this season, are languishing in 14th spot on 31 points. Even if they get full points from their remaining three fixtures, they can only end up on 46 points, which is highly unlikely to be enough for a top eight spot.
With all this in mind and with six seasons under coach Ivan van Rooyen now without success, it is hard not to think that there will be serious discussions going on this week at the Lions headquarters and that change may be in the offing.
Because at the end of the day there are few excuses. Yes, the Lions have injuries, as do so many other sides at this stage of the season. But they had a week off after their loss to Edinburgh in the EPCR Challenge Cup where they started just as dismally as on Saturday.
This loss now takes their losing streak to five consecutive games, while the Lions have won just three games from 11 in 2025. Clearly nothing is going to plan.
LIONS LED FOR ONLY 3 MINUTES
That was apparent from the start where Kade Wolhuter tried to set the tone with a monster 60 metre penalty to put the Lions into the lead. That lead held for three minutes, and they never saw it again as the Italians took over and controlled the game.
The first try was from a dropped ball by Darrien Landsberg, which bounced up into the hands of Jacob Umaga to trot in and score the simplest of tries.
Ignacio Mendy scored the first of his two tries of the afternoon after Benetton cut open the Lions defence and found space on the outside for him to score.
Leonardo Marin added his name to the scoresheet in the 22nd minute to further inflict pain on the Lions as Benetton used the broken play to good advantage against a disjointed defence.
The fourth try was also a gift - this time as Marius Louw’s pass on attack from a turnover ball was intercepted, and Mendy pinned his ears back to run 25 metres to score untouched.
Inbetween the only good part of the Lions attack, which focused on going wide at every opportunity but lacked the accuracy to make it count, was when they didn’t go wide. Ruan Venter scored off the back of a monster maul that couldn’t be stopped.
Yet, the Lions failed to learn from this and continued their tactic to take it wide. While they were given some happiness on the halftime break with a fortunate try for Marius Louw - courtesy of a chip over the defence by Morne van den Berg that flummoxed the defence, with Louw getting a fingertip to the ball when trying to ground it - they were still far behind at the break.
BENETTON ATTACK EXCEPTIONAL
The second half showed just why Benetton were good on attack as Mendy beat two defenders, passed inside to Alessandro Garbisi, who put his captain Federico Russo away for the try.
But then Benetton’s troubles started, and a better side may have made them pay for it. Russo was dispatched for a deliberate knock-down, while Siua Maile was lucky to get a yellow three minutes later for a head clash with Van den Berg.
Benetton survived the 10 minutes, but when Russo returned, it was reserve lock Giosue Zilocchi who was dispatched for a grasscutter tackle, taking them back down to 13.
The Lions finally did get across the line when Benetton ran out of defenders, allowing Edwill van der Merwe to dance his way across and give them some hope.
But just as they were looking at a momentum shift, Benetton’s scrum stood up and won penalty after penalty with only seven men, allowing Umaga to add another three with a shot at goal.
The Lions kept on relentlessly attacking and found some more reward when JC Pretorius went over in the 76th minute.
But it was too little too late and Benetton took home the five points on offer, boosting their playoff position and dealing a massive blow to the Lions chances of achieving their goal of a top eight place.
SCORERS
EMIRATES LIONS - tries: Ruan Venter, Marius Louw, Edwill van der Merwe, JC Pretorius. Conversions: Kade Wolhuter (4). Penalty: Wolhuter.
BENETTON TREVISO - tries: Jacob Umaga, Ignacio Mendy (2), Leonardo Marin, Federico Ruzza. Conversions: Umaga (4). Penalties: Umaga (3)