The British and Irish Lions were given a huge fright, but managed a late rally - scoring three tries in the final 15 minutes to start their tour of South Africa with a 37-25 win over the Royal XV on Saturday.

Playing in front of a very sparse crowd at the sun-drenched Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg, the tourists in red produced a very unflattering performance and can indeed regard themselves as very lucky to have pulled it off.

However, the Lions showed great heart to come back from being 13-25 down and to score 24 unAnswered points in the final 15 minutes.

The biggest plus for the tourists is that this was a timely wake-up call as to what they can expect on this 10-man tour of South Africa. They will certainly know they were in a game.

Royals captain Wilhelm Koch said the Lions outplayed his team in the final quarter.

However, the most telling comment in the immediate aftermath came from Lions captain Paul O'Connel - who used the word "disappointing" to describe his team's opening match, but qualified it by saying "the boys dug deep for the win".

The touring Lions looked more than just a bit rusty. Confronted by a very enthusiastic Royals XV - very keen to put the big hits in and displaying sound defensive structures - the tourist were making very some ordinary mistakes.

Young midfielder Keith Earls was the main culprit - having what most would call a nightmare - with four successive knock-ons in a 10-minute period. In all the Lions made seven handling errors in a very ordinary first half.

In the first 40 minutes the Lions simply could not get any momentum and they needed a moment of magic to spark them. That moment appeared to be Tommy Bowe's try two minutes before half-time.

The biggest plus for the tourists came in form of the hulking figure of prop Andrew Sheridan, who put down an early marker in the scrums. There was no doubt the Lions' scrum was far superior.

For the Royals scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius was the fly in the ointment of the Lions, with his harassing play at the base of the scrum causing the tourists plenty of problems.

After the break the Royals found themselves increasingly on the wrong side of the calls from referee Marius Jonker and in some cases they would justifiably have been puzzled by the rulings.

But the most telling statistic was that the Lions had enjoyed almost 70 percent of the possession in the third quarter and the Royals had to make all the tackles.

The other fact worth noting is that in that same period the Lions had wasted four try-scoring opportunities through poor handling.

However, the spark that eventually set the Lions on their way

The Royals got off to the perfect start, with young Sarel Pretorius charging down Mike Blair's attempted clearance. But a mix-up between Naas Olivier and his inside centre, Hanno Coetzee, meant they were soon back inside their own 22 and a golden chance lost.

Not that the Lions were using their opportunities. A penalty almost right in front became a scrum to the Royals, as a tap-'n-go resulted in a knock-on. But the second time round, another penalty for an offence at a ruck by the Royals, the touring Lions did not repeat their earlier error - with Ronan O'Gara making it 3-0 after eight minutes.

But from the restart the Royals won a penalty from a huge up-'n-under and a massive hit by Jonathan Makoena on O'Gara. Naas Olivier levelled the scores at 3-all.

Five minutes later Olivier attempted a drop-goal, which was well wide.

But within minutes the Royals hit the front, with captain Wilhelm Koch scoring the first try of the tour. It came from a great little behind-the-back pass by Hanno Coetzee to Koch. Olivier slotted the conversion for a 10-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Royals also had the next scoring opportunity, a penalty near the Lions' 10-metre line and Olivier made it 13-3 and the visitors seemed rattled by the enthusiasm of the South African side.

That became 18-3 in the 27th minute, as Royals hooker Rayno Barnes stormed over from a line-out maul from 10 metres out. Olivier couldn't add the extras, but by now the body language of the two teams were like day-and-night.

The Lions needed something to happen - to find that missing spark - and a solid maul, which took them to within metres of the line, seemed to be the turnaround moment. But a penalty and scrum became a turnover for the Royals and huge kick downfield by Olivier.

Clearly the momentum was with the home team.

But with two minutes of the half to go Tommy Bowe scored the tourists opening try when he cut through from a short inside pass - following a series of rucks. O'Gara made it 10-18, which is how it stayed till the half-time break.

The second half started with the Lions on the front foot - an offside ruling from a line-out against the Royals giving O'Gara and early shot at goal and he made no mistake with the sitter - 13-18.

A hand in a ruck soon gave the Royals' flyhalf, Olivier, a shot at goal - but this time he was well wide from about 40 metres out.

The Lions, who had now clearly changed to a higher gear, started to enjoy territorial advantage and the bulk of possession. They also had several scoring opportunities - coming close several times. But as was the case so often before the break, the final pass went either into touch, forward or - in the case of wing Shane Williams - lost as he stretched for the line.

However, as the game turned into a territorial game, the Royals soon found themselves deep inside Lions territory and as Devon Raubenheimer sparked a counter the hulking figure of prop Bees Roux burst over the line. The call went to the TNO, who ruled a try was scored. Replacement Riaan Viljoen made it 25-13 with 15 minutes to go.

However, from the restart the Royals failed to control the ball and rangy Lee Byrne found time and space on the ball - firs controlling it with his boot and them collected it to flop over in the tackle of Sarel Pretorius. O'Gara made it a five-point game (20-25) by adding the conversion.

With eight minutes left on the clock the Lions won another of those penalties that had Royals captain Wilhelm Koch shaking his head in bewilderment. It mattered not for Lions, as O'Gara slotted the penalty to narrow the gap to just two points - 23-25.

And the tourists hit the lead with four minute to go as replacement lock Alun-Wyn Jones flopped over from a well-worked maul that lasted almost two minutes. And O'Gara's conversion meant the Royals now needed at least a converted try - 30-25.

And O'Gara sealed the match when he sprinted over for a try that the hallmark of Lions class written all over it - great interplay between forwards and backs. O'Gara added the conversion for a personal contribution of 22 points in a 37-25 win.

Man of the match: There were some Royals who announced themselves to the wider world of rugby - men already known for their qualities in South Africa - scrumhalf Sarel Pretorius and No.8 Jonathan Makoena. Lock Paul O'Connell produced a solid captain's game, prop Andrew Sheridan had a strong performance in the scrums and Ronan O'Gara was invaluable with the boot. However, our awards goes to Lions fullback Lee Byrne - who was solid in the last line of defence and showing how valuable he is going to be with that huge boot at altitude - where two of the three Tests will be played. It is also his try-scoring ability at crucial times that makes him so valuable.

Moment of the match: There were seven quality tries and you could look at those by Alun-Wyn Jones and Ronan O'Gara as having sealed the win. However, the score that sparked the Lions and put them on the road to victory was Lee Byrne's try in the 65th minute.

Villain of the match: Not a single one ... not even the referee. What a delightful match.

The scorers:

For the Royal XV:
Tries: Koch, Barnes, Roux
Cons: Olivier, Viljoen
Pens: Olivier 2

For the B&I Lions:
Tries: Bowe, Byrne, A-W Jones, O'Gara
Cons: O'Gara 4
Pens: O'Gara 3

Teams:

Royal XV: 15 Russell Jeacocks, 14 Egon Seconds, 13 Deon van Rensburg, 12 Hanno Coetzee, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Naas Olivier, 9 Sarel Pretorius, 8 Jonathan Mokuena, 7 Devon Raubenheimer, 6 Wilhelm Koch (captain), 5 Jacques Lombaard, 4 Rudi Mathee, 3 Bees Roux, 2 Rayno Barnes, 1 Albertus Buckle.
Replacements: 16 Pellow van der Westhuizen, 17 Stef Roberts, 18 Rynard Landman, 19 RW Kember, 20 Jacques Coetzee, 21 Riaan Viljoen, 22 Jovan Bowles.

British & Irish Lions: 15 Lee Byrne, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Jamie Roberts, 11 Shane Williams, 10 Ronan O'Gara, 9 Mike Blair, 8 David Wallace, 7 Martyn Williams, 6 Joe Worsley, 5 Paul O'Connell (captain), 4 Simon Shaw, 3 Adam Jones, 2 Matthew Rees, 1 Andrew Sheridan.
Replacements: 16 Lee Mears, 17 Phil Vickery, 18 Alun-Wyn Jones, 19 Jamie Heaslip, 20 Mike Phillips, 21 Stephen Jones, 22 Riki Flutey.

Referee: Marius Jonker
Assistant referees: Jaco Peyper, Reuben Rossouw
TMO: Shaun Veldsman

  • Did the tourists impress you? Can they beat the Boks?