British Lions / maxliu / 27 June 2009 / Leave a comment

Brave Lions hearts broken as Boks fly-half punishes O'Gara indiscipline to wrap up series win...

South Africa drifted to [7.0] before Morne Steyn won the match and the Test series for the hosts with the last kick of an epic contest in Pretoria.

Steyn struck the winning points from his own half after Lions subsitute Ronan O'Gara was penalised for tackling Fourie du Preez in mid-air.

It was a devastating end to a thrilling contest for The Lions who came in to [1.25] as they dominated the game in the first half and went in at half-time 16-8 ahead thanks to a try from Rob Kearney and kicks from Stephen Jones.

The match was much more fiercely fought after the break with tempers threatening to boil over between Andrew Sheridan and Bakkies Botha as the Springboks fought to get back into the match and the Lions tried to hang on for what would have been a famous series leveller. The tourists took the brunt of the intensity with props Gethin Jenkins and Adam Jones as well as centres Brian O'Driscoll and Jamie Roberts all going off injured.

In the end it was too much for the Lions as Bryan Habana's piercing run through the Lions defence resulted in a try before JP Pietersen went over and substitute centre Jaque Fourie ran in a crucial score six minutes from time to put the Boks three points ahead.

When, minutes later, Stephen Jones kept his composure to level with a penalty from the touchline it looked as though the Lions were on for their second draw in four days and the stalemate was matched at [1.51].

But then came the fatal blow as O'Gara hauled down Preez and Steyn stepped up to give his side a 28-25 victory.

The Lions had heroes all over the field - in particular debutant Simon Shaw who was voted man of the match for his awesome display in the second row - but this test defeat marks the tourists' seventh in a row and leaves them with only pride to play for in next weekend's third test.

For the Springboks, who are now conquerors of the Lions as well as World Champions and Tri-Nations champions, the win completes an illustrious hat-trick. They were strongly fancied to win the series from the outset and traded no higher than [2.22].