For a second weekend in a row, the Lions scraped to a victory overseas with the rainy conditions Italy hampering their running rugby game plan against Zebre Parma.
The converted try by winger Edwill van der Merwe in the first half, and a penalty conversion off the boot of flyhalf Sanele Nohamba in the second forty was enough to seal the 10-9 win at the Stadio Gianluca Lanfranchi.
It was their fourth victory on the trot and the Lions remain the only unbeaten South African side in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and currently occupy second place on the log behind Leinster, the other unbeaten team in the competition.
Puddles of water collected on the pitch ahead of the teams running on, and by the time the game kicked off, the rain was bucketing down and it remained like that throughout the clash.
Initially it didn’t stop the Lions from spreading the ball early on, and they looked to try and beat the conditions by playing with the ball in hand, but soon found out it was not the route to go.
Handling errors happened - to be expected with the slippery ball - and there was no real go-forward ball with players struggling to keep their footing on the soggy pitch.
Their errors helped Zebre take an early 6-0 lead with the visitors giving away a couple of penalties at scrum time and at the breakdown. Their tackling early on was also not up to scratch.
Although the home side found some gaps on the attack, the Lions’ defence managed to keep them out when it came to defending close to their try line.
Trailing 6-0 after 25 minutes, the Johannesburg side claimed a penalty and got within striking distance after a lineout and the forwards trucking it up. The ball was then spread wide by centre Marius Louw with Van der Merwe evading a poor tackle attempt to go over in the left corner. Nohamba coolly converted the score from the touchline for the lead.
The flyhalf extended the lead to 10-6 with an early second-half penalty after the Lions got the upper hand in the scrums to make up for a penalty miss right before the end of the first half.
Then came a massive defensive effort in the second forty. Zebre hit back with a penalty of their own early after changing sides, but as they knocked on the door for the next 30-plus minutes, the Lions repelled attack after attack to seal their second win on tour.
It’s especially in the last five minutes of the clash where they were under immense pressure. But the same character that sealed the win over the Dragons last weekend, came to the fore and clinched a hard-fought victory in those terrible conditions.
"That was an excellent defensive set right at the end to get the win," Lions captain and Player of the Match Francke Horn said afterwards.
"It was wet and soggy underfoot and the ball was really slippery. We knew it could be a one or two-pointer game and we defended for five minutes with a one-point lead and managed to get the win."
Point scorers:
Lions 10 (7): Try: Edwill van der Merwe. Conversion: Sanele Nohamba. Penalty: Nohamba.
Zebre Parma: Penalties: Giovanni Montemauri (3).