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The gamble to bring back his six All Blacks at once failed to pay off for Hurricanes coach Colin Cooper as his side were mauled by the Lions 30-7 in a Super 14 rugby match at Ellis Park in Johannesburg today.
The defeat marked the Hurricanes' fourth straight
loss eight games into the season.
After being beaten by the Hurricanes on nine previous occasions as the Cats, the Lions proved to have a much bigger bite today.
Back in the fray for the first time this season, Rodney So'oialo, Jerry Collins, Jason Eaton, Andrew Hore and Piri Weepu looked well short of their best after sitting out the first seven rounds to prepare for the World Cup.
Lock Eaton got a yellow card in the 25th minute for deliberately slowing the ball down and within a minute, the Lions scored their first try.
The Hurricanes were slow to get in the groove as they made a host of unforced errors and often, they turned the ball over in the contact area to give the Lions the chance to counter attack.
As a result, they found themselves pinned in their own half for most of the match and inevitably conceded points as the Lions took the ball wide and ran with confidence.
Forced to defend, the disjointed Hurricanes resorted to trying to slow the ball down and paid the price when Eaton was binned.
It was a simple move. From the lineout close in off the penalty, the Lions drove the ball over for a try by hooker Ethienne Reynecke.
Pretorius missed the conversion but slotted home four penalties to give the Lions a 17-0 halftime lead.
With halftime looming, the Hurricanes finally got on the scoreboard with a rare sortie that was successful.
Halfback Piri Weepu was driven over with the help of Tana Umaga and Blair Stewart had the simple job collecting the extra points from close to the posts.
Lack of continuity proved costly for the Hurricanes.
Rather than settling for the opportunity to set up phases, too many attempts were made to force passes allowing the Lions to regain possession and ease pressure on their defence.
Lions skipper Andre Pretorius was outstanding, kicking five penalties, a conversion and a dropped goal to collect 20 of his side's points.
He set up his side's second try in the 69th minute with a chip through a flat Hurricanes defence for centre Jacque Fourie to score unhindered.
So'oialo could not hide his disappointment having to return home with no points from three matches in South Africa and Australia.
"To return home with no wins from South Africa is a very hard thing, and we are very disappointed."
Lions 30 (Ethienne Reynecke, Jaque Fourie tries; Andre Pretorius 5 pen, con, dropped goal) Hurricanes 7 (Piri Weepu try; Blair Stewart con). Halftime: 17-7.
- NZPA
