Andre Pretorius landed a last-minute penalty goal as the Lions edged the Western Force 25-24 in a Super 14 rugby match on Saturday to collect their first win in Australia.
The Force, established in Perth last year, lost by a point at Subiaco for the second time this season and are yet to register a win at home.
Cameron Shepherd gave the Force a 24-22 lead via a 49m penalty goal with three minutes remaining, making amends for two earlier misses after Pretorius had slotted a dropped goal to put the South Africans in front in the 65th minute.
The Springbok flyhalf went on as a second-half substitute and missed an early penalty before becoming only the second South African to surpass 500 points in Super rugby when he calmly took the dropped goal.
He missed another penalty chance before coming back to seal the win — snapping a 15-match losing sequence in Australia for the Johannesburg-based franchise formerly known as the Cats.
The Johannesburg-based team had not won away from home in the Super 12 or Super 14 competition since 2001.
The Force led 18-13 at half-time, rallying from a 13-3 deficit with enterprising tries by Shepherd and prop Gareth Hardy, despite wasting a series of scoring chances.
But the hosts gave up a one-man deficit for 10 minutes after the break when Matt Henjak was sent to the sin bin. And Henjak capped a night to forget when he was penalised for playing the ball off his feet in the 79th minute and giving Pretorius the penalty shot well within range.
Louis Strydom converted Jaque Fourie’s first-half try and landed four penalties for a 14-point haul before he was replaced by Pretorius midway through the second half.
Shepherd landed five of his nine shots at goal, rushing and missing a simple conversion attempt of his own try in the first half that cost the Force two points. — Sapa-AP