Reds and Lions draw 24-24

im sure the article will follow, but il put in my two cents now...

That was the worst game i have ever seen, im not sure what the stats are going to show in terms of handling errors although IMO it was terrible. I think what made it even worse was the Ref, who seem completely out of his depth, he made some of the worst decisions, problem was he made them constantly throughout the match.

Il be interested to see what the penalty count for each team was, i have a feeling the Reds were penalised around three times as many as the Lions.

7-2 penalties against the reds

yeah not suprising, but i meant to say free kicks and penalties,

Last gasp Latham try earns Reds draw with Lions
Reuters | Sunday, 23 March 2008
Last gasp Latham try earns Reds draw with Lions - Rugby news & coverage - Stuff.co.nz


Fullback Chris Latham has claimed a last-minute try to earn the Queensland Reds a 24-24 draw with the Lions.

The Wallaby international ended a spell of sustained pressure to dive over close enough to the posts for wing Clinton Schifcofske to boot his conversion and level the scores as the siren sounded.

A helter-skelter second half featured five tries and a total of 45 points compared to an opening period containing only a fourth-minute penalty by Lions scrumhalf Jano Vermaak.

Reds flyhalf Quade Cooper should have cancelled out the penalty but was dispossessed by Lions centre Walter Venter when he was past the line and in the act of scoring.

The game sparked into life after the interval with Reds wing Peter Hynes grabbing the first try in the 47th minute.

Schifcofske converted to give the Reds a 10-6 lead but two tries in five minutes by the hosts looked to have taken the game away from Queensland.

Number eight Joe van Niekerk finished off a fine break by Lions flyhalf Jaco van Schalkwyk before wing Ryno Benjamin scored in the corner.

Replacement prop Rodney Blake barrelled over from a couple of metres to close the gap to four points with Schifcofske converting, only for Van Schalkwyk to drop a 55-metre goal to restore the seven-point lead for the Lions.

They clung on for 13 of the remaining 14 minutes until Latham struck.

Coopers knock on over the line early on in the game (12th minute i think) had me giggling my arse off

Reds snatch last-minute draw - Rugby - Fox Sports


Reds snatch last-minute draw

March 23, 2008 QUEENSLAND'S Super 14 rugby revival continued as Australia full-back Chris Latham scored a last gasp try to help secure a dramatic 24-24 draw with the Lions in Johannesburg.

The Reds scored three tries to two and led 10-6 after a long-distance try to winger Peter Hynes in the 48th minute, but made too many errors and didn't go on with the job.

Tries to No.8 Joe van Niekerk and winger Rayno Benjamin propelled the Lions to a 21-10 lead.

Queensland got to within four points when winger Clinton Schifcofske converted a try to prop Rodney Blake, set up by a break from another front row substitute Stephen Moore.

Lions five-eight Jaco van Schalkwyk nudged the home team three points further ahead with a monstrous drop goal from near halfway.

The Reds looked as if they had blown their last chance four minutes from full-time, when five-eight Quade Cooper knocked on close to the Lions' line.

However, the Reds showed sufficient composure in the dying moments to create a chance for a rampaging Latham and Schifcofske calmly potted the match-tying conversion.

Captain and half-back Sam Cordingley said it wasn't a great performance from his side, who squandered valuable possession and promising positions by committing numerous handling errors and turnovers.

"We turned over far too much ball, when we built pressure we looked good," Cordingley told Fox Sports.

"The ball retention was a bit of an issue today and it's something that we'll look to improve on next week."

The result left Queensland in ninth spot, six points outside the top four heading into next week's clash with the unbeaten Sharks in Durban.

A fifth minute penalty to half-back Jano Vermaak gave the Lions a 3-0 lead in a frantic first half, which produced 90 tackles and plenty of ball movement.

While the Lions started well, the Reds failed to take a couple of good opportunities during a first half in which they committed 11 handling errors.

The most costly came in the 12th minute when Cooper dropped the ball over the Lions' line under pressure from centre Walter Venter.

Vermaak doubled the Lions' lead with a 44th minute penalty after Reds prop Dayna Edwards was pinged for a scrum infringement.

Within two minutes, Schifcofske posted the Reds' first points of the day from a penalty.

He pushed the Reds ahead 10-6 when he converted a try to Hynes, who beat a defender and sprinted 70 metres.

Vermaak slashed the deficit to one point and pushed the Lions to a 16-10 lead after converting a try to van Niekerk.

Benjamin's try just after the hour blew the Lions' lead to 11, but the Reds finally managed to convert possession into tries in the final quarter and got good impact from their bench players.

The Reds will be in big trouble when Latham goes - after the try he was on his feet saying comon to the others -

i honestly dont think Latham had a good game, problem was that he was trying to hard and constantly getting himself isolated and turning the ball over.

Its great that he has all that raw emotion, though sometimes you need to retain your composure and follow the game plan rather then doing stuff out of anger and frustration.

That's right - Latham has been very ordinary for the Reds so far this year. Mooney's plans are clearly focused on the emerging talent. He is unlike Eddie Jones, he is a bread and butter coach who will back the emerging talent.

I think the Reds are lucky to have him as a long term coach as he has shown, through Australia's Under 19's and other teams that he has coached that he can bring good talent through - much like John Mitchell.

The Reds will lose more games this year, but they will upset a few teams too. If Mooney can get them about mid table, I think they will be getting pretty well set for the next few years.

Latham = O'Driscoll

I think the Reds are very ordinary for Latham this year also, he is always at his best with the best in front of him....

I disagree. He is a senior player who hassn't performed as he should. The forwards have been solid enough (although improvement is certainly needed), but the finishing has been poor. With better finishing, the Reds would have beaten the Lions and Huricanes and been 4 from 6 instead of 2/1 from 6. He is a big part of this problem atm. I hope he can fire up, because frankly, he is far from the best fullback in Australia right now. I just can't help but think that he has never come back fully from the injury last year nad maybe never will.