Morne Steyn kicks South Africa to British and Irish Lions series victory as history repeats itself

South Africa celebrate their series-clinching Third Test win over the Lions in Cape Town
AFP via Getty Images
Will Macpherson7 August 2021

In an eerie repetition of history, the right boot of Morne Steyn – aged 37, and five years after his last Test match – secured a series victory for South Africa over the British and Irish Lions.

In 2009, at altitude in Pretoria, Steyn booted a long penalty to win the Second Test, and secure the series for the world champions. This time, it was a shorter, simpler kick to give the Boks a 19-16 victory in Cape Town, where all three Tests have taken place. The Lions’ wait for victory in South Africa will extend to at least 36 years.

It was a tale of two replacement fly-halves in Cape Town, as Finn Russell was called into action after just 10 minutes and produced an outstanding performance. He nailed every kick – although the Lions turned down a few more – but it was Steyn, brought on for Handre Pollard due to his more reliable boot, who had the last laugh.

It has been an ugly, unattractive series in which off-field bickering has been the dominant narrative. But, in the midst of another wave of Covid-19 in South Africa, it has been some achievement to get the games on, and make it this far. It has been a tour like no other, and has lacked so much without fans. But credit to those who made it happen, not least the bubble-bound players. With so much going on in South Africa, this will be a warming victory.

But this was another poor spectacle that took too long. It inevitably featured a try that took minutes for the officials to mull over, although they did reach the correct decision eventually. Again, there was no great flow to the game, but there was no lack of drama – just like the first two Tests.

Just like last week, the Lions won the first half. It was not in their plan to have Russell on the field after just 10 minutes. They wanted him to break the game over in the second half, after Dan Biggar had set it up. But Biggar went down with a serious-looking knee injury early on, and – with Owen Farrell not selected – it was over to Russell. He had not played for some weeks due to injury.

He inspired the Lions immediately. They threw offloads, and played zippy rugby. He knocked a penalty over, then sent a kickable one to the corner. Ken Owens rolled over to score.

That capped a fine first quarter from the Lions. Their domination of the game continued for the remainder of the first half, but they lacked a finishing touch. Russell kicked two more penalties to the corner, with perfect precision, but they botched scoring opportunities. Worst of all was when Liam Williams failed to feed Josh Adams on the right when they had a two-on-one. It was the sort of opportunity that Adams does not miss.

That Pollard added his second penalty to make it 6-10 at the break added to the sense that the Lions had left plenty out there. They were playing lovely rugby, but had just a four-point lead. The game was physical, and quicker than the Second Test. The Springboks had secured a foothold, and were starting to make Wyn Jones creak at scrum time. Mako Vunipola was brought on shortly after the break, with Jones’ back sore.

South Africa dominated the early throes of the second half, but Pollard hit the post when they first had an opportunity to score points (and it was a simple chance, too). The Lions, who had been camped in their half, tried to play their way out – as is the Russell way. They could not quite manage it.

Pollard missed a second penalty when Russell was slightly lucky that Cheslin Kolbe – anonymous until then – slipped into his tackle, which made contact with the head.

The Lions had weathered 15 tough minutes without conceding, which will have delighted them. But Kolbe, as he always does, came to the party, scoring the game’s decisive try after becoming free on the right. It took plenty of time to establish whether there had been a knock-on, but the try was fair.

Even then, the Lions had their chances. They sent another penalty (by now captain Alun Wyn Jones was off the field, with Conor Murray in charge) to the corner with 11 minutes remaining. They were held up over the line, then gave away a penalty at the resultant scrum.

Steyn and Russell traded penalties – the only time the Lions looked happy to settle for a second drawn tour in a row – before the Springboks rumbled back into the Lions’ 23 and won another. Steyn inevitably did the rest, and it was too late for the Lions to come back. They had missed an opportunity.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in