Lions overcome youthful Leinster

The Lions edged Leinster in a tight URC opening-round clash at Ellis Park on Saturday.

Winger Erich Cronjé scored two of the hosts’ three tries in a 27-26 win over the defending champions, who scored their fourth try after the hooter to pick up two bonus points.

The visitors had led 19-17 at half-time following a hat-trick from scrumhalf Fintan Gunne.

Leinster backed academy players for this encounter, with only three of the players from last season’s URC final match-23 selected. Meanwhile, the Lions, who suffered a 59-10 quarter-final defeat to the URC champions in Dublin last season, fielded their best possible side, with only Morné van den Berg and Quan Horn unavailable due to Springbok duty.

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But it was Leinster who put the Lions under pressure from the off, with a clever Gunne snipe around the blindside catching flank Siba Mahashe off-guard.