Lions U20 pay the price for mistakes against Bulls

The final round of the round-robin stage concluded at the UJ Stadium on Saturday, with the Lions finishing second in the final standings on 40 points while the visitors finished top of the group on 47. 

Both sides have qualified for the semi-finals which take place next weekend with both sides securing home semifinals. 

Speaking to SABC Sport, coach of the Lions Mziwakhe Nkosi says the game was lost in the final quarter of the second half.

"Yeah a good tussle out there, I thought that we were quite toothless in the first half, quite poor. We came back nicely but unfortunately we blinked first at them. Then the penalties and the red cards sort of gave it away for us and yeah, I think that's how the game got away from us in that last quarter," Nkosi said.

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The Lions were 21-10 down at the half-time break but came out firing in the second half to overturn the deficit but ultimately fell towards the end of the second half. Nkosi says his side showed a lot of fight in the second half but dug themselves a hole to allow their Gauteng neighbours back into the game.

"Yeah we had to pick up our performance. Our performance as I alluded to earlier wasn't good enough in the first half. We showed lots of fight and lots of heart and a little bit of execution in the second half but we dug ourselves a really big hole and to get out took a little bit more energy from us,” the coach added.

“Like I said we blinked first and we gave them a score or two and they were able to run away with it."