Springboks beat Lions to lead in series

South Africa withstood a late surge by the British and Irish Lions on Saturday to win 26-21 and lead 1-0 in the three-test series.

With two more tests to come at altitude in Pretoria and Johannesburg, the Springboks are now hot favourites to sweep the series, although the Lions will be heartened by hitting back from 26-7 down to outscore the hosts by three tries to two after two late scores.

Springbok flanker Heinrich Brussow scored on home debut and captain John Smit also collected a try at Kings Park. Flyhalf Ruan Pienaar kicked 13 points as the hosts punished poor discipline by the Lions forwards.

"The scrums were disappointing because we had so many penalties, especially in good attacking situations. That's something we have to look at," Lions captain Paul O'Connell said. "It's going to be difficult next week, but there is a lot of belief because we created lots of strong opportunities. If we had not played well, it would be harder. But we did play well and the guys will be looking forward to next week."

The Lions, who won all six of their warmup games against provincial sides, have now lost six tests in a row since beating Australia in the first match of the 2001 series in Brisbane.

Having failed to make any impact in the forwards, the Lions opened the game up and Croft scored his second converted try in the 68th to make it 26-14 after Roberts had again cut through. The ball was recycled, Croft saw a rare gap to go over.

Phillips ended a long spell of Lions pressure close to the Springboks line to dummy a pass and then dart through a gap for a converted try with five minutes to go.

Roberts and replacement fullback Rob Kearney also went close to scoring as South Africa's defence creaked in the last quarter of the game.

"When we played rugby, we were very good," O'Connell said. "We opened them up and we have just got to keep doing that."

AP