Lions hang on to beat Cheetahs

Cheetahs 24 Lions 26. The British and Irish Lions survived a major scare in their latest match on the tour of South Africa, but held on to win and remain unbeaten.

After taking a commanding lead the visitors were reeled in and in the final stages were lucky to maintain their slender two-point lead.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING:

Paul Ackford, Suday Telegraph: "One step forward, two steps back. This was another stuttering effort, more in keeping with the disjointed start to their tour than the sublime performance earlier in the week. Once again the Lions were listless. Once again they failed to create momentum. Once again they could have lost a match. It was awfully hard work for them.

"There were far too many mistakes against opposition who finished bottom of the heap in the Super 14 and, worse, the Lions lost control and composure the longer the game went on. With 80 seconds of the match clock remaining, Louis Strydon attempted a long-range drop goal, which he pushed just wide of the right-hand post. Had that gone over the Lions would have been out of it."

Eddie Butler, Observer: "There is nothing consistent about this tour, apart from the lack of a decent crowd. On their third outing, the Lions went from perfect to wobbly, an inversion of their first game and a considerable drop from the high plateau of Wednesday in Johannesburg. The decline made for a little thriller, which will serve as no comfort whatsoever to a squad in a hurry to improve in every quarter before the first Test, now racing even faster towards them. Being in such a rush makes all sorts of things go right and wrong."

Stephen Jones, Sunday Times: "The second half was painful. The Lions launched only two attacks of any note in the whole period, they were outplayed at the breakdown. Far too often, Paul O'Connell stationed himself at fly-half, tried to make ground from a standing start without having anything like the gas for the job. He took responsibility, he just got in the way."