United Rugby Championship: Lions 33-25 Dragons

A fine display from Jordan Hendrikse helped Lions to victory over Dragons in the United Rugby Championship.

Lions led at the break after Ruhan Straeuli crossed for the opening try before Sio Tomkinson's score reduced the deficit after 44 minutes.

Hendrikse extended Lions' lead before James Benjamin's try gave Dragons late hope of a comeback in South Africa.

Replacement prop JP Smith added a third Lions try before Che Hope crossed for a consolation score for the Dragons.

Victory moves the Lions up to sixth in the URC table while the Dragons remain in 12th after their fifth defeat in eight games this season.

Hendrikse, who finished with 21 points, and Davies exchanged early penalties as Lions moved 6-3 up before Emmanuel Tshituka was shown a yellow card for a blatant trip on Dragons hooker Benjamin.

Dragons flanker Aaron Wainwright has won 36 caps for Wales

Davies moved the Welsh region level with the resulting penalty but they could not build momentum with the extra man.

In fact, it was the Lions who dominated territory and possession for the next 10 minutes, but both promising forays into the Dragons 22 ended with clumsy knock-ons to ease the pressure on the Welsh region.

As Tshituka's stint in the sin bin was coming to an end, Hendrikse fired over a drop goal to put Lions 9-6 ahead.

The South African side had the momentum and after Ross Moriarty dragged down a powerful driving maul a few metres from his own try-line, referee Sam Grove-White produced his second yellow card of the match.

The game's first try followed a minute later when Straeuli found space between the Dragons centres to power over from a couple metres out.

Hendrikse added the conversion before rounding off a brilliant first-half display with another penalty as Lions went into the break 19-6 up.

Henco van Wyk's yellow card early in the second half for a no-arms clear-out, which made direct contact with the head of Joe Davies, gave Dragons a route back into the contest.

The Welsh region took immediate advantage, as Davies' cross-field kick was collected by Tompkinson who touched down in the corner.

Despite their numerical disadvantage, the Lions again dominated proceedings, and the excellent Hendrikse picked up a loose pass before twisting his way over for a try which he converted himself.

Benjamin gave the visitors renewed hope when he ducked under a driving maul to touch down for the Dragons' second try of the match.

JJ Hanrahan's conversion brought his side to within eight points but the glimmer of hope was short lived as Smith added the finishing touch to a powerful Lions attack, bundling over from a metre out after great work from the forwards.

Replacement scrum-half Hope finished off a lovely breakaway started by Steff Hughes to score a third try for the Dragons with 30 seconds to go.

But they could not find an extra score in the final seconds to earn a bonus point, and the Lions held on for the victory.

Lions: Quan Horn; Rabz Maxwane, Henco van Wyk, Marius Louw, Edwill van der Merwe; Jordan Hendrikse, Sanele Nohamba; Sti Sithole, PJ Botha, Ruan Dreyer, Ruben Schoeman, Reinhard Nothnagel (capt), Emmanuel Tshituka, Ruhan Straeuli, Franke Horn.

Replacements: Jaco Visagie, JP Smith, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Pieter Jansen van Vuren, Sibusiso Sangweni, Andrew Warner, Gianni Lombard, Zander du Plessis.

Dragons: Angus O'Brien, David Richards, Steff Hughes, Jack Dixon, Sio Tomkinson, Sam Davies, Lewis Jones; Aki Seiuli, James Benjamin, Lloyd Fairbrother, Joe Davies, Sean Lonsdale, Aaron Wainwright, Ben Fry, Ross Moriarty (capt)

Replacements: Ellis Shipp, Josh Reynolds, Chris Coleman, Matthew Screech, Huw Taylor, Che Hope, JJ Hanrahan, Jordan Williams

Referee: Sam Grove-White (SRU)

Assistant referees: Cwengile Jadezweni & Griffin Colby (SARU)

TMO: Ben Blain (SRU)