In the end they were defending desperately and were relieved when Wayne Barnes awarded them a penalty but prior to that, replacement Louis Strydom was just narrowly wide with his drop goal with less than two minutes remaining on the clock.

The Lions led 23-14 at the break thanks to tries from Stephen Ferris and Keith Earls and 13 points from the boot of James Hook. They went off the boil after that and when Ferris was in the bin, tries from wing Danwell Demas and prop Du Preez took the Cheetahs right back into contention.

The sides swopped penalties in the second half but the only try came when the Lions coughed up an attacking ball and centre Corne Uys sped away the length of the field to score under the posts with Demas riding shotgun.

Moments before Strydom was wide wih a penalty and moments after he was narrowly wide with the drop-goal attempt.