Arnold sees red as Lions overpower Brumbies

Rory Arnold’s red card proved costly for the Brumbies as the Lions roared back to earn an ultimately convincing 42-24 Super Rugby win.

The Lions held a slight advantage at the break with Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Robbie Coetzee and Ruan Dreyer cancelling out scores from Tom Banks and Tevita Kuridrani.

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But the hosts were staring down the barrel of a fourth straight defeat when Banks’ second put the Australian franchise ahead in the 52nd minute in Johannesburg.

However, Arnold – who had been sin-binned in the first half for collapsing the maul – was shown a straight red card for a high tackle on Elton Jantjies.

A yellow card to Sam Carter shortly after further depleted the Brumbies’ numbers, and Marnus Schoeman put the Lions – leaders in the South African conference – back in front with a try from a maul.

Shaun Reynolds then sprinted clear for his first Super Rugby try and another score quickly followed when Jantjies and Ruan Combrinck combined for Lourens Erasmus to dot down.

Full time: Emirates Lions 42 Brumbies 24#LetsUnite #LIOvBRU pic.twitter.com/LTunEKHj6a

— Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) May 19, 2018

Earlier, the Sharks overpowered the Chiefs to edge a tight encounter 28-24 at Kings Park.

Robert du Preez, Lwazi Mvovo and Cameron Wright all scored tries for the South African side in a match littered with handling errors.