The Lions squandered a golden opportunity to harvest the match points in Cardiff on Friday night and will be kicking themselves that they earned just one United Rugby Championship log point in the 20-17 loss to the home side.

That leaves the Johanneburgers under severe pressure in the “race to eight” and their playoff hopes hang by a thread as they travel next week to champions Glasgow.

As wasteful as the Lions were with the surfeit of possession they enjoyed, they were on the wrong side of some strange decisions by Italian referee Federico Vedovelli, notably in the dubious yellow-carding of Gianni Lombard and the non-awarding of a try at the death.

With seven minutes to go, Vedvelli ruled that the Lions flyhalf had deliberately slapped down the ball when this wasn’t the case.

In the final minutes of the game, the Lions besieged the Cardiff line and on several occasions they appeared to have grounded the ball over the line. In the last seconds, replacement flanker Sibabalo Qoma went over and the Lions were convinced he had scored but the referee referred the “try” to the TMO, saying that he wasn’t sure if the try had been scored. The TMO said he could see no compelling evidence either way.

The Lions will feel they were robbed, and they probably were, but they had several opportunities to nail the game long before the last minutes. They will also rue the seven points they gifted Cardiff when a poor Marius Louw pass was intercepted by wing Harri Millard, and the speedster sprinted 55m to score.

In the context of a close game played in wet and slippery conditions on an artificial surface, those points proved the difference on the scoreboard.

Toward the end of the game, the Lions had opportunities to kick for goal to level the score to 20-20 but they kept going for the corner to try and clinch the win. Fair play to them for that decision because it would have paid off had they had a fair shake from the officials.

Scorers

Lions — Tries: Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Francke Horn. Conversions: Gianni Lombard. Penalty: Lombard.

Cardiff —Tries: Ben Donnell, Harri Millard. Conversions: Callum Sheedy (2)

Penalties: Callum Sheedy (2)