Young first five-eighth Beauden Barrett kicked a match-winning penalty with two minutes left to guide the Hurricanes to a 30-28 Super Rugby win over the Lions in Johannesburg.
Barrett, 20, held his nerve to give Mark Hammett’s side their first win of the new campaign after the home side had threatened to snatch it from them late on.
The visitors led 14-8 at the interval and scored two tries in quick succession after the break before the Lions stormed back to lead by a point with time almost up.
Barrett stepped up after replacement Butch James was caught offside and landed his fifth penalty of the match, after 21 points last week, to snatch victory much to the relief of captain Conrad Smith.
“It was too tight for my liking,” he said after the match. “It was lucky the final whistle came when we were in front.”
Three Barrett penalties and a try to fullback Andre Taylor had given the visitors a half-time lead after an early try to Lions fullback Jaco Taute followed by his 56-metre penalty goal.
The game lost some of its intensity early on when the Lions lost props Janse van Rensburg and his replacement CJ van der Linde to injuries forcing uncontested scrums for the rest of the match.
The Hurricanes, guilty of ill-discipline in their opening 39-26 loss to the Stormers, were better behaved this week and referee Steve Walsh was able to keep his cards in his pocket after three props were sin-binned last week.
Barrett and his opposite Elton Jantjes traded penalties early in the second half, before lock Franco van der Merwe drove over to give the Lions the lead.
Two pieces of fancy footwork, the first by Smith who kicked through for hooker Dane Coles to score and then by Barrett, whose well-weighted grubber kick was seized on by wing Cory Jane, gave the Wellington-based side a nine-point lead midway through the half.
But after a Jantjes kick had narrowed the gap, James went over with nine minutes to give the hosts the advantage only for Barrett to end their hopes of a second straight win after their 27-25 win over the Cheetahs last week.
The Hurricanes travel to Perth for their third away match against the Western Force on March 9.