Simon Shaw's tonnage and Howley's quick hands did the rest.With Stimpson's radar fully tuned, the Lions were able to ride the discomfort caused by Dick Muir's strike at the end of the first quarter and re-establish their authority by working Tait in at the left corner.Frustratingly, the forwards then let things slip. Would the wheels stay on? Thankfully for the Lions, Stimpson's howitzer right boot and Howley's sharp-eyed acceleration provided the answer.Stimpson's penalties in the 51st and 65th minutes settled the tourists, who were equally relieved to see Garry Pagel, the destructive Western Province loose-head prop, inexplicably substituted by Harry Viljoen. Aitken was given the run of the pitch, Fritz van Heerden stepped up a gear in the tight and loose and when Muir stretched over for his second try five minutes before the break, Western Province appeared to have the force with them.Sure enough, Aitken created a superb score for Robbie Brink, his back row colleague, just eight minutes into the second half and, for the first time, the Lions were behind. The Western Province cover denied the Welshman, but there was no stopping Bentley in the 13th minute as Townsend performed Open Sesame on the South African midfield. "It would not surprise me one bit if the Lions reached the first Test unbeaten The scrum is the key area for them now.

They can do most other things far better than we thought."Starting, presumably, out wide. The Lions' carefully constructed tactic of minimising big-hit tackles by running unorthodox angles almost bore fruit in the second minute when a bewildering move involving Tait, Richard Hill, John Bentley and a pumped-up Barry Williams gave Evans a scent of the line. Had it not been for Howley's brilliance at the scrummage base, the rapier would have been confined to the scabbard."They've got to get that scrummage sorted out," said Andrew Aitken, whose dynamic contribution in the Western Province back row rivalled anything on view in a pulsating contest. "If they try to run ball in retreat against the Springboks they'll find themselves in real strife."For all that, Aitken was jaw-droppingly impressed by the Lions' ability to run slide-rule angles into open space: "Their lines of running were extremely good, as were their ball skills," said the former Oxford University student, whose Scottish ancestry will almost certainly earn him an availability card bearing an Edinburgh postmark before very much longer. For the third successive match, the Lions' set-piece creaked and squeaked, groaned and squealed and was shunted around from pillar to post like a rusty old bedstead.

They will be worthy opponents for the Bokke, particularly if the injury list continues to fill a postage stamp rather than a copy of War and Peace.Of course, the glitter gang outside the scrum cannot do the job in isolation; if the Lions are to triumph, the heavy duty forwards will have to stand up to be counted at some point. After witnessing the brilliance of Rob Howley and Gregor Townsend at half-back, the no-nonsense aggression of Alan Tait in midfield, the undiminished finishing prowess of Ieuan Evans and Tim Stimpson's cucumber-cool progress as a front-line goalkicker, not even the most myopic Western Province die-hard could dismiss the Lions out of hand. But there is surely no going back now, for some of the rugby the tourists produced against Western Province on Saturday would have left St Paul boggle-eyed in wonderment. It is beginning to dawn on the South African rugby fraternity that the cutting edge of Martin Johnson's party is a whole lot sharper than they imagined, and the manner of the visitors' 38-21 victory on a Cape afternoon of scorching heat and scalding pace left good local judges reaching for a stiff drink or 10 before sundown. As it is not in the Springbok nature to turn the other cheek, we can expect the softening-up process to begin in earnest when the Lions face Mpumalanga, or South-Eastern Transvaal, in Witbank on Wednesday.Yet whatever now happens in the run-up to the first Test confrontation on 21 June, the ingredients for an epic series will remain in place. Nikola Jurcevic equalised for Freiburg before the interval.VfB Stuttgart, who finished the season in fourth place, play regional league side Energie Cottbus in the German Cup final in two weeks. A victory for Stuttgart would send them into the European Cup Winners' Cup, freeing up their Uefa Cup place for 1860 Munich.Bayern, who won the league title by beating Stuttgart last weekend, drew 2-2 with Borussia Moenchengladbach.In Belgium, unfancied Ekeren overcame a two-goal deficit to beat Anderlecht 4-2 after extra time and win their first Belgian Cup..