A penalty kick in the last play of the match secured a sensational 36-33 come from behind win for the Emirates Lions over the Rebels in a freakish Vodacom Super Rugby match in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Not that the penalty kick really describes what happened, what was the difference between the teams, and what made this game so remarkable. Instead you should look at the scoreline from various stages of the game.

The Lions were behind 26-5 at halftime and could have been a lot further behind so inept they were in just all aspects of their game in the first 40 minutes.

And the Rebels scored again not long after the restart to make it 33. Any chance of the Lions coming back from there? You wouldn’t have thought so, not the way the Lions were playing, and not the way the Rebels were playing at that point either.

But then Emirates Airlines Park has played host to some sensational comebacks over the years, not the least of them the Springbok win over Ireland in the 2016 series when they had looked dead and buried at the halfway point.

The altitude was a big factor in that game, and possibly again here too, though the Rebels may also have made the fatal mistake of not taking cognisance of the history of the ground, and indeed their opponents, by thinking they had the game won when they were four scores ahead.

But as dominant as the Rebels were in the first half, when they scored 26 unanswered points, so the Lions were dominant once they got the bit between their teeth.

They scored four converted tries to level the scores at 33-all and then, just to make the game even more freakish, they made the task of winning the game more difficult for themselves by eschewing some kickable penalties in the last eight minutes.

Just why they did that is difficult to fathom. Elton Jantjies was off the field before then, and perhaps they didn't trust Lombard to raise the flags from all angles, but some of the penalties were in easily kickable positions.

There wasn't a try-scoring bonus point up for grabs, the Lions just needed to get ahead. So it made no sense.

CALMED HIS NERVES

In the end they did get their out of jail card when the scrum, so suspect in the first half, forced a penalty on a Rebels put in. At that point there was less than a minute left, so it was real do or die stuff from the Lions, and full marks for the composure they showed and their determination in forcing the win off the last play.

There was no question they'd kick for posts with the time up on the clock, but it wasn't the easiest of kicks for Lombard.

The youngster though calmed his nerves and made sure of the three pointer that takes the Lions level with the Bulls and the Stormers on 13 points. Unlike those two teams the Lions have played five games, one game more.

They have plenty to think about as they take their bye, for the first half was possibly the worst that a Lions team has produced on their home field since the early parts of the decade when they were the whipping boys in the competition.

The scrum lacked the usual potency, the line out was a shambles, the defence was passive and soft.

It had started so well for them, when a surprise lineout move, with the ball being returned to the hooker in the tramline from a formation that was set five metres out, led to an easy try for Malcolm Marx.

Perhaps the Lions that score was an indication it would be an easy day at the office, for they looked strangely flat-footed and impotent once the Rebels had crossed for an equalising try in the 11th minute.

There were two soft moments in the build-up to that try, the first being a poor exit and then the lax the defence when faced with a good set move to the left that led to the try looking even easier in conception than the Marx one had been.

Then came a try that saw the Rebels counter-attack down the left touchline from a turn-over that they secured not far from their own try-line, and by the time Billy Meakes intercepted to score the third Rebels try, the Lions looked in disarray. They were down 19-5 and that became 26-5 when Tai Naisarani touched down against the post.

The Rebels could easily have been 33-5 up but Tom English, for the second time this season, left the ball behind as he dived over the try line in the left corner.

FIRST SNIFF OF A TURNAROUND

With a 21 point advantage it didn't look like being too costly for the Rebels, but the Lions made sure that it did come back and bite them in the end.

With skipper Marx in the vanguard, and Kwagga Smith at his irrepressible best, the Lions forwards took control, and before they knew it the Rebels were battling to contain a red tidal wave as the hosts fought back.

Under pressure, the Rebels' discipline let them down, though they might consider that a penalty count of 20 against and just one for was a trifle over the top. The penalties certainly helped the Lions gather momentum.

Marnus Schoeman started the fightback with his fifth try of the season, and then Andries Coetzee, Courtnall Skosan and Lionel Mapoe all took turns at crossing the line and bringing the Rebels back into range. They had cut the deficit to just seven points by the time the game reached the 56th minute, and it was a tight battle from there.

It is tempting to say it was a battle the Lions were always going to win, but it looked like they might have let it slip when they refused to kick those late penalties and when one in particular, with three minutes to go, was wasted on a scrum that the Lions did not capitalise on.

It looked like the Rebels might escape with a draw when they had the benefit of the put in at that last scrum after the ball had gone forward from Wandisile Simelane during a last-gasp Lions attack when the Rebels were down to 14 men after the yellow carding of Angus Cottrell.

That they didn't was thanks to a scrum that could be said to have started the first sniff of a turnaround in the game when they forced a penalty in the 34th minute.

Somehow the Lions just looked a bit more settled after that. The big deficit at the break was a reflection of how lost the Lions are when they are denied front-foot ball, which they were in the first half.

That they came back was because they had a surfeit of front-foot ball in the second half. It's probably as simple as that, with the altitude factor thrown in, not to mention the never-say-die Lions attitude.

SCORERS

Lions 36 - Tries: Malcolm Marx, Marnus Schoeman, Andries Coetzee, Courtnall Skosan, Lionel Mapoe; Conversions: Elton Jantjies 4; Penalty: Gianni Lombard.

Rebels 33 - Tries: Reece Hodge, Quade Cooper, Bill Meakes, Isi Naisarani, Tom English; Conversions: Quade Cooper 4