A breath-taking encounter between two of the most exciting sides in the league was eventually won at the death by the hosts.

The Lions started brightly and took an early lead through a Luke Bouchier penalty in the 7th minute (0-3). But Dings responded well and upon their first visit to the Lions 22, scored the first of their driving lineout scores through Tomas Gwilliam. The conversion by George Boulton was successful (7-3).

Jordan Tebbatt crossed for a converted score on 19 minutes courtesy of an interception in the Dings 22 but the Dings driving maul was functioning well and Gwilliam grabbed his second to give Dings the lead again (10-14).

Bouchier added another penalty before Dings' duel-registered winger, Deago Bailey, stormed over for another converted try to give Dings a gap (13-21) but a late Lions score, from Arthur Allen at the back of a maul, reduced to arrears to 21-18 at the break.

The hosts struck first again in the second period as Tommy Foot went over following a good kick return, but the Lions hit back again, Jamel Hamilton receiving a nice offload from Charlie Davies following a strong carry. Bouchier was on target with the extras (28-25).

The back-and-forth nature of the game continued as Joe Jenkins struck for the Crusaders but this was shortly followed by a good scrum play that was finished off neatly by Malelili Satala. Bouchier conversion reduced the home sides' lead to just one point but a Boulton penalty pushed them out in front again (36-32).

The Lions took the lead for the first time since the opening try as a powerful Charlie Ulcoq carry took out a number of would-be tacklers and Hamilton exploited the space with a clever line on the next phase. Bouchier converted (36-39).

With only minutes remaining, and with the ball deep in Dings territory, it seemed like the Lions had the game won but two high tackle offences and then an adjudged deliberate knock-on by Bouchier (for which he saw yellow) gave the home side another 5 metre lineout and the opportunity. Their driving maul had been causing Lions issues all afternoon and once again they drove the Lions pack backwards and Max Rivers was able to sneak over in the corner to steal a dramatic late victory (41-39).

Head coach Gareth Collins commented: ''First and foremost that was a breathless game of rugby and a great advert for National 1. Both teams had clear attacking intent and it made for a great spectacle. Obviously we're disappointed not to get the win, especially given that we had the lead and a good opportunity to close the game out, but we leave with two points and continue our recent good form in to the two home games we have now.''