ANDY COLQUHOUN, Durban | Saturday 8.00pm.
THE Lions had clearly not been privy to the script planned for a regal farewell to some of South African rugby’s great and the good as they claimed the last Currie Cup of the millennium to complete a remarkable transformation of the union in 1999.
The planned parting present for Teichmann, Joubert and coach Ian McIntosh turned into a disastrous afternoon for the Sharks as they were thumped five tries to nil to a clearly more hungry and more efficient Lions unit.
Before a home crowd of 52500 it also hammered the final nail in the coffins of the pair as world cup contenders. If there is anyone who still believes the pair should be going to the tournament then they can only be relatives. The pair looked knackered and despite having everything in their favour were unable to stamp their personalities on the game.
Instead it was players such as AJ Venter – the man of the match – hooker Leon Boshoff and lock Bruce Thorne who had the game and the drive to wrestle the old gold mug from the team of the 90s.
Laurie Mains has worked a miracle with the Lions. A double of Vodacom and Currie Cups are a marvellous effort in his first season and although Louis Luyt threw money at his onfield problems last season when the Lions finished eighth this was by no means a triumph of the cheque-book.
Mains’ backline for example – with the exception of Chester Williams – was all in place last season and of the pack only Venter, Marius Mostert and Willie Meyer are new acquisitions.
Mind you the Lions didn’t have it all their own way and if Clinton van rensburg had kicked more than three out of five six penalties the emotional dynamics of the second half might have changed. Midway through the second half it would have been 20-18 to the Lions rather than 20-9.
But still, the visitors did not take the lead until the second minute of injury time in the first half when left wing Thinus Delport scored the first of his two tries.
He was an unhappy, overlooked former Springbok tourist fullback when Mains arrived but has been reinvented as a left wing of massive power. His two tries make him the top scorer in the Currie Cup this season with 14 tries.
His second, two minutes after the restart, and a break away from halfway by left wing Chester Williams after 50 minutes pushed the Lions into a 20-6 lead.
The desperate Sharks dominated the final quarter but further tries in added time by hooker Boshoff and AJ Venter underlined the Lions’ dominance.
It was the fourth victory in five meetings for Mains over McIntosh (the other was a draw) as the two former national mentors locked horns once again.
Mains will attempt to revive the flagging Cats next season in the Super 12 while McIntosh bids farewell to Durban and the Sharks.
It wasn’t meant to be such a glum parting for him or his players but then they tore up the old script to turn Natal into the team of the 90s – what awaits us in the next millennium? — MWP
Scorers:
Natal
– Penalties: Van Rensburg (3)
Lions
– Tries: Thinus Delport (2), Chester Willaims, Leon Boshoff. Conversions: Kobus Engelbrecht (2); Penalties: Engelbrecht.