The Lions put in a superb second-half performance to emerge victorious 35-16 against the Blue Bulls in the Vodacom Cup final at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon.
It was the Lions’ third trophy in as many years, with all the victories coming against the Bulls.
The Lions scored four tries to one in an entertaining second half after they held a narrow 9-6 lead after a tight first period.
Centre Doppies la Grange was the hero with a brilliant brace of tries and he was made man of the match for those efforts. The rest of his play was not superb in a match dominated by the battle up front.
The Bulls had most of the possession in the early exchanges, but failed to make inroads and instead it was the Lions who were first on the board. Flyhalf Quinton van Tonder slotted the easy penalty after the Bulls were pinged for hands in the ruck.
And with two such evenly matched teams, particularly in a final, the boot dominated the first half with both Van Tonder and the Bulls’ Louis Strydom having several pots at goal.
And it was the Lions man who made no mistake with his first three kicks to give the home team a 9-6 lead after the first quarter.
Strydom, meanwhile, missed his first attempt from close on 60m, but it was not through lack of distance.
He succeeded with his next two attempts, before pushing his fourth wide of the mark on 30 minutes that would have levelled matters.
The Lions made good use of the ball they earned from first-phase play, especially lineouts, but silly handling errors and poor decision making saw the moves break down before they became really threatening.
As the half wore on both teams tried to run with the ball more, but with so much at stake it was never at full tilt and it was hardly surprising when the teams headed into half-time separated by just those three points.
The whole complexion of the game changed after the break, though. After the first 40 minutes failed to produce a clear-cut try-scoring opportunity, let alone an actual try, the second stanza was all about the tries.
First it was Lions centre Bryan Habana who emerged from underneath a heap of players for the first five-pointer in the 52nd minute.
The Bulls replied three minutes later with a trademark pushover try of their own to flank Carel Hoffman to make the score 16-13 in favour of the home team.
And that was the last time the visitors were in the match. When Habana’s centre partner, Doppies la Grange, outpaced the cover defence for a great solo try just after the hour mark to go 10 points clear, the writing was on the wall.
Loosehead Prop Pietman van Niekerk then crashed over in the 70th minute for the third converted try as the Bulls defence crumbled in the face of concerted pressure.
La Grange’s second, with two minutes left, was the cherry on top for the champions, leaving the Bulls with no trophy after four consecutive appearances in the Cup final. — Sapa