The Lions overcame a four-point half-time deficit to edge Griquas 33-31 in the fifth-round Absa Currie Cup fixture played at a freezing Absa Park, Kimberley, on Saturday afternoon.
After roaring into a 17-0 (two converted tries and penalty) lead inside the opening quarter of an hour, the Lions were unable to match the hard-working Griqua pack well led by skipper Johan Ackermann.
Consequently they found themselves — by way of three converted tries — trailing 21-17 at the break.
The skies over Kimberley may have been clear but the bitterly cold breeze made for very uncomfortable spectating.
It was this breeze and the unfortunate eye injury that Lions flyhalf Nel Fourie sustained late in the first half that probably eventually swung the match the Lions’ way.
Nel’s replacement, Andre Pretorius, had an excellent final 40 minutes. The second half had hardly started when Pretorious landed the first of his four successful kicks.
Though another former Springbok flyhalf, Braam van Straaten, quickly restored Griquas’ four-point lead with a 41m penalty, Pretorius’s assured play with the breeze behind him slowly but surely swung the match the Lions away.
The visitors regained the lead in the 21st minute when wide-awake right wing John Daniels scored his second try of the match. Pretorius’s excellent conversion from the touchline and then two superb drop-goals from the Griqua 10m line in the 32nd and 36th minutes made it 33-24 to the Lions.
With time running out and after the Griqua pack had superbly pushed their counterparts off the ball at a Lions scrum close to the visitor’s try line, the home team was awarded a penalty.
Griquas ran the ball and Van Straaten with clever play cut through to score between the uprights and then adding the conversion (33-31 Lions).
Griquas’ fourth try — which also took them to within two points of Lions — meant two well-deserved bonus points. A minute later referee Shaun Veldsman sounded the final whistle and Van Heerden’s team had avenged their one-point defeat by Griquas at Absa Park in last season’s competition. — Sapa