The Lions provisionally booked a home semifinal berth with a hard-fought 44-27 Absa Currie Cup victory over the never-say-die Pumas in Witbank on Friday night.
The Pumas led 13-12 at half-time.
The six-tries-to-three win gave the Lions a valuable bonus point and took them to second spot on the log with 45 points, but it seems they will need a minor miracle to hold on to that position.
If Ellis Park is to host one of the semis, then Griquas need to prevent the Cheetahs (currently on 40 points) gaining five points from their encounter in Kimberley and the Blue Bulls must beat Western Province (43 points) without the Cape Town team earning two bonus points at Loftus.
While it was a far-from-convincing win by the Lions, it was a case of mission accomplished, with some late tries flattering the Lions as far as the scoreline was concerned. Whether they get a home play-off is no longer in their hands; they have done all they can.
The Lions start was full of abrasive intent and they deservedly went ahead in the third minute when Jorrie Muller scored in the corner. Such was their dominance during the passages preceding the opening five-pointer it seemed the Lions were set for a runaway victory.
It was, however, anything but easy in the first 40 minutes.
To the home team’s credit, the early exchanges were quickly dispelled and they came storming back into contention. The remainder of the half belonged almost entirely to the home team.
The inexperienced tight five gave their Lions’ counterparts as good as they got, while deep kicks into Lions territory found fullback Conrad Jantjes unable to deal with the quickly advancing Danwell Demas.
He was forced into errors close to his line that cost his team and led indirectly to the Pumas getting ball in good attacking positions and they recycled well to punish the visitors.
Two penalties by fullback Jeandre Fourie — who was outstanding throughout — and his conversion of right wing Neil Visagie’s 15th minute try from a Jantjes mistake gave the Pumas a 13-5 advantage by the end of the first quarter.
The Lions, desperate for four tries and a large winning margin to book provisionally a home semifinal, continued to be frustrated by a determined and committed team effort from the Pumas in the first half.
The Lions were lucky to close the gap by the break when centre Jacque Fourie combined well with Muller to score an opportunistic try from a Pumas error in midfield after 33 minutes.
And they regained the lead moments after the restart with Nel Fourie’s first penalty and stretched it when Jantjes kicked a monster drop-goal from all of 58m in the 47th minute.
One sensed that the Lions would now step up a gear in their bid for two more tries and the bonus point that would come with them.
That they did and hooker Schalk Brits dived over under the poles (in the 54th minute), before replacement front-rower Heinrich Kok scored the all-important bonus point-clinching try seven minutes later.
The visitors, though, conceded a try to Pumas’ number two, Skipper Badenhorst, in between that meant they were by no means home and dry yet.
Coach Frans Ludeke rang the changes that saw the Lions finish strongly with three tries to one in the closing 20 minutes to seal a bruising win. — Sapa