The Golden Lions finished their Currie Cup first round on a major high, walloping the defending Currie Cup champions, the Blue Bulls, 46-17 in a one-sided clash at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Lions showed a rare glimpse of their talent, grabbing every opportunity and overshadowing a strong Bulls pack in the set phases to set up a simple victory.
The home side dominated the breakdown, used the prodigious boot of Nel Fourie to keep them in the opposition half and simply used the turnover ball to good effect to run in six tries to three in the end.
It was a victory that will leave the Bulls pondering their chances of retaining their title after defeats against the Sharks and Lions in consecutive weeks, and leaves them third in a group where only two can eventually qualify for the semifinals, given the system employed this year for the competition.
Fourie opened the scoring with a penalty in the third minute and it was not long before the Lions showed they were on a purple patch as they caught the Bulls with a perfect overlap from a short line-out. Fourie spun the ball wide to Springbok Sevens flyer Marius Schoeman, who had an easy run-in to put the home side 10-0 ahead.
If the Bulls needed proof things were not going to go their way, they got it eight minutes later when their kingpin Derick Hougaard missed a sitter of a drop goal with probably their first decent chance of the game. Morne Steyn hit the post shortly afterwards with a penalty attempt and it seemed all was going against the visitors.
The Lions stretched their lead shortly afterwards, as some shoddy defence by Bulls forwards Francois van Schouwenburg and Richard Bands allowed Rudi Coetzee to scythe through the middle and off-load to Schalk van der Merwe for the try.
The Bulls then suffered the embarrassment of two pushover tries — both from line-outs close to the line that were mauled over and gave hooker Schalk Brits and lock Willem Stoltz a chance to add their names to the score sheet.
The defending Currie Cup champions did manage to get their name on the score sheet, finally, in the 58th minute when they pounded the Lions defence for six phases, eventually slipping the ball to winger John Mametsa to go over in the corner.
The Lions then caught the Bulls napping twice on turnovers, and kicked the ball long, both resulting in further tries and further misery for the champs.
First, it was a box kick which the Bulls defence allowed to bounce and which was plucked out of the air by Conrad Jantjes, who fed Wylie Human to go over unopposed, while another turnover on the Lions’ 22m line was booted downfield and chased by replacement wing Jaco Booysen and Bulls scrumhalf Stephan Basson.
Booysen won the race, but lost the ball going over. However, referee Jonathan Kaplan ruled that Basson had tackled him without the ball, and awarded a penalty try to the home side.
The Bulls replied later on with tries by inside centre Steyn and replacement winger Keegan Fredericks, but it was way too little, and much too late. — Sapa