The Leopards pushed the Lions all the way before succumbing 44-27 in an entertaining Currie Cup premier-division encounter at Ellis Park on Friday night.
The Lions led 17-16 at half-time.
The home team earned a bonus point for scoring five tries, while the visitors scored two on an evening when both teams left tries on the table. The final score-line flatters the home team somewhat as they only hit their straps when all their stars were brought off the bench around the 50th minute.
The win propels the Lions to the top of their group — at least until the Blue Bulls and Western Province clash on Saturday afternoon.
The first instance of missed opportunity came in the opening seconds. Had the home team made better use of a bullocking run by Gerhard Vosloo from the kick-off, they could easily have been ahead. Instead, they had to wait until the seventh minute for their first try.
It came after several phases with hooker James van der Walt finishing off. The Leopards, though, slowly found their feet and deservedly stole the lead midway through the half when Ronnie Cooke glided past a despairing Oginga Siwundla to score in the corner.
Fullback Pieter Jordaan slotted the angled conversion and together with his earlier penalty, it gave his team a 10-7 lead after 21 minutes.
The Lions, however, pulled level through a Nel Fourie penalty minutes later, and when Wayne Julies made amends for his earlier miss with a soft try in the 26th minute, it looked like the home team were gearing up to open the floodgates.
Apart from several strong runs by Vosloo, the Lions were tame in the opening 40 minutes and never shifted up the required gear.
The Leopards were also kept in the game thanks to a plethora of inept kicking from a host of Lions players. Two further penalties — one by Colin Lloyd and the other by Jordaan — meant the Leopards trailed by just a solitary point at the break.
A burst of scoring shortly after the restart saw Van der Walt claim his second try, and his team’s third, to cancel out the earlier effort of Leopards right wing Bertus Swanepoel, who galloped half the length of the field for a fine solo try. Once the dust had settled, the scoreboard read 27-21 in favour of the home side.
Lions coach Frans Ludeke brought on his big guns, but they failed to prevent Jordaan kicking his third penalty in the 57th minute to narrow the gap to 27-24.
However, three of them combined five minutes later to score the Lions’ fourth try and stretch the score to 34-24. First, Wikus van Heerden, with not inconsiderable help from Ricky Januarie, dotted down in the corner, and then Andre Pretorius kicked the extras.
Although Jordaan and Pretorius traded penalties in the closing minutes, the game was safe for the home side with eight minutes remaining and Jaque Fourie (another big gun) sealed matters with a try in the last minute. — Sapa