The Lions fuelled their faint hopes of sneaking into the semifinal of the Absa Currie Cup on Friday night by beating tournament favourites the Cheetahs 39-28 in a riveting clash at Ellis Park.
For the Lions, this game was a dream come true and something that seemed almost unimaginable following their bad start to the competition.
The Cheetahs started the game on the front foot by intimidating the Lions pack in the first scrum. But that was short-lived as the Cheetahs made several schoolboy errors in the first half, which cost them dearly as the Lions
converted them into points.
The second quarter of the game was dominated completely by the home team’s dazzling running rugby thanks the injection of flair by flyhalf Jaco van Schalkwyk and scrumhalf Ricky Januarie, who were sublime on attack.
Van Schalkwyk proved that his admirable performance in their clash against the Sharks two weeks ago was not a flash in the pan and that he has what it takes to fill Springbok number 10 Andre Pretorius’s shoes — Pretorius is currently with the Bok team.
Januarie was equally impressive on attack. He was close to the action throughout the first half and he played a role in all three tries scored by his team in the first 40 minutes. In fact, Januarie showed that he was on track to regaining the form that earned him a place in Springbok coach Jake White’s squad last year.
That said, the 22-0 score-line in the Lions’ favour at half-time was thanks to an awesome team effort by the home side.
The Cheetahs’ hopes of a dramatic second-half comeback were dashed just one minute after half-time when wing Wylie Human collected a pass from fullback Earl Rose — who sidestepped his way out of his 22m area and retrieved a chip kick — for the Lions’ bonus-point try.
But Human’s try was just the motivation the visitors needed to avoid the embarrassment of being whipped by a team in fifth place on the log standings, and only minutes later Cheetahs replacement wing Phillip Burger crossed the try line to open up the scoring for the visitors. Their score was doubled to 14 just four minutes later thanks to another try by in-form flank Kabamba Floors.
The Cheetahs ran as hard as they could at the home team in the second half and, for a few minutes, it seemed as though all hope was lost for the Lions.
Van Schalkwyk extended the home team’s lead to 36-14 in the 66th minute thanks to a stunning chip over the defence, which he retrieved and dotted down over the line. The dominance then shifted to the Cheetahs, who retained possession and ran hard at the home team.
This paid off with Burger getting his second try in the 72nd minute, which reduced the Lions’ lead to 15 points. Cheetahs number eight Rayno van der Merwe then found his way over the line for another try in the 79th minute to reduce the gap between his team and the Lions to only eight points.
But Lions replacement back Mark Harris kicked a penalty after the final whistle, taking the final score to 39-28.
In the end, it was a matter of too little, too late for the Cheetahs. However, the Lions’ excellent cover defence and commitment until the final whistle did not assist the visitors’ cause. — Sapa