Lacklustre Lions down sloppy Sharks

There was absolutely nothing Super about this South African derby as scrappy play, countless handling errors and scrum resets contributed to the excruciatingly painful dreary affair.

Both sides showed their intentions in the opening minutes of the encounter, the Sharks happy to employ the kicking game while the Lions were set on running it from anywhere. The home side went on an earlier break and came within metres of breaking the deadlock, only to be denied by some dogged Lions defence.

The Lions thought they had grabbed the opening points of the match in the sixth minute when Jaco Kriel rounded off a brilliant team move, however, play was brought back for a forward pass in the build-up.

The Lions were not to be denied in the 13th minute when, after a five metre line-out and drive, the ball was recycled through a few phases. Andries Ferreira got his hands on it and bashed his way to grab the score, despite having three Sharks players attempting to stop him. Jantjies added the extras to hand the Lions a 7-0 lead.

The visitors extended their lead to 10 points in the 19th minute when Jantjies slammed home a long range penalty, after the Sharks' front row were penalised for collapsing a scrum. Another Jantjies penalty, in the 25th minute, stretched the lead to 13 points as the Sharks were caught in an offside position.

The Sharks finally got some good possession and began making in-roads into the Lions' defence. They were rewarded in the 28th minute when Joe Pietersen's boot secured them three points after the Lions were penalised for being offside.

Pietersen gifted the Lions a scoring chance a few minutes later when he knocked the ball on close to his try line. The Lions put in a powerful scrum but the Sharks somehow managed to recover. It failed to stop the visitors though, as after sustained pressure, Lionel Mapoe showed his strength to barge his way over.

Jantjies failed to add the conversion but the Lions' lead was now 18-3 after 26 minutes.

The match failed to produce any real excitement and after 14 minutes of scrappy play, the Sharks were awarded a penalty at scrum time. Pietersen stepped up to slot the 45 metre penalty as the Sharks trailed 6-18 at the half-time interval.

Pietersen and Jantjies traded early second half penalties as the Lions maintained their 12-point lead after 46 minutes of play.

The dreariness of the match continued and even though the home side were enjoying much of the possession, they had nothing to show for it as the Lions stood resolute in defence. The match just failed to come to life as neither side were able to create any meaningful try scoring chances.

A transgression inside their 10 metre line saw the Sharks concede a penalty and Jantjies took full advantage to stretch the Lions' lead to 24-9 after 67 minutes. Handling errors and scrum resets were the order of the day for much of the second half as neither side seemed to care about playing a decent game.

The Lions had a chance to grab a bonus point with the final play of the game but instead of finding touch, Jantjies ended up kicking the ball over the dead-ball line. The Sharks resumed play with a scrum and made their way up the field but handling errors from both teams brought an end to proceedings.

Man of the match: The du Preez twins continue to make their mark on the competition with some big tackles and hard work at the breakdowns while Stephen Lewies did much of the dirty work in the engine room. Franco Mostert did the hard work for the Lions while Julian Redelinghuys and Dylon Smith proved too hot to handle for Coenie Oosthuizen and Tendai Mtawarira. Our award goes to Malcolm Marx who is riding a massive wave of form with strong carries and the perfect anchor at scrum time.

Scorers:

For Sharks:

Pens: Pietersen 3

For Lions:

Tries: Ferreira, Mapoe

Con: Jantjies

Pens: Jantjies 4  

Teams:

Sharks: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Andre Esterhuizen, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Joe Pietersen, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Daniel du Preez, 7 Jean-Luc du Preez, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Franco Marais, 1 Tendai Mtawarira (captain).

Replacements: 16 Kyle Cooper, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Lourens Adriaanse, 19 Hyron Andrews, 20 Keegan Daniel, 21 Michael Claassens, 22 Garth April, 23 Odwa Ndungane.

Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Warwick Tecklenburg, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Dylon Smith.

Replacements: 16 Armand van der Merwe, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Ackermann, 20 Cyle Brink, 21 Francois de Klerk, 22 Howard Mnisi, 23 Jaco van der Walt.

Referee: Angus Gardner (Australia)

Assistant referees: Nic Berry (Australia), Rodney Boneparte

TMO: Marius Jonker (South Africa)