Julius brace sinks Lions
MATCH REPORT: The Sharks XV got their first win of their 2024 Currie Cup campaign with an impressive 35-22 win over the Lions at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Flyhalf Lionel Cronjé slotted the opening points after the Lions conceded a breakdown penalty in the ninth minute.
The Lions struck back two minutes later through Sam Francis who levelled matters with the boot as the Sharks were penalised for not releasing a tackled player.
The Lions had an attacking lineout three minutes later and went on the attack, but the Sharks turned it over to get out of jail.
Francis had an opportunity with a long range penalty attempt of 60-odd metres but was well short.
The Sharks had a scrum just inside the Lions half when Junior Springbok centre Jurenzo Julius made a storming run for a magnificent solo effort – breaking and beating would-be-tacklers to dot down for the Sharks on debut in the 23rd minute.
The Sharks extended their lead when Cronjé kicked a grubber through and Reniel Hugo gathered the ball to go in for the try.
The game management of the Sharks were spot on in the closing stages of the first stanza – with the Lions conceding a scrum penalty on their own feed, the Sharks opted for a lineout on the Lions 22-metre line.
The Lions defended like trojans and scrumhalf Bradley Davids gave the pass to veteran Cronjé who was sitting in the pocket – slotting the drop goal to send his side 17-points clear heading into the break.
The second-half started with drama when a TMO check was called by referee Colby after which was determined that Ruben Schoeman made direct head contact with opposite number Reniel Hugo in a cleanout – seeing Schoeman being shown a red card in the 44th minute.
Play was stopped again soon after what looked a bit alarming when centre Manuel Rass was down with what seemed like a possible neck injury.
The Lions struck back to get within 10 points when some slick play by the replacements saw Zander du Plessis get his pass away to SJ Kotze and following up was Jonker who set up hooker Morné Brandon with an outside pass to go over for the try in the 47th minute.
The Sharks struck back in the 62nd minute when on counter-attack Kunene got his pass inside to Penxe and he flung it to Julius who kicked it ahead and regathered the ball to score his brace.
Things went from bad to worse for the Lions when Francis’ restart went out on the full and moments later the Sharks won a scrum penalty which Cronje slotted from long-range to extend the Sharks’ lead in the 66th minute.
The Lions conceded another penalty off the restart for playing the man in the air.
The Sharks set up a lineout attack off which a switch play had the Lions defence in tatters and Cronjé put another grubber kick through which wing Penxe gathered and with defenders on his back managed to cross the line to score the bonus-point-try for the visitors.
The Lions had a late fight back in the final 10-minutes when Sharks replacement Tino Masevere was penalised for playing the ball off his feet and the Lions opted for the five-metre lineout.
The Lions went short with no jumper and set a quick maul which saw replacement Renzo du Plessis crash over for the Lions’ second try in the 71st minute.
Three minutes later it was the same Du Plessis who picked the ball up from the base of a ruck and ran a good 40-metres and got his pass away to replacement Layton Horn for the try.
In the final few minutes, it seemed that the Lions had a slight chance of a miracle comeback or at the very least score a bonus-point-try as the Lions were on attack and Sharks replacement Scott Nel was penalised and yellow-carded in the 76th minute for cynical play after a linebreak.
The Lions had one more attacking opportunity off a lineout but Morné Brandon lost the ball backwards into touch to gift the Sharks a lineout to close the game out – but it was stolen by the Lions and they had to attack from deep and knocked the ball on to signal the end of the match.
Scorers:
For the Lions:
Tries: Brandon, Du Plessis, Horn
Cons: Francis 2
Pen: Francis
For the Sharks:
Tries: Hugo, Penxe, Julius 2
Pens: Cronjé 2
Cons: Cronjé 3
DG: Cronjé
Yellow card: Scott Nel (Sharks, 76′ – cynical play – killing the ball in the ruck)
Red card: Ruben Schoeman (Lions 42′ – dangerous play – head contact)
Teams:
Lions: 15 Gianni Lombard, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Kelly Mpeku, 10 Sam Francis, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Ruhan Straeuli, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Raynard Roets, 3 Conrad van Vuuren, 2 Jaco Visagie (captain), 1 Morgan Naude.
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Etienne Oosthuizen, 20 Luca Ribbens, 21 Renzo du Plessis, 22 Layton Horn, 23 Zander du Plessis.
Sharks: 15 Hakeem Kunene, 14 Yaw Penxe, 13 Lili Bester, 12 Jurenzo Julius, 11 Jaco Williams, 10 Lionel Cronje, 9 Bradley Davids, 8 Nick Hatton (captain), 7 Jannes Potgieter, 6 Siya Ningiza, 5 Reniel Hugo, 4 Batho Hlekani, 3 Mawande Mdanda, 2 Daniel Jooste, 1 Abraham Reyneke.
Replacements: 16 Bryce Calvert, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Kabous Bezuidenhout, 19 Hennie Sieberhagen, 20 Tino Mavesere, 21 Tiaan Meyer, 22 Scott Nel, 23 Eduan Keyter.
Referee: Griffin Colby
Assistant referees: Local
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen
