Lions beat Stormers XXIII to keep Currie Cup hopes alive

MATCH REPORT: The Lions climbed to third in the Currie Cup standings after beating the Stormers XXIII 36-12 during a scrappy affair at Ellis Park on Saturday evening.

It was a crunch game in the last league round of the competition and both sides’ last chance to force their way into the top four.

Matt Coetzee opened the Lions’ account with a successful penalty kick in the second minute of the game after the Stormers were penalised for not rolling away at the breakdown.

The home side scored their first try in the 10th minute thanks to some sterling work by scrumhalf Asad Moos behind the ruck.

From the kick-off the Stormers had good possession and launched their first assault into opposition territory with the throw-in near the Lions endzone.

It was slow going as they struggled to get over the advantage line but managed to keep the ball in hand and look to convert it into points.

Winning a penalty, they went for the corner kick. The defence was strong and managed to keep the ball up but were penalised for off-side and the referee delivered a warning.

From a tap and go, but the Lions turned over possession by the hardworking Renzo du Plessis.

The Lions opted to run from behind their own posts and eventually Coetzee managed to clear for touch.

The throw-in from the Lions was skew and the Stormers kept hold of possession, however their attacking set-piece was out of sync as the handling error came in midfield for a Lions feed-in.

On the 35-minute mark, Coetzee spotted an opening and put in a well-weighted kick for the corner to get the Lions back into the strike zone.

The Lions took full advantage of the scoring opportunity and after a few phases, and having earned another penalty,

They managed to score from a maul as captain Jarrod Cairns carried and scored behind the ruck.

The homeside was leading 15-0 at the break.

The early stages of the second half was a scrappy affair as both sides delivered an error riddled performance trying to gain ascendancy.

The scrumhalves kicked very few box kicks, with neither side making the aerial game a significant part of their attacking strategy.

The moment Keagan Smith finally executed a chip and chase; Ethan Adams had an easy run through to catch and dot down.

A well-executed lineout by the Lions resulted in Du Plessis showing heels and running straight through for an impressive try, stretching their lead to 29-0.

It took the Stormers more than an hour to get on the scoreboard, with talented centre Markus Muller finally breaking through to score in the corner.

This seemed to ignite the visitors into a fight back. But unforced errors made their going tough as the clock was winding down the last ten minutes.

A high tackle on Rynhardt Jonker by Dominic Malgas did not help their cause either and the replacement got his marching orders.

When Latica Nela cantered over with four minutes remaining, the Lions had sealed victory at Ellis Park – but it was far from a flawless performance.

The Stormers had the final say, scoring in the 84th minutes, but fail to pick up any points.

Scorers:

For Lions:
Tries: Mentoe, Cairns, Adams, Du Plessis, Nela
Cons: Coetzee 4

For Stormers XXIII:
Tries: Muller, Rabe
Con: Smith

Yellow cards: Dominic Malgas (Stormers XXIII, 70’ – high tackle)

Teams:

Lions: 15 Gilermo Mentoe, 14 Keagan Smith, 13 Ethan Adams, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Latica Nela, 10 Matt Coetzee, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Jarod Cairns (captain), 7 Renzo du Plessis, 6 Thando Biyela, 5 JD Hattingh, 4 Siba Qoma, 3 Ruan Swart, 2 Armand Combrinck, 1 Juan Schoeman
Replacements: 16 Mahle Sithole, 17 Cecil Parsons, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Dylan Sjoblom, 20 Marco Ferreira, 21 Zian Cilliers, 22 Exauce Kevani, 23 Luke Cannon

Stormers XXIII: 15 Dylan Miller, 14 Joel Leotlela, 13 Markus Muller, 12 Luke Burger, 11 Mfundo Ndhlovu, 10 Kyle Smith, 9 Ezekiel Ngobeni (captain), 8 Eric Basson, 7 Louw Nel, 6 Xola Nyali, 5 Gary Porter, 4 Tom Barnard, 3 Herman Lubbe, 2 Vernon Paulo, 1 Mhleli Khuzwayo.
Replacements: 16 Altus Rabe, 17 Hencus van Wyk, 18 Danie Kruger, 19 Luan Botha, 20 Gert Kemp, 21 Tiaan Fourie, 22 Dominic Malgas, 23 Kian Davis.

Referee: Christopher Allison
Assistant referees: Stephan Geldenhuys, Juan de Bod
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen