Lions dethrone Kings
The men from Johannesburg were never troubled in the Currie Cup match in Port Elizabeth on Saturday as they racked up six tries, four of which came in the opening 16 minutes
The Kings, who lacked composure on defence and attack, made too many mistakes throughout the match, but did manage to score two tries through Sylvian Mahuza and replacement Simon Kerrod.
It was a burst of four converted tries in the first 16 minutes of the match that set the Lions up for the victory.
The Lions scored in the opening minute with a breakout from inside their half for Smith to cross over under the posts.
They repeated that exercise in quick succession three further times as a shell-shocked Kings team found themselves trailing 0-28 in the 16th minute.
The home side hit back with a try under the posts by Sylvian Mahuza, but it was always going to be difficult to close the deficit.
The Lions scored two tries in the second half, with Smith picking up a hat-trick, while the Kings replied with a try by replacement prop Simon Kerrod.
Man of the match: This award could have easily gone to Howard Mnisi, who was devastating on attack. However, any player who scores three tries has to be the obvious pick and Albertus Smith is that player
Scorers:
For EP Kings:
Tries: Mahuza, Kerrod
Cons: Van Breda 2
For Golden Lions
Tries: Smith 3, Skosan, Marx, Volmink
Cons: Boshoff 6
Pens: Boshoff 3
Teams:
Eastern Province Kings: 15 Scott van Breda, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 13 JP du Plessis, 12 Tim Whitehead, 11 Luther Obi, 10 George Whitehead, 9 Enrico Acker, 8 Tim Agaba, 7 Stefan Willemse, 6 Luke Watson (captain), 4 Steven Sykes, 4 Cornell Hess, 3 Tom Botha, 2 Martin Ferreira, 1 Schalk Ferreira.
Replacements: 16 Michael van Vuuren, 17 Simon Kerrod, 18 Jacques Engelbrecht, 19 Paul Schoeman, 20 Kevin Luiters, 21 Karlo Aspeling, 22 Siyanda Grey.
Golden Lions: 15 Ruan Combrinck, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Harold Vorster, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Ruaan Lerm, 7 Albertus Smith, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Martin Muller, 4 Franco Mostert, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen.
Replacements: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Ruan Dreyer, 18 Luvuyiso Lusaseni, 19 Steph de Wit, 20 Lohan Jacobs, 21 Nicolaas Hanekom, 22 Jaco van der Walt.
Referee: Quinton Immelman
Assistant referees: Jason Jaftha, Francois Pretorius
TMO: Marius Jonker
