Lions end Jo'burg drought
The Lions ended a drought of six-decades when they smashed the Sharks 42-16 in the Currie Cup Final in Johannesburg on Saturday.
It is the first time in 12 years they have won South Africa’s premier domestic competition and the first times since 1950 that they won a Final at home. It is also the first time they have beaten the Sharks in a Final in Johannesburg.
Add to that the fact that this is the second largest win ever in a Final and the Lions’ biggest win in a Final – beating the 56-33 win Transvaal had over Free State in 1994 and the 32-9 win they had over the Sharks in 1999, which was the Lions’ last Currie Cup triumph.
And it made history in several places and sitting in the stand was a member of that 1950 team – Piet Malan, the oldest living Springbok. How happy he must be!
It was such a glorious occasion.
There was a bearded leader in the old Transvaal who did not want the gold they found there. There is a bearded leader in the modern Transvaal, called Gauteng, Place of Gold, who desperately wanted the gold. Paul Kruger fought a war to avoid the stuff and lost; Josh Strauss fought a battle and won – and held aloft the Currie Cup, South African rugby’s own Holy Grail, for the world to see. It was a moment of great joy. Kruger’s men gathered round him in defeat; Strauss’s men gathered round him in the ecstacy of victory.
When the Golden Lions’ coach drove into the stadium it had a one-word motto in the window – BELIEVE. The whole of that Golden Lions squad believed. They kept the faith when many clever men used their heads and said they would lose. The clever men weighed up a team of three internationals against a team of 15 internationals and decided that 15 would win, forgetting that a team is more than the sum total of its individual parts.
When their coach John Mitchell was asked before the match for his last message to his team, he said to them: “Just prove to yourselves that you can be extraordinary.” When vice-captain Doppies la Grange spoke after the match he spoke of how a team of “ordinary men had achieved extraordinary things”, by being a team with faith.
Somehow the achievement of this win had a louder message than just a score, even such a big and convincing score.
Apart from the message about the value of team spirit, it also told us again what we know in our hearts that rugby is played best when skilful players use their hands to play the ball. The Golden Lions were at their best when they ran with the ball; they were most vulnerable when they kicked the ball in open play.
And then there was defence. As the World Cup shouted – defence wins finals. The Sharks had well over 60 percent of the possession and scored one (questionable) try. The Golden Lions scored three tries. Three tries to one is a winning margin.
The teams came onto the field, there was a moment’s silence to the memory of SJ de Beer, the recently deceased president of the Falcons and Kurt Darren led 62 000 people in the singing of the anthem – led them but did not dominate them. Then Mark Lawrence blew his whistle and 21-year-old Elton Jantjies kicked off. The Sharks immediately tried to run with the ball in a passing movement. That suggested they would carry on in that vein, but in fact they did not.
At the first line-out, Keegan Daniel played Franco van der Merwe in the air and was penalised. Jantjies goaled, as he carried on doing throughout the match. 3-0 after two minutes. When brave Willem Alberts was penalised in the Golden Lions half, Jaco Taute put his gumshield in his sock and goaled from 57 metres. 6-0 after four minutes.
The Sharks tried to tap their first two penalties into tries but those terrier-like Lions tackled and the third one Frédéric Michalak kicked at goal. 6-3 after 10 minutes. Marius Joubert was penalised at a tackle. 9-3.
The Golden Lions were attacking when they neglected the ball at the back of a tackle/ruck and the Sharks came away with it on the right. They looked about to score as they went through 17 phases but the Golden Lions kept them out. Then the Sharks had a penalty near the Golden Lions line and kicked out for a line-out. Bismarck du Plessis threw in but Franco van der Merwe got up and won the ball.
A Michalak drop hit the upright, Alberts had a strong run and the Golden Lions scored when Ryan Kankowski tackled late. 12-3 after 23 minutes.
From a scrum the Golden Lions went left and La Grange straightened slipped inside Stefan Terblanche and raced downfield. Sharks closed in and he passed to Michael Killian on his left and the wing skated over for the try. 19-3 after 26 minutes.
From the kick-off CJ van der Linde was guilty of childish obstruction and Michalak goaled. Then Van der Linde dumped a player who did not have the ball and was sent to the sin bin. In his 10-minute absence the Sharks did not score a point. They were close when JP Pietersen footed into in-goal, but Taute saved. They won a tighthead against the seven-man scrum and Pietersen was close but Warren Whiteley won a turnover.
The first score of the second half was a Michalak penalty, the second score a soaring Jantjies drop-goal a minute later. 22-9 after 44 minutes.
Then came the Sharks’ try. Michalak ran well down the right in counter and played inside. The ball bounced on towards the Golden Lions goal-line. What happened between the pass and the bounce is not clear as both Strauss and Alberts put out hands to the ball. But Alberts went after the ball, grabbed it and ambled over for a try as if unconvinced that he was doing the right thing. 22-16 after 48 minutes.
Was reality about to happen? Were the Springbok-laden Sharks about to take over? Was this a turning point?
Hindsight tells us that in fact the Golden Lions scored 20 points to none in the rest of the match.
After Alberts’s try, the Sharks upped the tempo and Alberts went galloping for the line, mown down by Bandise Maku, and instead the Golden Lions came on the attack, getting closer and closer – Deon van Rensburg, Jantjies, Alwyn Hollenbach and then prop Patric Cilliers grabbed the ball, plonked Joubert on his back and scored. 29-16 after 56 minutes.
Jantjies then kicked two more penalties and with 16 minutes left the crowd was singing Olé.
Three metres inside the Sharks half, Killian came off his wing and cut inside Bismarck du Plessis and clean through. He skated down the field while Taute ranged up on his left, calling for the ball. As Sharks got closer, Killian let Taute have the ball and the strong fullback raced off to score in the left corner. 42-16 with 10 minutes to play.
When Michael Bondesio kicked out to end the match and start the party, the Golden Lions were again hot on the attack.
Man of the Match: There are lots of Lions, each one of them golden but the man who delivered the richest nuggets was Elton Jantjies, our Man of the Match.
Moment of the Match: Probably that third try, scored by Jaco Taute for the sheer joy of it. It best defined the victory.
Villain of the Match: Nobody.
The scorers:
For the Lions:
Tries: Killian, Cilliers, Taute
Cons: Jantjies 3
Pens: Jantjies 5, Taute
DG: Jantjies
For the Sharks:
Try: Alberts
Con: Michalak
Pens: Michalak 3
Yellow card: CJ van der Linde (Lions, 32 – foul play, dangerous tackle)
The teams:
Golden Lions: 15 Jaco Taute, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Doppies la Grange, 12 Alwyn Hollenbach, 11 Michael Killian, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Joshua Strauss (captain), 7 Michael Rhodes, 6 Derick Minnie, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Wikus van Heerden, 3 Patric Cilliers, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 CJ van der Linde.
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 JC Janse van Rensburg, 18 Warren Whiteley, 19 Cobus Grobbelaar, 20 Butch James, 21 Dylan Des Fountain, 22 James Kamana.
Sharks: 15 Patrick Lambie, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Stefan Terblanché, 12 Marius Joubert, 11 JP Pietersen, 10 Frederic Michalak, 9 Conrad Hoffmann, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Willem Alberts, 6 Keegan Daniel (captain), 5 Ross Skeate, 4 Jean Deysel, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira.
Replacements: 16 Craig Burden, 17 Eugene van Staden, 18 Alistair Hargreaves, 19 Marcell Coetzee, 20 Ross Cronjé, 21 Adrian Jacobs, 22 Lwazi Mvovo.
Referee: Mark Lawrence
Assistant referees: Stefan Breytenbach, Marius Jonker
TMO: Johann Meuwesen
