Lions punish sloppy Stormers at Ellis Park

MATCH REPORT: The Lions secured valuable log points with a crucial 30-23 win over the Stormers in their United Rugby Championship Round 11 clash at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Ivan van Rooyen’s side produced an attacking masterclass in the first half, which was spearheaded by Quan Horn.

The fullback had a hand in two of his team’s three tries in the first half as the Lions secured an 18-point lead at the break.

They couldn’t get a five-pointer in the second half, but their defence helped them to secure the win as the visitors could only score two tries.

The Stormers will also be kicking themselves after they wasted several opportunities with some poor handling and decision-making during the 80 minutes.

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Both teams had their fair share of attacking opportunities in the opening minutes, and it was the Lions who opened the scoring after Gianni Lombard slotted a penalty after some cynical play by Stormers fullback Warrick Gelant.

Gelant was also shown a yellow card for the incident as the referee ruled that he obstructed Lions’ players at the breakdown by “taking up space” in the strike zone.

The Stormers managed to hit back a few minutes later when Jurie Matthee levelled the scores with a penalty kick of his own.

However, the Lions scored the first try of the match in the 20th minute when Quan Horn broke through the Stormers’ defence before feeding the ball to Morne van den Berg, who had enough speed to sprint in for the five-pointer. Lombard added the extra two points with the conversion.

Quan Horn produced some more magic in the 23rd minute when he sliced through the Stormers’ defence once again. After another strong run, it was a bit of deja vu when he fed the ball to Van den Berg on his inside, but this time, the scrumhalf popped the ball over to Henco van Wyk who raced away for the second try.

Lombard made it a 14-point lead with the conversion.

Matthee reduced the deficit with another penalty in the 32nd minute.

However, the Stormers got exposed in the outside channel again with wing Edwill van der Merwe finding plenty of space down the touchline before chipping the ball over the Stormers’ defence.

Angelo Davids could not deal with the loose ball as it popped into Marius Louw’s hands and the centre dived over for his team’s third try.

With another successful Lombard conversion, it was 24-6 to the Lions at half-time.

The Stormers needed to be the first to score in the second half and they did.

It all came from Gelant who had the vision and speed to run a great angle to burst through the Lions’ defence and race away for his team’s first try of the game. Matthee added the extra two points with the conversion.

Lombard was successful with a penalty a few minutes later to make it a 14-point ball game before he added another three-pointer in the 60th minute after his side weathered an attacking storm from the visitors.

After sustained pressure inside the Lions’ half, wing Richard Kriel was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on in the 65th minute.

The Stormers eventually made the extra man count in the 70th minute after Evan Roos found his way to the tryline after some good interplay out wide. Matthee made it a 10-point ball game with his conversion.

Despite dominating possession in the final 10 minutes, the Stormers failed to score another try and they had to settle for a three-pointer after the full-time hooter sounded to secure a losing bonus point.

The scorers:

For Lions:
Try: Van den Berg, Van Wyk, Louw
Cons: Lombard 3
Pens: Lombard 3

For Stormers:
Try: Gelant, Roos
Con: Matthee 2
Pens: Matthee 3

Yellow cards: Warrick Gelant (Stormers, 14′ – cynical play, offside at breakdown); Richard Kriel (Lions, 64′ – cynical play, deliberate knock-on)

Teams:

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Jarod Cairns, 21 Nico Steyn, 22 Lubabalo Dobela, 23 Manuel Rass

Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Ben Loader, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Dan du Plessis, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Jurie Matthee, 9 Herschel Jantjies, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Deon Fourie, 5 Ruben van Heerden, 4 Salmaan Moerat (captain), 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 JJ Kotze, 1 Ali Vermaak.
Replacements: 16 Andre-Hugo Venter, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Neethling Fouche, 19 Gary Porter, 20 Paul de Villiers, 21 Marcel Theunissen, 22 Paul de Wet, 23 Jonathan Roche.

Referee: Griffin Colby (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Hanru Van Rooyen (South Africa) & Stephan Geldenhuys (South Africa)
TMO: Egon Seconds (South Africa)