'A special player': Haashim Pead showed a glimpse of the future
REACTION: Junior Springbok star Haashim Pead got South African rugby fans on their feet with his cameo off the bench in the Lions’ 23-22 win over the Sharks in Durban.
Ahead of the United Rugby Championship Round Nine match, there were growing calls for the Lions to give the 20-year-old game time, and on Saturday, he turned into a match-winner after the buzzer with a brilliant blindside snipe from a tap penalty close to the Sharks’ tryline.
It was only a 15-minute cameo, but Lions fans and the South African public in general will be hoping it’s the start of bigger things to come.
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Haashim Pead 🏉✨
Off the bench to win it for the Lions 🦁🔴#SSRugby | #VURC pic.twitter.com/rTenwDzi3i
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) January 3, 2026
“We are super excited for all our No.9s,” said Van Rooyen.
“Haashim is a special player. We have been working hard with him in quickness and in game plan.
“He had some nice exposure touring with us – seeing the picture.
“We are as excited about him as everyone else, and I am happy that he could make the difference today [Saturday].”
While Pead was the hero at the end of the match, a lot of the praise has to go to the Lions forwards for weathering a storm after Ruan Venter’s yellow card for a high shot on Aphelele Fassi was upgraded to a 20-minute red card early in the second half.
“I don’t think it [high tackle] was intentional,” said Van Rooyen.
“I think the timing was off, but I really felt in those 20 minutes we showed composure, we showed some growth there.
“Historically, we tend to get into our shells a little bit. In adversity, the leaders really stepped up and provided good solutions and good plans.”
One of those leaders came in the form of captain Francke Horn, who had plenty of praise for his teammates.
“As forwards we scrummed with seven, we stopped mauls, so there was a really big effort, ” said Horn.
“We knew if we could keep them out in that 20 minutes and assert our game plan onto them, getting back to 15 men, we would get our chances.
“We squandered two opportunities on the five-metre line-outs, but we also held up one of theirs.
“When we really needed it in the last minute, the guys came through.
“There was always that belief that we could win, and credit to the guys for staying in there and playing the whole 80 minutes.”
