Hungry Lions outplay Bulls in Pretoria
MATCH REPORT: The Lions have climbed above the Bulls into seventh place in the United Rugby Championship standings after they recorded a 43-33 victory in Saturday’s Jukskei Derby in Pretoria.
The team from Johannesburg entered the match as underdogs. However, they dominated the big moments, especially with their pack, and they eventually outscored Johan Ackermann’s team by six tries to five.
After a slow start in the tournament, the Lions now have three wins in a row, and the result in Pretoria was also their first win on the road.
The margin could’ve been bigger if the Bulls hadn’t scored two late tries, which puts the game between the rivals into perspective.
After weathering a storm by the Bulls in the opening minutes, the Lions opened the scoring with a long-range Chris Smith penalty in the 11th minute.
The visitors extended their lead in the 19th minute when they pounced on a mistake by Willie le Roux on attack in the midfield. After kicking the loose ball ahead, wing Kelly Mpeku picked it up before stretching over for a five-pointer.
It got even better for the Lions a few minutes later, and it was all sparked by Smith. The flyhalf sliced through the defence, and after some great interplay between backs and forwards, scrumhalf Nico Steyn dived over for his team’s second converted try.
The Bulls finally got on the board just before the half-hour mark with wing Sebastian de Klerk beating his man on the outside before feeding the inside ball to Embrose Papier, who ran in for a try.
It was deja vu three minutes later. This time, wing Stravino Jacobs sliced through the Lions’ defence before sending the ball to the scrumhalf for his second try of the match.
The Lions found their mojo again when Jarod Cairns collected the ball from a neat grubber by Quan Horn before powering over for his team’s third try. This time, Smith was unable to find the direction with the conversion attempt.
However, the home side had the final say in the first half when Akker van der Merwe found his way to the tryline after a powerful driving maul.
Johannes missed his first conversion and at half-time it was 22-19 to the Lions.
The Bulls applied the early pressure in the second half, but once again, they struggled to turn it into points.
Instead, the Lions took full advantage of a brilliant 50-22 by Bronson Milles by forming a powerful maul that resulted in a try for Etienne Oosthuizen. Smith’s conversion made it a nine-point lead after 52 minutes.
Smith had an opportunity to make it a 13-point lead in the 69th minute with a penalty goal attempt, but he had to rush his kick, and it went wide.
The Lions eventually got that breathing space in the 72nd minute with Eduan Keyter crashing over for his team’s fifth try.
And not long after that, the game was put to bed in the 74th minute after some more brilliant interplay ended in Steyn scoring his second try.
The Bulls added some respectability to the scoreline with two late tries by Johannes and Sebastian de Klerk, but it was too little, too late for a comeback.
Man of the match: The award goes to Lions lock Etienne Oosthuizen, who was a force up front. He put in some big hits on defence and scored a try as well.
The scorers:
For Bulls:
Tries: Papier 2, Van der Merwe, Johannes, De Klerk
Cons: Johannes 4
For Lions:
Tries: Mpeku, Steyn 2, Cairns, Oosthuizen, Keyter
Cons: Smith 5
Pen: Smith
Teams:
Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 David Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Stavino Jacobs, 10 Keagan Johannes, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 JJ Theron, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig (captain), 6 Jeandre Rudolph, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Jaco Grobberlaar , 3 Francois Klopper, 2 Akker van der Merwe, 1 Alu Tshakweni.
Replacements: 16 Jean Else; 17 Sti Sithole; 18 Mornay Smith; 19 Cobus Wiese; 20 Elrigh Louw; 21 Paul de Wet; 22 Stedman Gans; 23 Cheswill Jooste.
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Kelly Mpeku, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Eduan Keyter, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 RF Schoeman, 2 Franco Marai, 1 SJ Kotze.
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Edward Davids, 18 Conrad van Vuuren, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Renzo du Plessis, 21 Sibabalo Qoma, 22 Haashim Pead, 23 Gianni Lombard
Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa), Sean Muller (South Africa)
TMO: Quinton Immelman (South Africa)
