Lions finally get that winning feeling

MATCH REPORT: The Lions recorded their first win of the 2025/2026 United Rugby Championship season with a 29-18 result against the Scarlets at Ellis Park on Saturday.

It was far from a polished performance by the hosts, but the win will be a morale booster after they lost their first three matches of the season.

Ivan van Rooyen’s side also managed to secure the bonus point with replacement hooker Morne Brandon getting a brace.

The Lions had most of the possession in the opening ten minutes. However, the visitors opened the scoring in the 12th minute with a long-range penalty goal by Sam Costelow.

After sustained pressure, the home side thought they scored a try in the 19th minute when JC Pretorius forced his way over the tryline.

However, there was an obstruction by Etienne Oosthuizen in the line-out in the build-up, and the score was ruled out.

The Lions eventually got their first try in the 25th minute after Pretorius nearly found his way to the tryline again with a powerful run before the ball went wide to Quan Horn, who had an easy run-in for the score.

Despite dominating territory and possession in the first half, the home side could only go into the break 5-3 ahead.

Their lead increased to five points after a Chris Smith penalty goal in the 47th minute before Costelow made it a two-point ball game again with a three-pointer of his own a few minutes later.

It became clear that the Lions were going to take any points on offer in the match, and replacement flyhalf Gianni Lombard helped his team hit back with another three-pointer in the 53rd minute.

The Lions eventually put some breathing space between themselves and the Scarlets when Franco Marais was driven over the tryline via a powerful maul.

The Scarlets were right back in the game in the 69th minute when they were awarded a penalty try after their maul was collapsed as they were surging over the tryline. Lions lock Darrien Landsberg also received a yellow card for cynical play.

However, the Lions responded almost immediately when scrumhalf Nic Steyn sliced through the Scarlets’ defence before feeding the ball to replacement hooker Brandon, who had plenty of pace to run in for his team’s third try.

The bonus point was secured in the 75th minute when Brandon got his second after powering over the tryline from a driving maul.

There was a bit of hope for the visitors a few minutes later, after Eduan Keyter failed to field a loose ball in his 22 before Joe Roberts pounced on it to score a try in the corner.

Costelow missed the conversion, which would have made things a bit tense for the home side in the final stages.

The game was eventually closed out with a Lombard penalty goal in the 61st minute.

Man of the match: Wing Eduan Keyter was a headache for the Scarlets’ defence as he constantly asked questions with ball in hand. However, the award goes to Jarod Cairns, who produced an industrious performance after replacing JC Pretorius in the first half.

Teams:

The scorers:

For Lions:
Tries: Q Horn, Marais, Brandon 2
Pens: Smith, Lombard 2

For Scarlets:
Tries: Penalty Try, Roberts
Pens: Costelow 2

Yellow card: Darrien Landsberg (Lions, 69′ – cynical play, collapsing the maul)

Teams:

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Franco Marais, 1 SJ Kotze.
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 RF Schoeman, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Jarod Cairns, 21 Layton Horn, 22 Gianni Lombard, 23 Kelly Mpeku.

Scarlets: 15 Ioan Nicholas, 14 Ellis Mee, 13 Macs Page, 12 Johnny Williams (captain), 11 Blair Murray, 10 Sam Costelow, 9 Archie Hughes, 8 Taine Plumtree, 7 Dan Davis, 6 Jarrod Taylor, 5 Alex Groves, 4 Harvey Cuckson, 3 Archer Holz, 2 Marnus van der Merwe, 1 Alec Hepburn.
Replacements: 16 Kirby Myhill, 17 Sam O’Connor, 18 Henry Thomas, 19 Dan Gemine, 20 Ben Williams, 21 Dane Blacker, 22 Joe Hawkins, 23 Joe Roberts.

Referee: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)
Assistant referees: Griffin Colby (South Africa); AJ Jacobs (South Africa)
TMO: Sam Grove-White (Scotland)

Main photo credit: Anton Geyser Media