Lions rip Edinburgh to shreds

MATCH REPORT: The Lions moved into seventh spot in the standings with a strong performance as they thumped Edinburgh 54-17 in Round 13 of the United Rugby Championship at Ellis Park on Saturday.

Edinburgh had a mountain to climb, trailing 0-35 at halftime, and they showed grit and guts to fight back, but it was not to be.

The Scots arrived without several of their internationals due to resting protocols.

It was the Lions’ latest centurion, scrumhalf Morne van den Berg, who opened their account in the sixth minute.

He made yards, popped to Francke Horn, and backing him up was Ruan Venter, with the No.4 on his back, who rounded a beautiful try to open the Lions’ account.

When the Lions once more advanced to the visitors’ 22, they had a picture-perfect scrum as Boan Venter, who will join the Johannesburg outfit at the end of the season, had the upper hand over his Springbok counterpart Asenathi Ntlabakanye.

But it was Francke Horn who scored the second after yet another infringement by Edinburgh. Smith added the extras.

They followed it up with a screamer of a try, started by Ntlabakanye. Siba Mahashe did sterling work to keep the ball alive, and Darien Landsberg found the whitewash for the Lions’ third try.

Smith stretched their lead to 21-0 after 20 minutes of play.

They got straight back to work, visiting Edinburgh’s 22. Ruan Venter took the ball up. Ntlabakanye did the same. Then it was Venter once more and Batho Hlekanye.

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Erich Cronje nearly got the dot down after a dink over the top by Van den Berg, but the visitors were there first to prevent the Lions’ fourth bonus point try.

The hosts didn’t have to wait long after the Nr.9 was awarded with a try in his 100th game.

Smith split the posts to take the Lions to a 28-0 lead, as he became the first player to reach 100 points and the leading points scorer in this URC.

At the half-hour mark, Edinburgh had hardly been in the Lions’ half of the field, left to defend their own fort as the Lions piled pressure upon pressure on them.

Just before halftime, the visitors had a good passage of play, going coast to coast. Jack Brown broke clear, but lost the ball in the tackle.

In that movement, Horn got in trouble for cynical play and had to spend 10 minutes in the bin with a minute left in the first half.

Edinburgh used its numerical advantage to force its will and attempt to get points on the board before halftime.

A scrum in front of the posts on the 22 for Edinburgh offered the ideal platform. But the Lions had other plans.

Edinburgh fought hard to make ground forward, doing their best to force their way over the line in front of the sticks, but gave away a penalty just before the try line.

The Lions took it quickly and rushed to the opposite side of the field, catching the visitors off guard.

Henco van Wyk got on his bicycle and motored downfield, Landsberg took it up, and Bronson Mills scored a try that started on their own tryline.

The start of the second half saw Edinburgh get more return on their runs, but the Lions’ defence stood firm.

A soft penalty by the Lions saw Edinburgh kick for the corner, setting up a good scoring opportunity.

They set up the maul, and Ewan Ashman went straight from the bench to try scorer as Edinburgh dominated proceedings from the kick-off.

The conversion kick hit the upright, and Edinburgh was trailing by 5-35 with 30 minutes of play left on the clock.

A few minutes later, the Edinburgh maul was once again on the march, with the Lions having to defend.

The hosts stole the ball, kicked downfield, and Erich Cronje nearly managed to keep a rolling ball in play for Haashim Pead, but the ball won the race to the sideline.

But a try, courtesy of Angelo Davids, who got over on the opposite side following a great weighted kick by Smith. Eventually, the visitors did get their second try, thanks to Freddy Douglas, narrowing the gap to 10-42.

Edinburgh had the majority of the possession in the first 20 minutes of the second half, but still had a mountain to climb.

A beautiful dink through from Mills saw Davids winning the race to the tryline for his second try of the day, converted once more by Smith.

Edinburgh finally managed to put together 20 phases, ending with Matt Currie crossing the whitewash.

Winding down the clock, the Lions were not reluctant to sit idly by and never halted the effort to score more points.

Another try followed, their eighth, taking their tally to 54-17 for the final score.

Player of the Match: Ruan Venter, having had to make a late switch to lock after Ettiene Oosthuizen withdrew, was a trojan, not only scoring a sterling try, but making 14 tackles with a dominant defensive performance.

The scorers:

For Lions:
Tries: Venter, Horn, Landsberg, Van den Berg, Mills, Davids 2, Pead
Cons: Smith 7

For Edinburgh:
Tries: Ashman, Douglas, Currie
Cons: Scott

Yellow card: Francke Horn (for Lions, 39’ for cynical play)

Teams

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Erich Cronje, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (captain), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Siba Mahashe, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 SJ Kotze
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Batho Hlekani, 21 Renzo du Plessis, 22 Haashim Pead, 23 Richard Kriel

Edinburgh: 15 Harry Paterson, 14 Malelili Satala, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Jack Brown, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Magnus Bradbury (captain), 7 Freddy Douglas,6 Ben Muncaster, 5 Glen Young, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Dylan Richardson, 1 Boan Venter
Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Liam McConnell, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Piers O’Conor

Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Hanru van Rooyen (South Africa), Stephen Geldenhuys (South Africa)
TMO: Eoghan Cross (Ireland)