Lions finish season on a high note
URC REPORT: The Lions concluded their United Rugby Championship season with a 50-35 win over Zebre on Saturday at Loftus Versfeld.
The Johannesburg side’s play-offs hopes ended last weekend courtesy of a defeat to the Leinster. They headed into the round 18 fixture determined to rectify their wrongs and were on par for most of the match.
*To recap all the action CLICK HERE!!!
Ivan van Rooyen’s men scored eight tries in their win over Zebre.
Standout performers of the season scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba and wing Edwill van der Merwe bagged a brace of tries, respectively.
While Jaco Kriel celebrated his last game for the Lions with a try of his own, Quan Horn, Rhynardt Rijnsburger and Andries Coetzee were the other try-scorers.
The result means the Lions end the season in the ninth spot on the overall log.
The Italians finished the season without a victory despite a first-half hat-trick by wing Simone Gesi, who opened his account just 36 seconds into the game.
It was a nightmare outing for defence coaches with the carnage to come signposted by Gesi strolling over after 36 seconds, teed up by the outstanding Tiff Eden.
But Nohamba struck too easily from an 11th-minute scrum and then the Lions broke from their own 22 with Van der Merwe providing the finishing touch.
Eden and Jacopo Trulla combined to tee up a second for Gesi and although a Jaco Kriel maul try briefly restored Lions supremacy, Gesi completed his hat-trick in the 35th minute, once again profiting from the vision shown by his flyhalf an fullback.
The nightmare for defence coaches continued as Van der Merwe grabbed his second courtesy of an unfortunate blunder by Kobus van Wyk and when Quan Horn went over just before half-time, the Lions led 31-22.
Eden followed Guido Volpi into the sin-bin, reducing Zebre to 13 players, and Nohamba responded by jinking his way over.
Zebre’s defence cracked for the seventh time, unpicked by Andries Coetzee, before Rydhardt Rijnsburger completed the rout.
Man of the match: The Italian wing Simone Gesi deserves a mention for his hat-trick of tries. Lions Manuel Rass work in defence was incredible. However, our nod goes to Lions scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba. The No.9 missed a couple of kicks to poles but made up for it with his lethal attack he added 20 points to his team’s tally scoring two tries and kicking four conversions.
The scorers:
For Lions:
Tries: Nohamba 2, Van Der Merwe 2, Kriel, Q. Horn, Coetzee, Rijnsburger
Cons: Nohamba 4
For Zebre:
Tries: Gesi 3, Trulla, Pitinari
Cons: Eden 2
Pens: Eden 2
Yellow cards: Guido Volpi (Zebre, 40 – High and dangerous tackle), Tiff Eden (Zebre, 49 – deliberate knock down)
Teams:
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Sibahle Maxwane, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Marius Louw (captain), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jacobus Kriel, 5 Ruben Schoeman, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Rhynardt Rijnsburger.
Replacements: 16 Morné Brandon, 17 Morgan Naude, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Ruan Delport, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Morné van den Berg, 22 Rynhardt Jonker, 23 Andries Coetzee.
Zebre Parma: 15 Jacopo Trulla, 14 Kobus van Wyk, 13 Richard Kriel, 12 Enrico Lucchin (captain), 11 Simone Gesi, 10 Tiff Eden, 9 Chris Cook, 8 Giacomo Ferrari, 7 Iacopo Bianchi, 6 Guido Volpi, 5 Andrea Zambonin, 4 Leonard Krumov, 3 Matteo Nocera, 2 Luca Bigi, 1 Paolo Buonfiglio.
Replacements: 16 Marco Manfredi, 17 Juan Pitinari, 18 Muhamed Hasa, 19 David Sisi, 20 Davide Ruggeri, 21 Alessandro Fusco, 22 Geronimo Prisciantelli, 23 Damiano Mazza.
Referee: Ben Whitehouse (Wales)
Assistant referees: Morne Ferreira (South Africa) & Stephan Geldenhuys (South Africa)
TMO: Jon Mason (Wales)
*Additional reporting: @URCOfficial
