The Vodacom Bulls were the favourites when hosting the Lions at Loftus Versveld; however, a Lions team showed their flair to beat the Vodacom Bulls 43-33, outscoring their hosts by six tries to five.
The Vodacom United Rugby Championship returns with a bang this weekend, with the first South African derby on the cards in Gauteng when the Vodacom Bulls host the Lions in Pretoria at 14:00, with both teams set on remaining in the top eight.
The Vodacom Bulls dominated from the start of the match; however, they failed to convert their dominance on the field of play into points.
The Lions were first to add points to the scoreboard when Chris Smith converted a 56m penalty after ten minutes of play in the first half.
Following eighteen minutes of play, when the Lions hacked a drop ball ahead into space, Kelly Mpeku had the pace to control the ball and scored the Lions' first try. Chris Smith converted to extend the Lions’ lead to 10-00.
Five minutes later, the Lions scored a team try following Chris Smith’s bursting through a gap, which eventually led to Nico Steyn scoring near the posts. Smith converted to extend the Lions’ lead to 17-00.
With ten minutes to play in the first half, the Bulls stepped up the speed of their attack, resulting in Embrose Papier scoring two tries to cut the Lions’ lead to 17-14.
With two minutes still to play, Quan Horn's grubber to the corner was controlled by a waiting Jarod Cairns to regather and crash over for the Lions’ third try to extend the Lions' lead to 22-14 with time almost up.
However, the Bulls were not finished yet, and using their big guns up front to set up the maul from which Akker van der Merwe scored the Bulls' third try, to cut the Lions’ lead to 22-19, which was also the halftime score.
After ten minutes of play in the second half, Etienne Oosthuizen scored the Lions' bonus-point try off the back of a five-meter lineout maul to once again extend the Lions' lead to 27-19.
In a ding-dong battle, the scoreboard was the only thing not moving, and with fifteen minutes still to play, it was still anybody's game to win.
A mistake by the Bulls, trying to attack from within their twenty-two, allowed the Lions to attack, and eventually Eduan Keyter crashed over for the Lions' fifth try. Smith converted to extend the Lions' lead to 36-19.
Minutes later, Nico Steyn scored his second try, and with Smith converting, the Lions led 43-19 with six minutes still to play in the second half.
With time almost up on the clock, Keagan Johannes and Sebastian de Klerk scored two great individual tries and cut the Lions’ lead to 43-33, which was the final score.
Teams:
Vodacom Bulls: 15 Willie le Roux, 14 Sebastian de Klerk, 13 David Kriel, 12 Jan Serfontein, 11 Stravino Jacobs, 10 Keagan Johannes, 9 Embrose Papier, 8 JJ Theron, 7 Reinhardt Ludwig (c), 6 Jeandre Rudolph, 5 JF van Heerden, 4 Jaco Grobbelaar, 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 (c), 7 Ruan Venter, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 RF Schoeman, 2 Franco Marais, 1 SJ Kotze. Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Darrien Landsberg, 20 Renzo du Plessis, 21 Sibabalo Qoma, 22 Gianni Lombard, 23 Haashim Pead.
