Fidelity SecureDrive Lions kept their dreams alive to win the SA Shield on Saturday at Ellispark with a convincing 24-10 win against the DHL Stormers.
Following twenty minutes of an arm wrestle, great work in the air eventually led to Siba Mahashe scoring a great team try. Chris Smith converted to extend the Lions' lead to 07-00.
Six minutes later, a great kick by Morné van den Berg was controlled by Henco van Wyk to score the Lions’ second try. Smith added the extra two points to extend the Lions' lead to 14-00.
Despite the Stormers upping their efforts on the attack, using their big boys to attack around the corners of the mauls, the defence of the Lions kept the Stormers scoreless.
Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted an early penalty, and then Erich Cronje scored the Lions’ third try, which Smith converted to extend the Lions' lead to 21-03.
The Stormers once again upped the pace of their attack, and following a try being disallowed, Evan Roos put the captain JD Schickerling in space to crash over under the poles. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu converted to cut the Lions' lead to 21-10 with twenty-five minutes still to play in the second half.
Two minutes later, Chris Smith converted a penalty to extend the Lions' lead to 24-10.
The final twenty minutes were “dominated” by the Stormers following a yellow and red card in quick succession to the Lions. However, the defence of the Lions was brilliant and secured them a well-earned 24-10 win.
Scorers:
Fidelity SecureDrive Lions: Siba Mahashe, Henco van Wyk, Erich Cronje. Conversions: Chris Smith (3). Penalties: Chris Smith.
DHL Stormers: Try: JD Schickerling. Conversion: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Penalty: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
Teams:
Fidelity SecureDrive Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Kelly Mpeku, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Angelo Davids, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Batho Hlekani, 6 Siba Mahashe, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 RF Schoeman, 2 PJ Botha, 1 SJ Kotze. Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 Conrad van Vuuren, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Siba Qoma, 21 Renzo du Plessis, 22 Nico Steyn, 23 Erich Cronjé.
DHL Stormers: 15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Dylan Maart, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Jonathan Roche, 11 Leolin Zas, 10 Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, 9 Stefan Ungerer, 8 Evan Roos, 7 Ben-Jason Dixon, 6 Paul de Villiers, 5 JD Schickerling (c), 4 Adré Smith, 3 Sazi Sandi, 2 JJ Kotzé, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu. Replacements: 16 André-Hugo Venter, 17 Vernon Matongo, 18 Zachary Porthen, 19 Connor Evans, 20 Marcel Theunissen, Hacjivah Dayimani, 22 Imad Khan, 23 Jurie Matthee.