The Fidelity Securedrive Lions played a brilliant running game plan and scored eight tries at regular intervals to secure a 54-12 win over URC log leaders Glasgow Warriors.
The Lions started like a house on fire, attacking at speed. After six minutes of play, Henco van Wyk crashed over for the first try of the match. Chris Smith’s conversion extended the Lions' lead to 07-00.
The Lions continued their onslaught, and Erich Cronje scored their second try in the corner, extending the Lions’ lead to 12-00. At this stage, Glasgow had no answer to the Lions' speed of attack and brilliant interplay.
Henco van Wyk scored his second try following a planned tap and go move. Chris Smith converted to extend the Lions' lead to 19-00, and twenty minutes were played in the first half.
As the first half continued, the Warriors got their hands on more quality attacking ball and eventually the Warriors’ Dan Lancaster scored a great try, which Josh McKay converted, cutting the Lions’ lead to 19-07, and eight minutes still to play in the first half.
With a minute to play, the Lions launched a fifteen-man attack and eventually, Asenathi Ntlabakanye's soft hands put loose-head prop SJ Kotze in space to score the Lions’ bonus-point try. Chris Smith added the extra two points to extend the Lions' lead to 26-07 at the halftime break.
The Lions started the second half like they did in the first half. Ruan Venter scored of the back of a five-meter lineout to extend their lead to 33-07 following the conversion by Chris Smith.
With eighteen minutes to play, the Warriors attacked from the back of a lineout, and Stafford McDowall, who ran a brilliant line, scored Glasgow’s second try of the match.
Ten minutes later, Lions captain Francke Horn cruised down the touchline and offloaded to Morne van den Berg, who had an easy road to the Warriors' tryline. Chris Smith converted to extend the Lions’ lead to 40-12.
Tries by Sibabalwe Mahashe and Quan Horn during the final ten minutes of the match secured the Lions a 54-12 win over the Glasgow Warriors.
Scorers:
Fidelity Securedrive Lions: Tries: Henco van Wyk (2), Erich Cronje, SJ Kotze, Ruan Venter, Morne van den Berg, Sibabalwe Mahashe, Quan Horn. Conversions: Chris Smith (7).
Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Dan Lancaster, Stafford McDowall. Conversion: Josh McKay.
Teams:
Fidelity Securedrive Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Richard Kriel, 11 Erich Cronje, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (c), 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 Edward Davids, 18 Sebastian Lombard, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Batho Hlekani, 21 JC Pretorius, 22 Nico Steyn, Kelly Mpeku.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Rowe, 13 Huw Jones, 12 Stafford McDowall (captain), 11 Fergus Watson, 10 Dan Lancaster, 9 Jack Oliver, 8 Jack Dempsey, 7 Sione Vailanu, 6 Euan Ferrie, 5 Alex Samuel, 4 Jare Oguntibeju, 3 Fin Richardson, 2 Seb Stephen, 1 Rory Sutherland. Replacements: 16 Gregor Hiddleston, 17 Nathan McBeth, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Dylan Cockburn, 20 Ryan Burke, 21 Angus Fraser, 22 Ben Afshar, 23 Sione Tuipulotu.
