A sublime first half by the Emirates Lions saw them blow Edinburgh off the park in their 55-21 Vodacom United Rugby Championship victory at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday, with the hosts running circles around Scots, which they backed up with a solid defensive effort to earn seven tries to none by the visitors in a completely dominant first half for 48-0 halftime lead.
They added their eighth try late in the second half to finish the match with an impressive tally while allowing the visitors only three, although they had to weather a determined fightback by the opposition in the second half in which they scored all their points in 22 minutes.
With their forwards and backs coming doing their bit to give the team a strong platform to build from, Rabz Maxwane scored a hat-trick – two tries in the first half and one in the closing stages of the match - while Springbok wing Edwill van der Merwe scored a brace to add to tries by fellow new Bok Quan Horn, Rynharndt Jonker, and Franke Horn.
Their other first-half points were compliments of a penalty goal by Wolhuter in the third minute.
Edinburgh fought back strongly in the second half retaining possession and running hard at the Emirates Lions, and this combined with their solid forward play saw them touch down three times to take their score to 21 points, while they shut out the hosts on defence for most of the second stanza.
The Emirates Lions, however, kept fighting until the end and this paid off with their eighth try by Maxwane, who used his speed to wrap up his hat-trick and secure the Johannesburgers’ their second victory in a row in the competition.
Scorers:
Emirates Lions: Tries: Rabz Maxwane (3), Edwill van der Merwe (2), Quan Horn, Franke Horn, Rynhardt Jonker Conversions: Kade Wolhuter (3), Sanele Nohamba (2), Morne van den Berg. Penalty: Kade Wolhuter.
Edinburgh: Tries: Grant Gilchrist, Patrick Harrison, Ben Muncaster. Conversions: Ben Healy (2), Ross Thompson.
Teams
Emirates Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Jarod Cairns, 6 Johannes Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Reinhard Nothnagel, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Juan Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Heiko Pohlmann, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Ruben Schoeman, 20 Renzo du Plessis, 21 Sanele Nohamba, 22 Marius Louw, 23 Henco van Wyk.
Edinburgh: 15 Wes Goosen, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Ross McCann, 12 Matt Scott, 11 Duhan van der Merwe, 10 Ben Healy, 9 Ben Vellacott (cc), 8 Magnus Bradbury, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Jamie Ritchie, 5 Grant Gilchrist (cc), 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 Paul Hill, 2 Ewan Ashman, 1 Pierre Schoeman. Replacements: 16 Patrick Harrison, 17 Boan Venter, 18 D’Arcy Rae, 19 Jamie Hodgson, 20 Ben Muncaster, 21 Ali Price, 22 Ross Thompson, 23 Mosese Tuipulotu.