In Saturday’s first Carling Currie Cup Premier Division match at Ellis Park, the Fidelity ADT Lions continued their dominance over DHL Western Province with a 40-19 win, their third win in a row over the visitors.
The match started at a blistering pace with a WP's rumbling maul giving eightman Louw Nel to force his way over the tryline for a great start to the match.
However, the Lions' reply was immediate with a brilliant effort by Lubabalo Dobela to score and convert his own try. This was followed by a penalty try awarded to the Lions after fifteen minutes of play to lead 14-06.
With WP on the attack, Rabz Maxwane showed his pace from a turnover to extend the Lions' lead to 21-05 Dobela's conversion.
After thirty-six minutes of play, flanker Gideon van Wyk picks and goes towards the Lions' try-line and crashes over for the try. Smith converted to cut the Lions' lead to 21-12, which also was the halftime score.
After eight minutes of play, the WP lost their lineout and the Lions made it count to build the phases, get over the advantage line, and eventually WJ Steenkamp gets over to score a well-worked team try. Dobela converted to extend the Lions' lead to 28-12.
Five minutes later, a WP rolling maul rumbled over the Lions' tryline with Louw Nel getting his second try of the game. Smith added the extra two points.
With twenty minutes to play, WP struggled to protect the ball, and a Lions' turnover saw them making their way back towards the WP tryline. Jaco Visagie scored off a driving maul to extend the Lions' lead to 35-19.
Nine minutes later, Jaco Visagie scored his second try of the day off the back of a maul to extend their lead to 40-19, which was also the final score.
Scorers:
Fidelity ADT Lions: Tries: Lubabalo Dobela, Penalty try, Rabz Maxwane, WJ Steenkamp, Jaco Visage (2). Conversions: Lubabalo Dobela (4).
DHL Western Province: Tries: Louw Nel (2), Gideon van Wyk. Conversions: Kyle Smith (2).
Teams:
Fidelity ADT Lions: 15 Gianni Lombard, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Rabz Maxwane, 10 Lubabalo Dobela, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 WJ Steenkamp, 7 Jarod Cairns, 6 Renzo du Plessis, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Raynard Roets, 3 RF Schoeman, 2 Jaco Visagie (c), 1 Morgan Naude. Replacements: 16 Marno Grobbelaar, 17 SJ Kotze, 18 Heiko Pohlmann, 19 Dylan Sjoblom, 20 Siba Qoma, 21 Layton Horn, 22 Kade Wolhuter, 23 Kelly Mpeku.
DHL Western Province: 15 Shilton van Wyk, 14 Sako Makata, 13 Luke Burger, 12 Damian Markus, 11 Jared Africa, 10 Kyle Smith, 9 Asad Moos, 8 Louw Nel, 7 Gideon van Wyk, 6 Zain Davids (c), 5 Gary Porter, 4 Alex Groves, 3 Zachary Porthen, 2 Scarra Ntubeni, 1 Sti Sithole. Replacements: 16 Lukhanyo Vokozela, 17 Mhleli Khuzwayo, 18 Arno Gustafson, 19 Andre Goedhals, 20 Erhard Lambrecht, 21 Ezekiel Ngobeni, 22 Gino Cupido, 23 Tristan Leyds.