The Fidelity Securedrive Lions secured an eight-try bonus-point 54-17 win against Edinburgh on Saturday in Round 13 of the United Rugby Championship.
Edinburgh dominated early proceedings; however, a brilliant effort by Morné van den Berg led to Ruan Venter scoring the Lions' first try sixty meters down the field. Chris Smith converted the try to extend the Lions' lead to 07-00 after six minutes of play in the second half.
As the half proceeded, the Lions increased their dominance and tries by Francke Horn, Darrien Landsberg and Morne van den Berg within the space of seven minutes, extended the Lions' lead to 28-00 with Chris Smith adding the extras. The Lions led 28-00 after twenty-six minutes of play in the first half.
With time up on the clock, the Lions attack from within their 22m, and Bronson Mills scored the Lions' fifth try, following brilliant interplay and handling by the Lions. Chris Smith converted to send the Lions going into the second half leading 35-00.
Edinburgh opened its scoring after eight minutes of play, dominating the opening stages of the match. Ewan Ashman scored off the back of a lineout-maul to cut the Lions' lead to 35-05.
Five minutes later, Angelo Davids caught a kick-pass by Chris Smith to score in the corner, which Smith converted, extending the Lions' lead to 42-05.
With the game losing its structure, Freddy Douglas crashed over for Edinburgh, whereafter, Angelo Davids pounced on a grubber for the Lions to lead 49-10.
Then Matt Currie crushed past a poor attempt to tackle to cut the Lions' lead to 49-17 following the conversion by Cammy Scott. Hashim Pead scored the Lions' eighth try with a minute still to play to secure a 54-17 win for the Lions.
Scorers
Fidelity Securedrive Lions: Tries: Ruan Venter, Morné van den Berg, Francke Horn, Darrien Landsberg, Bronson Mills, Angelo Davids (2), Hashim Pead. Conversions: Chris Smith (7).
Edinburgh Ruby: Tries: Ewan Ashman, Freddy Douglas, Matt Currie. Conversion: Cammy Scott.
Teams
Fidelity Securedrive Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Bronson Mills, 11 Erich Cronje, 10 Chris Smith, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn (c), 7 Batho Hlekani, 6 Siba Mahashe, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Ruan Venter, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 SJ Kotze. Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Eddie Davids, 18 RF Schoeman, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Sibabalwa Qoma, 21 Renzo du Plessis, 22 Haashim Pead, 23 Richard Kriel.
Edinburgh Ruby: 15 Harry Paterson, 14 Malelili Satala, 13 Matt Currie, 12 Mosese Tuipulotu, 11 Jack Brown, 10 Ross Thompson, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Magnus Bradbury (c), 7 Freddy Douglas,6 Ben Muncaster, 5 Glen Young, 4 Marshall Sykes, 3 D’arcy Rae, 2 Dylan Richardson, 1 Boan Venter. Replacements: 16 Ewan Ashman, 17 James Whitcombe, 18 Paul Hill, 19 Callum Hunter-Hill, 20 Liam McConnell, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Cammy Scott, 23 Piers O’Conor.