The Emirates Lions are still in the running for a quarter-final spot, beating Glasgow Warriors 44-21 on Saturday in Johannesburg.
The match was played at a blistering pace with the Lions edging their visitors 08-08 at the halftime break. However, a red card and a yellow card reduced the Lions to thirteen players for the first eight minutes in the second half. Four tries scored by the Lions in a period of twelve minutes secured a brilliant effort from the hosts despite three yellow and a red card.
Glasgow started like a house on fire showing great intent to run from anywhere and eventually after twelve minutes of play scored the first try of the match to lead 07-00. Ruan Venter was shown a yellow card for his illegal actions just before the Glasgow try.
The match was a ding-dong battle for the following fourteen minutes until the Emirates Lions converted a penalty to trail 03-07.
Lions scored their first try with great handling to send Sibahle Maxwane in the corner to take the lead 08-07 with six minutes to play.
Following a lineout five meters from the Emirates Lions' tryline, Glasgow picked up and drove several times until flanker Euan Ferrie crashed over to retake the lead 14-08 and four minutes played in the second half.
The Lions struck back almost immediately with three brilliant tries with counterattacks from turnover ball, by Edwill van der Merwe, Rabz Maxwane and JC Pretorius to retake the lead 29-14 after seventeen minutes of play in the second half.
A sixty-meter intercept try by Sanele Nohamba extended the Lions' lead to 36-14, however, Glasgow clawed their way back into the game and scored a well-worked try with ten minutes to play.
The Lions refused to let their visitors back into the match and Hanru Sirgel's try secured a brilliant 44-21 win over Glasgow Warriors.
Scorers:
Emirates Lions: Tries: Rabze Maxwane (2), Edwill van der Merwe, JC Pretorius, Sanele Nohamba, Hanru Sirgel. Conversions: Sanele Nohamba (4). Penalty: Gianni Lombard, Sanele Nohamba.
Glasgow Warriors: Tries: Kyle Rowe, Euan Ferrie, Josh McKay. Conversions: George Horne (2), Duncan Weir.
Teams:
Emirates Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Sibahle Maxwane, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Marius Louw (c), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Gianni Lombard, 9 Morné van den Berg, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Emmanuel Tshituka, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Ruan Delport, 4 Willem Alberts, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 Morgan Naudé. Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 JP Smith, 18 Ruan Dreyer, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Ruan Venter, 21 Hanru Sirgel, 22 Sanele Nohamba, 23 Jordan Hendrikse.
Glasgow Warriors: 15 Josh McKay, 14 Kyle Steyn (c), 13 Stafford McDowall, 12 Sione Tuipulotu, 11 Kyle Rowe, 10 Tom Jordan, 9 George Horne, 8 Henco Venter, 7 Rory Darge, 6 Euan Ferrie, 5 Scott Cummings, 4 Gregor Brown, 3 Murphy Walker, 2 Angus Fraser, 1 Oli Kebble. Replacements: 16 Johnny Matthews, 17 Jamie Bhatti, 18 Zander Fagerson, 19 Max Williamson, 20 Matt Fagerson, 21 Jack Dempsey, 22 Jamie Dobie, 23 Duncan Weir.
