Lions Feast On Sharks And Complete Double At Ellis Park

The Lions brought an end to the Sharks three game winning streak with a deserved 34-22 victory in warm, humid conditions at Ellis Park, ensuring that the competitive South African Shield remains up for grabs in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship.

A win would have secured the SA Shield for the Sharks for a second year in a row, but the Lions had other ideas in mind.

The Sharks came into the game off favourable results against the Stormers in Cape Town and Durban, while the Lions came off a 52-17 defeat at home to the Bulls.

The Lions’ last URC victory was against the Sharks in Durban.

The Lions got off the mark first with a Chris Smith penalty in the fourth minute.

Bronson Mills displayed his immense ability when he kicked a wonderful 50-22, before he broke the Sharks’ defensive line and had his heel clipped, after the line-out was secured. The Sharks were let off the hook, though, as Darrien Landsberg failed to gather the ball with the try-line at his mercy.

Although the Lions dominated opening proceedings, it was JP Pietersen’s Sharks who got the first five-pointer with an unstoppable maul try dotted down by Fez Mbatha – his second of the season – against a hapless Lions defensive maul.

Siya Masuku slotted the conversion to give the Sharks a 7-3 lead after 15 minutes.

Chris Smith made it two from two after the Sharks were penalised for not rolling away from the tackle to reduce the game to a solitary point, 7-6.

The 29th minute saw a changing of the tide when the game swung in favour of the Lions as Jaden Hendrikse was sent to the sin-bin for a defensive infringement.

In the immediate aftermath, the Lions scored their first try of the game as Asenathi Ntlabakanye broke away from the maul like a rampaging bull, diving over, seemingly impossible to stop.

The Lions took full advantage of being a man up, as Kelly Mpeku ran and secured a dink into space by Van Den Berg, doing brilliantly to retain, then somehow managing to get the pass away to Van Den Berg for a sensational try.

Smith continued his impeccable kicking as the Lions came from behind to race into a 20-7 lead.

The half ended with Bronson Mills sent to the sin-bin for a head collision – with his passive stance in the tackle serving as mitigation that led to only a yellow card.

Masuku slotted the subsequent penalty to reduce the Sharks’ deficit to ten.

HALF-TIME: LIONS 20-10 SHARKS

The Lions dominated the opening proceedings of the first half but were unable to score a try – this time though – with a man down – their sustained early second half pressure resulted in debutant Siba Mahashe scoring, shortly after half-time.

Smith made no mistake with the conversion to increase the Lions’ lead to 27-10.

The Sharks finally made the man advantage pay as flanker Tino Mavesere dotted down in the 47th minute, following a breakaway from a maul.

Masuku was unable to convert, taking the score to 27-15 in favour of the Lions.

The action-packed start to the second half saw its third try in just eleven minutes, as Ruan Venter got over the whitewash, against a Sharks defence that offered very little in the way of resistance.

As usual, the boot of Smith did the business as the Lions increased their lead to 19, the score now reading 34-15.

The 64th minute saw Franco Marais become the third player sent to the sin-bin in the game, for a high tackle, offering the Sharks an opportunity to fight back late in the final quarter.

The Sharks had a brilliant 70th-minute try by Jurenzo Julius chalked off for obstruction by Mavesere, deep in their territory at the start of the attack.

Julius did eventually get his try after the hooter sounded, but by this time, it was too little, too late as the Lions completed the double over the Sharks.