Three tries in the second half by Marius Louw, Sanele Nohamba, and Morne Brandon secured an impressive 43-34 victory for the Fidelity ADT Lions against the Toyota Cheetahs in the first semi-final of the Carling Currie Cup in Johannesburg on Saturday. 

 The two sides headed into the clash on the back of impressive showings this season which saw them finish in the top four. In their first meeting this season, it was the Johannesburg-based side that came out victorious recording a 38-21 win in Bloemfontein. However, the Lions were the standout team and finished the round-robin stages of the tournament with one defeat and nine wins in their 10 matches, sitting atop the log. Meanwhile, the Cheetahs racked up five wins, a draw and four defeats. 

 The visitors started the brightest though, as they opened a 14-0 lead with just 10 minutes played courtesy of two converted tries by flyhalf, Ethan Wentzel. It took the Lions 19 minutes to register on the scoreboard. After a Cheetahs lineout, Wentzel, inside his half attempted to clear the ball, however, it was charged down by Kade Wolhuter and picked by Jarod Cairns who stormed over to get his side’s first score of the match. The hosts were then awarded a penalty after a high tackle from Carl Wegner on Quan Horn. They opted for poles, but Wolhuter’s attempt struck the upright. That mattered little though, as four minutes later, the hosts drew level with a superb individual try by Asenathi Ntlabakanye. 

 The Cheetahs, looking to regain the lead bounced back immediately through a well-worked try by Cohen Jasper in his 50th appearance for the club. The visitors led 19-14 momentarily before the Lions scored late in the half after attacking from their half to see Ruan Venter dot over on the far left as the two sides went into halftime level at 19-19. The home side, however, was quick out the blocks in the second stanza and scored early through experienced center Marius Louw before Wolhuter converted to make it 26-19. 

 Soon after, Victor Sekekete pulled one back for the Cheetahs before the visitors scored through a powerful rolling maul with replacement hooker, Vernon Paulo dotting over the whitewash. Louw was then in the 51st minute shown a yellow card for a dangerous tackle. During his absence, Sanele Nohamba slotted over a three-pointer before scoring a try to regain the lead for the team. 

They put the final nail in the coffin with a Morne Brandon individual score which saw him pick the ball up in his half and sprinted to the whitewash to give his side a 43-29 lead with less than 10 minutes to play. The Cheetahs had the last say as replacement flyhalf, George Lourens scored late in the game and matters ended with the home side recording an impressive 43-34 win.