Boom: Don Armand bears the brunt of a Butch James hit
A late Elton Jantjies penalty secured the Lions a 26-23 win over Western Province in their Currie Cup clash in Johannesburg.
Jantjies slotted the winning three-pointer four minutes after the final hooter in a dramatic finale.
Province thought they had secured a valuable draw when Brok Harris scored a try in the 78th minute, which Demetri Catrakilis converted, but a ruck infringement by the visitors, in injury time, gave Jantjies the chance to win the game for his team.
Earlier, the match started at a frenetic pace with Province doing most of the attacking during the opening quarter.
They were rewarded in the ninth minute when Gerhard van den Heever scored the opening try after running onto a perfectly-timed pass from Duane Vermeulen, who was stopped just short of the try-line after a bullocking run.
Catrakilis converted and the men from the Cape soon held a 10-0 lead when the fly-half added a further three points from the kicking tee.
WP were boosted by the inclusion of their returning Springbok squad members, Siya Kolisi and Juan de Jongh, who were both in the thick of the action throughout.
The other Springbok discard, Jantjies, got the Lions' first points via a penalty in the 15th minute and there was further joy for the home side when Josh Strauss scored their only try in the 28th minute.
This after Jantjies did well to put him into space with a perfectly-timed pass 20 metres from the try-line. Strauss still had some work to do but he did well to hold his composure and shrug off a desperate tackle from Don Armand before dotting down.
Jantjies failed with the conversion attempt but made up for this indiscretion when he succeeded with another penalty in the 38th minute to give his side an 11-10 lead at half-time.
The second half saw Jantjies adding three penalties to give the Lions a 20-13 lead before Catrakilis landed a place-kick of his own to narrow the gap to four points in the 72nd minute.
There was plenty of action as WP tried to get something out of the game but after Harris' try gave the visitors hope, Jantjies held his nerve to deny them at the death.
The scorers:
For Golden Lions:
Try: Strauss
Pens: Jantjies 7
For Western Province:
Tries: Van den Heever, Harris
Con: Catrakilis
Pens: Catrakilis 3
Yellow card: CJ van der Linde (professional foul)
Golden Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 JR Esterhuizen, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Butch James, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Michael Bondisio, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Josh Strauss, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Bandise Maku, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg (c).
Replacements: 16 Martin Bezuidenhout, 17 CJ van der Linde, 18 Willie Britz, 19 Jaco Kriel, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Deon Helberg, 22 Ruan Combrinck.
Western Province: 15 Gio Aplon, 14 Gerhard van den Heever, 13 Juan de Jongh, 12 Marcel Brache, 11 Ederies Arendse, 10 Demetri Catrakilis, 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Tyrone Holmes, 6 Siya Kolisi, 5 De Kock Steenkamp, 4 Don Armand, 3 Frans Malherbe, 2 Deon Fourie (c), 1 Steven Kitshoff.
Replacements: 16 Scarra Ntubeni, 17 Brok Harris, 18 Wilhelm van der Sluys, 19 Jebb Sinclair, 20 Dewald Duvenhage, 21 JP du Plessis, 22 Kurt Coleman.
Referee: Stuart Berry
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