Lions roar with promise
The Lions got their Super 14 off to a winning start against the Cheetahs, taking the Highveld derby 34-28 on Friday at Ellis Park and showing plenty of promise for the season ahead.
The Lions got their Super 14 off to a winning start against the Cheetahs, taking the Highveld derby 34-28 on Friday at Ellis Park and showing plenty of promise for the season ahead.
A typically robust and frenetic South African derby, plenty of running from both teams, produced little practical food for thought for the season ahead as sterner and more cold-blooded tests await both, but the Lions gave the more polished account of themselves in attack.
The Lions dominated to the extent that they should have been out of sight before Heinrich Brüssow was sent to the sin-bin for a late tackle in the 26th minute. They attacked in waves, using the backs and the hands to great effect, but frequently undermined themselves by trying to force the extra pass where pragmatism and an extra couple of phases of build-up would have been required.
They were also undermined by their line-out, which turned in a 50 per cent success rate for the first half and cost them a try.
The Cheetahs attacked a lot less. It took about 20 minutes for inside centre Jacques-Louis Potgieter to see the ball by any means other than placing it on the tee or suporting Hennie Daniller on a kick return. Corne Uys, at outside centre, must have wondered if his arrival in the off-season from the Stormers had even been noticed, so seldom did he touch the ball.
Orange attacks were through the forwards, with Juan Smith leading all charges and lieutenants Brüssow and Fans Viljoen in attendance. One such raid yielded a terrific try, most of the others petered out elsewhere in the team. But that trio has to be watched.
Rose – whose simple playmaking was excellent but who just would not settle down and stay solid – missed an early penalty but found his range with the conversion of the Lions' first try. A wide move saw Jaque Fourie away on an overlap and he offloaded inside to Cobus Grobbelaar for the score.
Right away Potgieter reduced the arrears with a penalty, and then Viljoen put the Cheetahs into the lead. The Lions' line-out lost its third out of six throws, Juan Smith broke, offloaded to Brüssow, who offloaded to Viljoen for a try that belonged to the Cheetahs' back-row.
It took yellow cards to help the Lions on their way for much of the rest of the game. After Brüssow had been carded for a late tackle at the touchline, the Lions scored twice in quick succession.
First Ashwin Willemse finished off a move started by an Earl Rose break and excellent support running from Jano Vermaak, then Henno Mentz finished off a simple move taking the ball inside from Fourie on the overlap. Rose converted both to make ot 21-8.
Potgieter penalties either side of half-time brought the Cheetahs back to 21-14 but when Meyer Bosman was sin-binned for a near-spear tackle – he was lucky referee Joubert did not read it as the real thing – the Lions struck again.
Again it was Rose, this time chipping, who sent Vermaak away, and again it was Willemse who found the right line off the scrum-half to score. Again, Rose converted.
The game lost its shape as replacements and fatigue from the pace of the game took their toll – again, typical of a local derby in northern SA. Andre Pretorius came on with 25 minutes to go to help shut the game out. That proved to be a key moment. The Lions lost all their shape in attack and defence with the former's game radically different to Rose's in attack, and the latter going utterly missing in action in defence.
That breakdown of shape suited the Cheetahs just fine and Brüssow scored a soft try from a line-out to bring his side back into the game with 18 minutes to go, Potgieter's conversion made it 28-21. Four minutes later, Daniller was held up over the line as the visitors found a new level of energy to take them through to the end.
They were not to be denied, and Fabien Juries used his Sevens stepping skills to break the Lions line and offload to Potgieter for a third try, Potgieter's conversion levelled the scores.
Finally the Lions got their rhythm back and the pendulum swung back towards the home side as Mentz made a break. Pretorius made the pressure count with a drop goal.
Piet van Zyl's muscular burst got the Cheetahs to within strike range in reply after Pretorius had kicked a ball out on the full but the Lions scrum managed to turn the scrum over with a couple of monumental shoves.
The Cheetahs will feel aggrieved though, they should have had a penalty for interference on the floor, instead they got a free-kick. That summed up the evening for the visitors: one decision short of an equalising score, one try short of a bonus point try.
In the final minute, Rose dropped a second goal to seal the win.
Man of the match: Jano Vermaak. A thorn in the side of the Cheetahs at every opportunity
The scorers:
For the Lions:
Tries: Grobbelaar, Willemse 2, Mentz
Cons: Rose 4
Drop goals: Pretorius, Rose
For the Cheetahs:
Tries: Viljoen, Brüssow, Potgieter
Cons: Potgieter 2
Pens: Potigeter 3
Yellow cards: Brüssow (26, late tackle), Bosman (47, dangerous tackle)
Lions: 15 Louis Ludik, 14 Ashwin Willemse, 13 Jaque Fourie, 12 Doppies la Grange, 11 Henno Mentz, 10 Earl Rose, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 Willem Alberts, 7 Franco van der Merwe, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar (c), 5 Gerhard Mostert, 4 Anton Van Zyl, 3 Gert Muller, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Heinke van der Merwe.
Replacements: 16 Hans van Dyk, 17 Lawrence Sephaka, 18 Rynard Landman, 19 Todd Clever, 20 Chris Jonck, 21 Andre Pretorius, 22 Jannie Boshoff.
Cheetahs: 15 Hennie Daniller, 14 Danwel Demas, 13 Corné Uys, 12 Jacques-Louis Potgieter, 11 Bjorn Basson, 10 Meyer Bosman, 9 Tewis de Bruyn, 8 Frans Viljoen, 7 Juan Smith (c), 6 Heinrich Brüssow, 5 David de Villiers, 4 Nico Breedt, 3 Bees Roux, 2 Adriaan Strauss, 1 Wian du Preez
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Kobus Calldo, 18 Wayne van Heerden, 19 Hendro Scholtz, 20 Sarel Pretorius, 21 Fabian Juries, 22 Piet van Zyl.
Referee: Craig Joubert