Lightning and delays can’t stop Lions feasting on hapless Sharks

David Skippers
Add as a preferred source on Google
Lions players celebrate URC 2023 - PA.jpg

Lions players celebrate a try in the United Rugby Championship.

Despite an extended delay at half-time due to inclement weather and the threat of lightning, the Lions proved too strong for the Sharks as they clinched a 40-10 victory in Saturday’s United Rugby Championship (URC) game in Johannesburg.

Play was stopped at the interval due to a lightning storm and the players were off the field for over 30 minutes before the match resumed.

In the end, the Lions proved too strong for the Sharks and outscored their opponents by six tries to one with Sanele Nohamba, JC Pretorius, Quan Horn, Conraad van Vuuren, Erich Cronje and Hanru Sirgel all crossing the whitewash, while Jordan Hendrikse succeeded with five conversions.

For the Sharks, Eduan Keyter scored a try while Siya Masuku added a penalty and a conversion.

Click here for scorers

The visitors held a slight edge during the opening exchanges and opened the scoring as early as the second minute via a three-pointer off the kicking tee from Masuku.

The hosts soon took control of proceedings, however, and three minutes later Nohamba broke around the fringe of a ruck on the edge of the Sharks‘ 22 before beating Aphiwe Dyantyi with a deft side-step on his way over the try-line.

It was all Lions during the next 20 minutes and they were rewarded with two further five-pointers during that period.

First, Nohamba found Francke Horn with an inch-perfect cross-field kick down the left wing and he threw an inside pass to Pretorius who crashed over for his try. And then, midway through the half, Nohamba caught the Sharks defence by surprise when he changed direction close to the visitors’ try-line before offloading to Horn, who had an easy run-in for his score.

The Sharks needed a response and that came in the 27th minute when Masuku tore the Lions’ defence to shreds with a superb line break before trading passes with Ethan Hooker deep inside the home side’s half. Masuku was eventually brought to ground close to the try-line but managed to free his arms and offloaded to Keyter, who rounded off under the posts.

That try boosted the visitors’ confidence as they spent most of the closing stages of the half camped inside Lions territory. In the 38th minute, Aphelele Fassi also crossed the whitewash, after good work from Masuku, but his effort was disallowed after television replays revealed foul play from Ntuthuko Mchunu while cleaning out a ruck in the build-up.

That meant the teams changed sides at half-time with the Lions leading 19-10 and after a break of more than 30 minutes, while the atrocious weather subsided, the teams returned to resume proceedings.

The extended delay seemed to affect the players, however, as there was little interesting to report during the opening quarter of the second half.

Hendrikse lined up a long-range penalty shortly after the restart but his effort was wide of the mark before the Lions soon gained the upper-hand and were rewarded when Van Vuuren crossed for his five-pointer from close quarters.

That score secured the bonus-point for the home side and after that the Sharks seemed to surrender as the Lions hammered home their dominance with further tries from Cronje and Sirgel in the game’s latter stages.

The teams

Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Richard Kriel, 13 Henco van Wyk, 12 Marius Louw (c), 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Sanele Nohamba, 8 Francke Horn, 7 Ruan Venter, 6 JC Pretorius, 5 Darrien Landsberg, 4 Etienne Oosthuizen, 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 2 PJ Botha, 1 JP Smith
Replacements: 16 Jaco Visagie, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Conraad van Vuuren, 19 Reinhard Nothnagel, 20 Emmanuel Tshituka, 21 Hanru Sirgel, 22 Morne van den Berg, 23 Erich Cronje

Sharks: 15 Aphelele Fassi, 14 Eduan Keyter, 13 Ethan Hooker, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Aphiwe Dyantyi, 10 Siya Masuku, 9 Grant Williams, 8 George Cronje, 7 Vince Tshituka, 6 James Venter, 5 Gerbrandt Grobler, 4 Corne Rahl, 3 Coenie Oosthuizen, 2 Bongi Mbonambi, 1 Ntuthuko Mchunu
Replacements: 16 Fez Mbatha, 17 Dian Bleuler, 18 Khwezi Mona, 19 Jeandre Labuschagne, 20 Tino Mavesere, 21 Phepsi Buthlezi, 22 Tiaan Fourie, 23 Curwin Bosch

Referee: Aimee Barrett-Theron (South Africa)
Assistant referees: Cwengile Jadezweni (South Africa), Christopher Allison (South Africa)
TMO: Ben Crous (South Africa)

READ MORE: Seven-try Munster get job done while Edinburgh cling on against Ospreys

Lions