“IT was a question of a few things we didn’t concentrate on that might have cost us the match,” said head coach of the Emirates Lions, Johan Ackermann. The Lions went down at the hands of one of the top teams in the Vodacom Super Rugby series, the Crusaders, on Friday, April 1.
The two teams met at the Lions headquarters, Emirates Airline Park, and though at times the Crusaders thought that they had wrapped up the match, they were mostly in for a big fight from the local team in Johannesburg. The Lions lost 37-43, but collected a vital bonus point to add to their big total on the log.
The Lions’ never give up attitude is paving the way for a good season ahead. Ackermann’s team has learned a lot since they got together some four years ago and although the team is playing high risk rugby, they are the team to watch and the fans are enjoying upper class rugby at this stage.
The Crusaders finished their South African tour on a winning note when they defeated the high-riding Lions in an entertaining match. Both sides contributed to a thrilling match and the visitors outscored the home team by six tries to four.
Ryan Crotty bagged a hat-trick of tries for the Crusaders, who gained control of the match in the second half. However, the Lions were full of fighting spirit and replacement hooker Akker van der Merwe scored twice in the closing minutes to set up a close finish against the Crusaders, who at one stage led by 20 points.
The match was an exciting affair, starting with the opening try of Crotty who scored in the opening minute following a break by Nemani Nadolo. Flyhalf Elton Jantjies slotted a penalty in the final minutes to bring the Lions within touching distance again and to earn a bonus point.
Scorers:
Emirates Lions (20) 37 – Tries: Akker van der Merwe (2), Elton Jantjies and Lionel Mapoe. Conversions: Elton Jantjies (4). Penalties: Jantjies (3).
Crusaders (22) 43 – Tries: Ryan Crotty (3), Wyatt Crockett, Johnny McNicholl and Mitchell Drummond. Conversions: Richie Mo’unga (5). Penalty: Mo’unga.
Elsewhere Vodacom Bulls did just enough to edge the Toyota Cheetahs 23-18 in a hard-fought local Vodacom Super Rugby derby clash on Saturday evening at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria. The home team led 20-10 at halftime and outscored the visitors by three tries to two.
After several gusty performances in their previous matches, the Southern Kings scored their first win of the season when they outlasted the Sunwolves 33-28 in Port Elizabeth on Saturday afternoon. A strong scrum and 13 kicking points by flyhalf Louis Fouché tipped the scale in favour of the Kings at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium after both sides scored four tries each.
Industrious hooker Edgar Marutlulle had another storming performance for the Kings and he was deservedly presented with the Vodacom Player of the Match award afterwards.
However, despite their rest weekend, the DHL Stormers and Cell C Sharks are still top of their respective Africa Conferences. The Cape side lead Conference 1 on 18 points from five matches and the Durban franchise has 16 points from the same number of games, the most points so far in Conference 2.
Their hard-fought win enabled the Bulls to take revenge for their defeat of last year against the Free State side. The Pretoria-side fielded promising Junior Springbok lock pairing RG Snyman and Jason Jenkins, but the men from Bloemfontein reigned supreme in the scrums.
The Highlanders defeated the Force 32-20 in Dunedin, the Blues won 24-16 over the Jaguares in Auckland and the Brumbies lost in Canberra 48-23 to a rampant Chiefs. The Rebels held on to beat the Waratahs 21-17 in the only Sunday morning fixture (SA time) in Sydney. So, after Round 6, the Chiefs (24 points) are leading the New Zealand Conference by a comfortable margin and in Australia the Rebels have moved level with the Brumbies on 17 points on top of their standings.
