Lions: Nail-biting win secures semi-final spot

XEROX Golden Lions will start with their defence of the Currie Cup when they take on high-riding Toyota Free State Cheetahs in two weeks.

The Cheetahs will host the Lions in Bloemfontein on Saturday, October 15, while the Vodacom Blue Bulls will meet DHL Western Province in the Currie Cup Premier Division semi-finals on the day. The Leopards will host the Down Touch Griffons in the First Division final.

These fixtures in the Currie Cup were confirmed following a gripping final round of pool matches, which saw the Cell C Sharks drop out of the competition following their do-or-die encounter against the Xerox Golden Lions, while DHL Western Province slotted over a late penalty goal in a nail-biting clash against Boland to book their place in the semi-finals.

In the Currie Cup First Division semi-finals, a strong first half by the Leopards set them up for a 40-30 victory against the Hino Valke in Potchefstroom, while a batch of penalty goals by Down Touch Griffons flyhalf George Whitehead steered his team to a 25-16 victory against Border in East London.

The Currie Cup Premier Division semi-finals will be hosted in Bloemfontein and Pretoria respectively while the Leopards will host their second successive Currie Cup First Division final in Potchefstroom on Friday, October 7.

A nail-biting performance on Friday, September 30, saw current Currie Cup title-holder Xerox Golden Lions, just getting their nose in front when they ousted Cell C Sharks with a 28-16 win.

The first half saw the Sharks scoring all the points on the board and were well away with 10 points to their credit going into the halftime break. But the defending champions overturned the deficit to book their place in the semi-finals. Curwin Bosch opened the Sharks’ scoring with a penalty and converted Michael Claassens’ try in the corner to hand his team the 10-0 lead over the Lions.

Once again the fullback of the Sharks was on target with a penalty kick that stretched their lead to 13-0 after the break.

Then the wake-up call came for the Lions and determined Lions captain Kwagga Smith scored his team’s first try in the 46th minute. The visitors were dealt a big blow minutes later as flanker Francois Kleinhans received a yellow card for a tip tackle, and the hosts took full advantage as they scored a try and penalty, while Bosch added another penalty for his team. This pushed the Xerox Golden Lions 16-15 ahead.

A penalty goal by Andries Coetzee and another well-worked try by Sylvian Mahuza pushed the home side 25-16 ahead with 10 minutes to play. A second yellow card for the Cell C Sharks in the 76th minute handed Coetzee an opportunity to kick over another penalty, which secured a 28-16 victory for the Xerox Golden Lions.

In Cape Town a late penalty goal by DHL Western Province flyhalf Robert du Preez, who kicked 18 points in total, sealed a last-gasp victory for this team against Boland and allowed them to book their place in the semi-final.

The Toyota Free State Cheetahs were rampant against Griquas in the final pool match of the season as they cruised to a 63-26 victory after running in an impressive nine tries. Griquas opened up the scoring in the first minute, but a penalty try awarded to the hosts after Griquas were pinned for illegal scrummaging triggered a string of three tries in four minutes for the Toyota Free State Cheetahs. They added three more before half time, while Griquas could only add one, which handed the home team a 42-12 win.

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