The Emirates Lions beat the Toyota Cheetahs by a narrow margin in their first Vodacom Super Rugby match of the 2017 season.
The local franchise travelled to Bloemfontein on Saturday, February 25, to take on a revived Toyota Cheetahs team.
The match started on a slow note with the only points in the first half scored by the fly halves, Fred Zeilinga, for the Cheetahs, and Elton Jantjies, for the Lions, who went to the change rooms at six a piece.
The home side took advantage over a 14-man Lions team, after Faf de Klerk receive a yellow card in the first half but had to sit out his time at the start of the second. The first try was scored by Raymond Rhule who sprinted some 30 metres to score a converted try. After this, Zeilinga slotted another penalty to the dismay of the Lions to give his team a 16-6 lead.
Powerful young centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg scored a brace of tries to help nudge the Emirates Lions past the determined Toyota Cheetahs. The burly midfielder streaked down the touchline just before the end to score his second and to finally break the brave resistance of the home side.
The Lions then showed why they were one of the top teams last year as the bulky Rohan Janse van Rensburg went over for the try to make it 16-13, still in favour of the Cheetahs. But Zeilinga slotted another penalty to extend the home teams lead to 19-13. Jantjies, however, added to his team score four minutes later (19-16).
Once again Zeilinga made no mistake and slotted over the penalty (22-16) in favour of the Cheetahs.
The turnaround for the Lions came when a penalty try was awarded after Francois Uys deliberately brought down the maul, resulting in a card for Uys. The Lions got their nose in front and led by 23-22 with eleven minutes left. This was short lived as Zeilinga’s boot gave the Cheetahs the lead again, 25-23.
Then Janse van Rensburg broke the Cheetahs hearts when he sealed the match with his second try in the dying minutes of this exciting match, handing his team the victory of 28-25.
Howard Mnisi, centre for the Emirates Lions, will be out for nine months having suffered multiple knee ligament injuries. He will undergo surgery in due course.
The other Vodacom Super Rugby results were:
DHL Stormers 37, Vodacom Bulls 24.
Southern Kings 26, Jaguares 39.
Reds 28, Cell C Sharks 26.
Rebels 18, Blues 58.
Highlanders 15, Chiefs 24.
Sunwolves 17, Hurricanes 83.
Crusaders 17, Brumbies 13.
Waratahs 19, Force 13.
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