Lions, Bulls and Sharks secure Currie Cup semi spots

The Lions and Bulls secured home semifinals, while the Sharks also made sure of their place in the Currie Cup knockouts, on the penultimate weekend of pool action in the competition.

The highlight game of the weekend proved to be the top of the table clash between the Highveld rivals, which ended with the Lions putting in a superb performance to overpower the Bulls 57-33 at Midstream College on Friday night.

The Lions had been bolstered in the build up to the game with a host of United Rugby Championship stars, who had been on break, returning and many of them put in top shifts to help them clinch a comfortable win over the previously unbeaten Bulls.

Five tries to the Lions in the first half, through a double from PJ Botha and dot downs from Erich Cronje, Ruan Venter and Morne van den Berg gave them a commanding 33-14 lead at halftime.

The second half was then a thrilling back and forth affair as both teams ran in three tries-a-piece, with the Johannesburg side cruising over the 50-point mark for a statement win.

“We made a few changes for this game. So we put a big emphasis on continuing the good work the guys had done previously, and I think we did them proud,” said Lions captain Marius Louw after the match.

“The coaches have been doing exceptional work throughout the season and the players have responded well to that. We have been a lot more consistent and the goal is to keep that up.”

Top of log

The result allowed the Lions to leapfrog the Bulls to the top of the Currie Cup log, but the Pretoria side importantly picked up a try scoring bonus point, which ensured that they can’t be caught during the last round of pool action.

The Lions are now odds-on favourites to finish the pool stage top as they host the bottom of the table Griffons in their final pool match, while the Bulls travel to Durban to battle it out against the in-form Sharks.

For the Sharks they made sure of their spot in the playoffs with a thumping 75-19 home win over the Griffons, with Springbok flyer Makazole Mapimpi running in four tries in the match.

The result puts the Sharks on 31 points, so they can’t be caught by the Cheetahs (25) and the Pumas (24) in fourth and fifth on the log, and they can’t catch the Bulls on 37, so will have to travel for their knockout.

Losses for both the Cheetahs, 44-31 against the Griquas on Friday afternoon, and the Pumas, 39-30 against Western Province on Sunday afternoon, sets up a tantalising playoff for the final semifinal spot.

The Pumas will host the Cheetahs at the Mbombela Stadium in the final pool round, and with the Bloemfontein side just one point ahead, the winner of that game will make it into the playoffs.