The Fidelity ADT Lions clearly enjoy playing the Airlink Pumas. Having beaten them 75-21 in Nelspruit already, they doubled up in the sixth round of the Carling Currie Cup at home at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg on Saturday, thrashing the men from Mpumalanga 55-12.
That’s 130 points in two matches – despite both teams going into today’s match level on 18 points having suffered just the one defeat each.
The Lions’ bonus-point victory, with flanker Ruan Venter claiming a hat-trick in their total of eight tries, keeps them handily in the top four while the Pumas' campaign received a setback.
A dominant display in Joburg as the Lions put 43 points past the Pumas👇🔥#CurrieCup pic.twitter.com/l09F02NQ86
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) August 10, 2024
The Lions dominated the match from the start with centre Tapiwa Mafura diving over in the right corner after just four minutes, having received a long, flat pass from dynamic scrumhalf Nico Steyn, one of the Lions’ outstanding players who ensured quick ball and a quick tempo to the home team’s play.
The Pumas, however, replied almost immediately when lock Ruwald van der Merwe stole the ball from the kickoff, releasing centre Phiko Sobahle who squeezed in at the corner flag.
That score was entirely unrepresentative of the flow of play, however, and the Pumas’ problems were only increased shortly afterwards when their centre, Clinton Swart, was yellow-carded for cynical play as he palmed away an attempted pass.
The Lions profited from this almost immediately with lock Darren Landsberg rumbling through the Pumas’ defence before releasing player of the match Venter who burst over for the first of his tries.
Having missed his first conversion, debutant flyhalf Bronson Mills chipped over his second attempt.
PUMAS RALLY BRIEFLY
Altogether the promising youngster kicked six conversions, a penalty and a try for a haul of 20 points.
The Lions’ third try came when Steyn darted over from a ruck close to the Pumas’ line as the home team continued to exert ruthless pressure; they then followed that up with their bonus-point try as Mills sliced through from the left touchline to record his first Currie Cup try.
Shortly before the break, the Lions opted for their one and only penalty kick at posts with Mills slotting the easy opportunity.
The Pumas, down 27-5 at the break after easily losing the territory and possession battle, briefly showed more intensity at the start of the second half when their fullback, Stefan Coetzee, rampaged through most of the Lions’ defence in a mazy run before offering an inside pass to winger Darren Adonis who scooted over under the posts.
Swart duly converted and for a brief moment the Pumas looked threatening, but then the Lions reasserted their control with Venter diving over after a series of rucks on the Pumas’ line and then repeating the dose in similar circumstances three minutes later.
The Lions then scored an opportunistic try following a Pumas’ mistake and a kick-through by wing Boldwin Hansen leading to No 8 Jarod Cairns diving over in the right corner.
Some superb inter-passing and off-loads then resulted in replacement Sibabalo Qomas plunging over to complete the scoring.
The quality of the rugby deteriorated in the final quarter with both sides making mistakes as the Pumas desperately sought a bonus point for scoring four tries.
Their efforts were unavailing as their handling and other errors multiplied.
Fidelity ADT Lions (27) 55, Airlink Pumas (5) 12
Lions: Tries – Tapiwa Mafura, Ruan Venter (3), Nico Steyn, Bronson Mills, Jarod Cairns, Sibabalo Qoma; Conversions – Mills (6); Penalty – Mills
Pumas: Tries – Phiko Sobahle, Darren Adonis; Conversion – Clinton Swart