The Fidelity SureDrive Lions overcame a plucky initial effort from the Dragons before turning it on in the second half to run out comprehensive 42-21 victors in their round 14 Vodacom United Rugby Championship fixture at Ellis Park on Saturday.
It was the fourth win in succession for the Lions in the competition and their fourth in succession that was achieved with some style as they again accumulated a try scoring bonus point to ensure that they retain the momentum that started with the win over the Hollywoodbets Sharks on 21 February.
It meant they moved into the top four on the log with four games to go in the league phase, going past the previously fifth placed Cardiff and Munster in the process. However, Ulster are due to play later in the evening against Zebre in Parma and will push the Lions back into fifth place if they win.
But the Lions should be happy with fifth place if that is where they end the weekend ahead of what for them could be a useful two week break before they return to action in the URC against log leaders Glasgow Warriors in the third weekend of April. They get a break that the other South African teams don’t because of their failure to make the playoffs of the EPCR Challenge Cup, something that may help them as it will give them a rest opportunity before a difficult finish to the season.
DESERVE THEIR PLACE IN TOP BRACKET
No-one can argue currently that the Lions don’t deserve a place in the top five, as they continue to string together impressive performances. The Dragons may be second last on the log but they showed plenty of pluck against the Stormers in Cape Town last Sunday and they continued in that vein in this game as they just refused to be put away.
Indeed, they gave the Lions plenty of trouble in the first half, and after trailing 18-14 at the break they were the first to score in the second half to take a confidence building 21-18 lead with 34 minutes to go. They scored two good tries to their inside centre Aneurin Jones in the first period and it was just the boot of Chris Smith, who actually wasn’t as educated with his kicking from the tee in this game as he usually is, that gave the Lions their slender halftime lead.
But the Lions shifted a gear after going behind and their usual mix of strong forward play, clinical transitioning and great linking between the big men and the backs saw them score 24 unanswered points to effectively put the game away by the 66th minute, with Dragons wing Rio Dyer’s excellent try in the 70th minute rating by then as a consolation effort only.
MAHASHE SHINES AGAIN BUT SO DOES NICO
The Lions have several newcomers making waves and also some impressive depth in some areas, most notably scrumhalf, with this week it being Nico Steyn’s chance to wear the No9 jersey in the absence of the injured Morne van den Bergh. Steyn took his opportunity with a great all round game that was capped off by two late tries and earned him the man of the match award.
The man of the match could just as easily have been the flanker Siba Mahashe, with the youngster again being omnipresent both on attack and defence. It Mahashe who took a great offload from centre Henco Venter in the fifth minute before using his pace and power to weave his way through three defenders to get to the tryline. A short while later it was Mahashe again who made an invaluable contribution, this time with a try saving tackle on the Lions line.
It looked like the Dragons were sure to score but somehow Mahashe not only made the tackle but also got himself under the Dragons forward to prevent the dot down. Smith had missed the conversion of Mahashe’s try so when Jones went over for the first of his tries and it was converted, the visitors had a 7-5 lead after 15 minutes once the try was converted.
For that score, with the Dragons exploiting the absence of Lions inside centre Bronson Mills, who was down injured at the time and then left the field for good, as the two centres combined off an attacking lineout in what looked like a well worked move that targeted the unmanned channel.
Jones’ later try had a similarity to it although it came off a long throw at a lineout that was a lot further away from the Lions try-line but with the two centres again combining superbly.
Richard Kriel had brilliantly picked up a low pass after an outstanding turnover made by wing Erich Cronje in the 26th minute, which combined with an earlier lead reclaiming Smith penalty pushed the Lions into a 15-7 lead. So Jones’ second try cut the deficit to one point before Smith kicked another penalty, after missing one, to make it a four point advantage at the break.
The Lions forced a scrum penalty at the first scrum that was set in the 20th minute and again another towards the end of the half, thus signalling that the slow poison was starting to take effect. Dyer ran onto a cross kick for the third Dragons try to put his team into their 21-18 lead, only to be yellow carded later on as the Lions began to put it together and put daylight between themselves and their opponents on the scoreboard.
Smith crossed to reclaim the lead and converted his own try and then came the Steyn brace plus what was a highly popular try for Cronje. The centre turned wing is a difficult man to stop when he has ball in hand and powered his way in impressively to put the icing on the cake of another celebratory day for the Johannesburg team.
SCORES
FIDELITY SUREDRIVE LIONS 42 - Tries: Siba Mahashe, Richard Kriel, Chris Smith, Nico Steyn 2; Conversions: Chis Smith 3; Penalties: Chris Smith 2.
DRAGONS 21 - Tries: Aneurid Jones 2, Rio Dyer 2; Conversions: Angus O’Brien 3.