Lions announce themselves by ruining Stormers homecoming

It was a Saturday that was touted as a day of celebration for the DHL Stormers as they played both their first-ever Vodacom United Rugby home match and their first competition game in front of a crowd at DHL Stadium but it was the Emirates Lions who did all the talking with an emphatic 37-19 victory.

No 8 Francke Horn’s second try of the match in the final minutes clinched an important try-scoring bonus point as the Lions built on what was a promising overseas tour, even though they only won one game, by scoring another crucial away win.

The Lions were expected by many people before the competition kicked off to be the whipping boys of the South African sides but so far, it is not turning out that way.

They should have added to their opening win over Parma Zebre with another victory in Scotland on their overseas tour and now they’ve travelled to a difficult away venue within their own country and picked up full points.

The Lions have improved in several areas but their most notable improvement has been in their defensive effort, where former Springbok centre Jaque Fourie is clearly making an impact.

It was largely the Lions’ defensive organisation that won them this game. That and a superior ability to take their chances when they came their way. By contrast, the Stormers struggled to hold onto the ball and made way too many errors during the many stages in the game when it was them applying the pressure and looking to create potential scoring opportunities.

It was a trend that started relatively early in a match played in front of a 2000-strong crowd that made enough noise for it to feel like there were five times that many people in the venue. The Stormers had the early territorial ascendancy but the Lions’ defence was watertight and they made full use of their first attacking opportunity as Vincent Tshituka shrugged off some ineffectual attacking and hit space before putting Horn over for his first try after 11 minutes.

While Stormers flyhalf Manie Libbok missed a relatively easy penalty attempt in the first quarter and also a conversion, and the home captain Salmaan Moerat opted on a few occasions to eschew kickable penalties which perhaps should have been kicked, Lions flyhalf Fred Zeilinga was spot on with his place-kicking boot.

He converted all four of the Lions tries and also added four penalties in a game that was dominated by referee Marius van der Westhuizen’s whistle and marred by indiscipline from both teams. In all, there were five yellow cards during the match, two for the Stormers and three for the Lions.

Zeilinga’s first penalty, when added to the converted try, meant the Lions were ahead 10-0 after 14 minutes and the Stormers did well to recover from that and take a 12-10 lead by the 31st minute. That came about through a six-minute period where the Stormers buried their habit of spilling the ball and prop Neethling Fouche featured in the creation of both tries.

First, there was a sublime left-handed offload from a position out wide on the touchline that put in scrumhalf Stef Ungerer, and then he produced the pass through the tackle that put in Seabelo Senatla for the second five-pointer.

At that point, the Stormers looked like they might be taking control of the game and they had a few opportunities to extend the lead but again wasted their chances. Instead, it was that man Zeilinga who had the last say in the half as another three-pointer regained the Lions a one-point lead that they took into the break (13-12).

In the second half, as the scoring reflects, it was really all the Lions, with the stuffing appearing to be knocked out of the Stormers’ challenge as good attacking play created the extra man against the advancing home defensive system and scrumhalf Andre Warner rounded off the try in the 45th minute. The conversion put the Lions more than a score ahead again and they were never challenged after that.

Tshituka was a deserved man of the match recipient for his tireless efforts both on defence and on attack, and it was fitting that it was he who swivelled his way over for the Lions’ third try. The Stormers did have their moments, even in the second half but produced a comedy of errors, such as when fullback Warrick Gelant kicked the ball into touch after the Stormers had opted for a scrum when awarded a penalty under the posts.

The scrum was probably the right call because the Lions had just been reduced to 14 men by a yellow card to hooker Jaco Visagie, but the mistake pretty much summed up the Stormers’ afternoon. It was just a day that didn’t work for them, whereas the Lions were rewarded for the way they put their bodies on the line and their level of organisation both on defence and in transitioning defence to attack.

Apart from Tshituka, the Lions stand-outs were hooker Visagie and skipper Burger Odendaal, who did the running for Tshituka’s try.

EMIRATES LIONS 37 - Tries: Francke Horn, Andre Warner, Vincent Tshituka and Francke Horn; Conversions: Fred Zeilinga 4; Penalties: Fred Zeilinga 3.

DHL STORMERS 19 - Tries: Stefan Ungerer, Andre Hugo Venter and Seabelo Senatla; Conversions: Manie Libbok and Tim Swiel.