Slick Lions maul Province
22 Oct 2011
SIMON BORCHARDT watched the Golden Lions beat Western Province 29-20 at Ellis Park to secure a home final against the Sharks next Saturday.
WP came into this game as favourites. They had five World Cup Springboks in their starting XV compared to the Lions’ one. This was their third consecutive appearance in the Currie Cup play-offs, while the Lions had not reached this stage since 2008.
Yet it was the young Lions side that played like experienced veterans, scoring two unanswered tries to reach their first final since 2007. WP looked disinterested for the first hour and by the time they woke up, the game was long gone.
Elton Jantjies was successful with all seven of his kicks at goal, which forced Province to play catch-up throughout. The Lions were the more threatening side on attack and were solid on defence, especially in the second half when they had just 40% of the ball (compared to 60% in the first half). Derick Minnie produced a big performance at the breakdown, while Franco van der Merwe impressed with ball in hand.
The Lions deservedly led 19-12 at the break, after Jantjies and Demetri Catrakilis each kicked four penalties, and Jaco Taute scored a try on the 35-minute mark after an inside pass from Deon van Rensburg.
WP weren’t helped by injuries to Siya Kolisi, whose head collided with Jantjies’ elbow during an attempted tackle, and Bryan Habana, who was replaced on the half-hour mark by Juan de Jongh (he went to centre with Jean de Villiers moving to the wing). However, the Province scrum did improve when Frans Malherbe came on at tighthead prop with Brok Harris moving to loosehead.
The Lions extended their lead to 14 early in the second half when a poor pass from Nicholas Groom was intercepted by Michael Killian, and the left wing went over in the corner. That prompted the surprise return of Habana, who until then had been sitting on the bench as if his match was over.
Catrakilis and Jantjies exchanged penalties to make it 29-15 going into the final quarter, as WP began to dominate possession and territory. They came close to scoring when Schalk Burger offloaded in the tackle to Harris, who was stopped inches short of the tryline. The Lions tackled courageously during this period but a double-skip pass from Burger eventually put De Jongh over with 10 minutes remaining.
Catrakilis, though, missed the crucial conversion that would have brought his side back to within striking range, and the Lions finished the match inside the WP half.
507 Comments
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24 Oct 2011, 10:55 am
@grant10(grant10)-495:
Hahaha yeah yeah
Its funny when you REPEAT the SAME thing ALL the the TIME thinking its actually going to become reality.
Mitchell will lose AGAIN on Saturday,still have won little.Just like Loffie in 2007…Same thing different wrapping… The parrallels between both sides is astounding..Same new dawn appraisals etc
Continue with the stuck record.
And not backing Mitchell doesnt mean one is behind AC or Rassie or whoever. The 2 arent mutually exclusive.
Just means NO to Draconian Mitch. Simple
24 Oct 2011, 10:56 am
@mshiniwami(mshiniwami)-494: We at home this time and now the union benefit from it. Compared to last year where we didn’t even make the semi’s I would think that this is kinda of an improvement. Look I’m not going to change your thinking about Mitchell but he is some advice. Look at some players look how they improved under this guy… not just the Lions but the Force too. Now give this guy some stars to work with like De Jongh, Aplon, Sadie, Lambie, Goosen, Hougaard etc etc and the possibilities will be endless. If you see improvement in players you know something is good is happening.
@>^..^< katman(katman)-499: Lions are buying…
24 Oct 2011, 11:01 am
@HHS(Hop Hop Spinnekop)-502: Don’t ever fck with my rhyme.
24 Oct 2011, 11:08 am
@>^..^< katman(katman)-499:
Donovan?
The Alamo?
24 Oct 2011, 11:09 am
@HHS(Hop Hop Spinnekop)-502:
Fair enough but as I said earlier I saw “improvement” for certain players under Loffie around 2006-etc namely: Mujati,Heinke,Alberts,Ludik,Clever etc Yet the Lions still remained on the skids…Just feels a bit like De Ja Vu to be honest.And we heard the same things back then-if Loffie/Lions had these players,those players-Lions not broke-Lions sponsor from Cola Cola will transform fortunes blah blah etc.(Loffie has also done a sterling job at Boland*back in premier division,Deysel,Alberts,Mujati,Heinke etc all went on to become Boks,revatilised Big Joe’s career ) etc
All seems TOO familiar. Same administration etc
But hey your enthusiasm is good.Hopefully Lions will be able to deliver return on investment for you as fan as well as “new investor” on board
24 Oct 2011, 12:53 pm
Congrats Lions. I have to eat some of my words. I really expected WP to win.
There are a some parallels between this years tournament and last years, but not in the Sharks favor.
Last year with top spot secured, the Sharks B side got mauled by the same team they thrashed in the final. Same as the 53-9 mauling by the Sharks over the Lions ? Ominous similarities….
Sharks will have to wake up and watch out if they are to win this final. I do expect to see an improved Sharks performance this weekend though.
Lets hope for a good game, and to be honest with everything the Lions have endured recently, there will be a part of me that wouldn’t mind seeing them win the Currie Cup.
But, if I have to call it – Sharks by 7 to 10.
25 Oct 2011, 10:13 am
Those who criticize John Mitchell for being draconian are not seeing the wood from the trees. Loffie was a good coach and a man the players and supporters liked, but he just didn’t have the hard-arsed attitude required to deal with the rubbish happening in the GLRU boardroom. Mitchell doesn’t take nonsense and he’s smacked the management into shape as well, because creating a winning culture starts at the top, not on the pitch.
Mitchell knows overnight success is not the answer. It’s a long term goal of his and he’s not getting cocky like some other coaches. Good on him and Carlos. These are the first few pushes on the flywheel to success. Once the momentum is built we’ll be competitive for the few years.
See you all at The Park on Saturday!
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