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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22 Oct 2011, 21:29 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-292: @ @Treehugger(Treehugger)-298: Go watch The Ward and Insidious for a lekker skrik.
22 Oct 2011, 21:29 pm
@Tacitus(Deucalion)-291:
Thats South African rugby for you.. Fitzpatrick was quite right about our rugby maladies here.. we do not know how to employ the top two inches.. seems our idiocy is simply ingrained where we pick on every wrong idea or sentiment and we are ruled by dumb blind hero worship inadequacies…
That is how we got baled out the WC in the 1/4′s 2 weeks ago and how WP have failed to fulfill any continuity toward reaching any degree of cohesive dominance in the last decade.. that is how rugby conditioning is entrenched here and seems will continue on the vague unclear road ahead till some messiah comes and bales us out our forlorn state of stupor once again..
I heard its almost written Burger will be captain and Coetsee will be coach.. that is how far along the road we have come in our South African rugby relevant evolution since the days where real rugby sentiments ruled this game once upon a time .. long long ago…
22 Oct 2011, 21:31 pm
@ET.(ET.)-297: Start next week with Human Geography and then Zoology and Atmospheric Science the following week. Being on this site is not helping my cause to get into honours…
Horrible sporting weekend after watching Province balls up another play-off match as well as realising that most of the talent we’ve developed is going to the team I absolutely despise and then Liverpool held by Norwich… AT ANFIELD!
22 Oct 2011, 21:39 pm
Am waiting for Insidious on dvd
Movies xpensive!
22 Oct 2011, 21:39 pm
@Tuna(Tuna)-301: Dawn is into scary, not me, chit i watch cartoons before i go every sleep every night so i have no bad stuff in head and dont have nightmares.
22 Oct 2011, 21:43 pm
@ET.(ET.)-286:
That was really quite sweet – !!
I also mowed my lawns for the last time today…refuse to refuel the mower again in 2011…
22 Oct 2011, 21:43 pm
@ET.(ET.)-297: pathetic little pissarse punk come try your feeble fck’d up luck… feeble little forlorn exiled runtcuntqueer who lost the love of his life here on this blogosphere and now like a miserable scorned fckup of a peanut brained lady boy he tries to usurp some lost ground through riling all his former ‘friends’ the little arsecreepqueer used to vociferously climb up into… anyone remotely thinking this miserable little feeble cn’teyed creep is in anyway educated or intelligent is being fooled almost as much as this feeble little piece of trash pathetic prick thinks so himself…
22 Oct 2011, 21:47 pm
@carol(carol)-306: you into ‘sweet” how pitiful is sweet from sour for you?
little poefta brain is a cherub up some fannyboys backside and some feeble pom pom’s pretend its all ‘sweet’ shows how forlorn and feeble ‘sweetness’ actually gets when it turns to miserable and sour…
22 Oct 2011, 21:48 pm
@ET.(ET.)-290:
Reference bitter medicine given for over hundreds of years…..
Blimey, just how old ARE you??
22 Oct 2011, 21:49 pm
yooooooooohoooooooooo Dawn this PUSH is a good movie !!!!!!!!!!!!!
22 Oct 2011, 21:50 pm
Best killer croc movie ever is “Rogue”
22 Oct 2011, 21:51 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-308:
Hi Skop
The ‘sweet’ was possibly a tad ironic!
22 Oct 2011, 21:54 pm
@carol(carol)-309: He’s a timeless poepol.
22 Oct 2011, 21:55 pm
Am recording it! SssSsshhhh!
22 Oct 2011, 21:56 pm
Girls –
We would never agree on a movie….I watched ‘The First of a Few’ 1942 b/w WWII movie today.
Flipping excellent, David Niven and real RAF Fighter pilots in some roles!
22 Oct 2011, 21:57 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-313:
Kat what is a ‘poepol’ ?
Shall I google it?
22 Oct 2011, 21:58 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-302: I totally agree. Coetzee took the Stormers and WP nowhere, and as valuable a workhorse Burger is, he is no captain from a tactical point of view. It’s been decades since we had a captain that understands rugby. Skinstadt for a couple of games, Teichmann, Pienaar during Kitch’s reign, Naas, Divan, Morne. The rest were up to shite!
Get a decent coach (i.e. Nic Mallet, Mitchell, Brendan Venter) AND a good, clever captain (JdV would have been my choice, but he is on the brink of retirement). Of the new crop, I don’t know of any SA provincial player that has a rugby brain (they are so over coached), so picking a captain is almost impossible.
22 Oct 2011, 21:59 pm
Anglican choir boy practice and horror flieks
nope this is way out of my jurisdiction.. seeing that all the rugger is pretty much washed up and one more final before the curtain falls and skittle sticks about to become the order of the bloody pom pom day..
its getting less and less appealing to even venture onto these so called rugby boards as the level of reasonable creative banter has decidedly been almost totally worn away…
22 Oct 2011, 21:59 pm
@carol(carol)-316: Yes, do. Should be interesting.
It’s anatomical, but the implied meaning carries a lot of cultural insult.
Calling someone a poepol is very satisfying.
22 Oct 2011, 22:04 pm
Skop we been talking rugby all day where the hell were you and what the feck is wrong with some movie chat.
Go to rugby talk if you so gatvol.
22 Oct 2011, 22:05 pm
If they had any brains they’d get Mitchell, but instead they’ll go with Coetzee who fits the transformation criteria and is a readonable coach – it’s all abot compromise – not about getting the best – the time is rip for a maverick who will smash player power and reputations if needs be – not coetzee now.
22 Oct 2011, 22:06 pm
@skopskiet. Who will be your captain for SA? I agree that burger should not be captain.
22 Oct 2011, 22:06 pm
@skopskiet. Who will be your captain for SA? I agree that burger should not be captain
22 Oct 2011, 22:07 pm
Skopskiet, who will be your captain for SA? I agree that burger should not be captain
22 Oct 2011, 22:07 pm
@Suidkapenaar(Suidkapenaar)-317:
JdV would have taken WP/Stormers places but these dunces that rule the roost in these parts are so f’ng mesmerized bu=y Burger’s socalled die hard commitment and zeal that they get FOOLED into thinking he is anything near to being of reasonable captaincy credibility…
They stuffed it up with Smit at Boks and with Burger at WP something CHRONIC.. and yet they continue in this blind man’s bluff realm of idiotic delinquency…
Coetsee is blind and hopeless and Rassie was instrumental in making Burger the mid field ball carrying go to man.. even at Boks which is partly what killed our 1/4 final vs Australia weekend before last…this incessant bashing away at the advantage line with NO idea of creating cohesive opportunity through phase play and some interaction through some creative ingenuity is where we came up short… and where we will continue to go nowhere in the near future in a hurry..
22 Oct 2011, 22:07 pm
@carol(carol)-315: think you right there @carol(carol)-316: like calling someone a tosser but the word is anal lol.
@Dawn(Dawn)-311: Haven’t seen it, seen Lake Placid, oy ve ! Open Water, still gets me, cant get it out of my head.
22 Oct 2011, 22:08 pm
@Horings(Horings)-324: That’s right. Carry on asking until he answers you.
22 Oct 2011, 22:08 pm
Here is rugby talk.
Smit div useless, AC schalk useless, skop’s 1000 words contribution summed up in six words.
Reasonable creative banter.
22 Oct 2011, 22:09 pm
Sorry, seems blackberry and keo doesnt work.
22 Oct 2011, 22:14 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-328: You had your oats this morning lol.
22 Oct 2011, 22:18 pm
@Horings(Horings)-323:
medium term I would have gone with Smith or JdV .. even since 2009 when Smit should have p’ssd off as far as possible and we would have had a decent run at the WC.. even under Matfield with Bismark and Alberts and Hougaard starting I reckon we might have made semi’s and perhaps even final.
I would never make Burger Bok captain ever…
and now there is a quandary because no one has been groomed since everyone was saying it would be Chili after Smit..
JdV would be a very good captain both for Boks and for WP.. or Smith if he was physically up to it.. but they are both at the end of their careers so now a new kid with leadership abilities has to be earmarked and groomed.. for the long haul…and quite honestly I don’t know who it should be
I would have considered Francoise Louw if he was staying local… or Dewalt Potgieter if he was up to the task of being best in his position but I fear he ain’t.
Perhaps a total new thinking pattern like identifying a new leader from junior status like Botha of Bulls.. or somebody with leadership credential that can be fostered and developed over the next 4 years.. like Wales have done with Warburton .. something along those lines.
22 Oct 2011, 22:20 pm
Until he extends his circle of compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace.
~ Albert Schweitzer?
Night Night all……………
22 Oct 2011, 22:23 pm
Yeah but treehugger are you saying u don’t like to roast the chicken or lamb with some gravy ?
22 Oct 2011, 22:24 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-328: so wtf is more anal then talking chainsaws cutting human limbs off or Dracula risen from the f’ng grave..
I did once upon a time think this here blog was distinctly designed for rugby banter and chitter chatter no matter how many times I say Smit fckd up Boks hopes which is an absolute FACT.. at least it is STILL relevant to the prime objective of this blog site which is to discuss the pro’s and con’s of SA rugby progress or regress whichever comes first…
22 Oct 2011, 22:25 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-331: I like your analysis. It’s very close to my own.
With regards to the captain, we need a captain that knows what it takes to win. I can’t think of any province that has a captain that can be around for 5 to 6 years that understands rugby and knows how to win.
22 Oct 2011, 22:25 pm
@Treehugger(Treehugger)-332: “The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.”
- Mahatma Gandhi
22 Oct 2011, 22:25 pm
@Treehugger(Treehugger)-332:
its good to be compassionate and humane to all living beings.. including humans and animals.. and that includes not eating them.. whether you able to stretch your high moral status of compassion as far as that…
22 Oct 2011, 22:26 pm
The Bulls have the same problem in picking their next captain. Very good options, but none of them standing out. Must say I like the look of Botha. Between him, hougaard, sadie and venter the Bulls could build up a very good young team. Meyer has also hinted at a new brand of running rugby for the Bulls. Seems some Province supporters won’t know who to support.
22 Oct 2011, 22:27 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-336: when is your next spit roast planned for.. tomorrow after church ?
22 Oct 2011, 22:28 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-334: Come on Skoppie, most of your late night ramblings have fckall to do with rugger. When you down your rum and step into your philosopher’s onnerbroek, even Smit takes a backseat. So take the cricket bat from thine own eye.
22 Oct 2011, 22:30 pm
Fine. That cuts me out as I obviously don’t talk enough rugby.
22 Oct 2011, 22:30 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-339: I can’t start tomorrow. That’s too late. I’m already marinading. And you? Do you soak your lentils overnight?
22 Oct 2011, 22:31 pm
@Suidkapenaar(Suidkapenaar)-335:
Frans Louw could have done it he’s got the right brain and mind and qualities to have been a very good captain.. but now he’s gone..
Botha of Bulls was a good captain at junior level .. and Strauss at Lions is showing under Mitchell what he can do with a young team of committed players.. Daniel at Sharks doing a decent job too.. but which of those are good enough to command a starting spot in the Bok team ??
22 Oct 2011, 22:31 pm
Yessus man yessus I can’t see what is so criminal about tucking into a drumstick? Call me a barbarian.
22 Oct 2011, 22:33 pm
Don’t see the point of blathering repetitively about who should be in the team or out or what’s gonna happen before the game is even played.
My bad.
22 Oct 2011, 22:33 pm
@cab(cab)-344: Ask Skop about his leather shoes, his belt or his wallet. I’m sure he’s got a good story for those.
22 Oct 2011, 22:36 pm
@>^..^< katman(katman)-342: Nope I buy them ready made from Pick n Pay.. but why you quoting Ghandi when you don’t even half way consider or apply his principles ??
BTW I ain’t pushing any agenda here just opening up some correlated moralizing expansion if such be the discussion on the general see saw or roundabout here ??
I prefer talking rugby with Horings and Suidkapenaar though unless its moralizing around the rosemary bush you prefer to wanna go…
22 Oct 2011, 22:36 pm
346 kat
knowing ou doosie his shoes are probably made from cauliflower, the belt from cabbage and the wallet from leather.
22 Oct 2011, 22:38 pm
@cab(cab)-344: so wtf was so bad about those New Guinea cannibals that made off with the German tourist and had his guts for evening stew…?? They were simply following their cannibalistic instincts.. same as you..
22 Oct 2011, 22:39 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-343: It’s ridiculous that we have really a lot of talent to pick from, but no obvious captain! That’s the story of SA rugby, no brains in charge.
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