Lions roar to glory

Lions roar to glory

29 Oct 2011

GARETH DUNCAN, reporting from Ellis Park, watched the Lions break their 12-year Currie Cup title drought with a 42-16 hammering of the Sharks.

After 12 years of silverware starvation, the Lions have finally fed.

The 26-point victory completed a dream campaign – which included a table-topping run throughout the league phase and an impressive 29-20 semi-final win over a WP side that had six World Cup Springboks in their match day squad. This result was also the Lions’ first Currie Cup final triumph at Ellis Park in 61 years.

The Lions wanted it more than their opposition. The Sharks, who struggled for momentum and lacked a clinical edge, looked second best for most parts of the match. The hosts ran faster, tackled harder and toiled tirelessly around the park. That determination – no – that hunger for victory influenced John Mitchell’s ‘no-name brands’ to thump a strong, Springbok-laden Sharks side.

Those who backed a win for the visitors pointed to the quality of their squad, which included seven World Cup Boks. But this match proved to be one game too much for the likes of Bismarck du Plessis and Beast Mtawarira, who struggled to make any trademark impact after long and tiring year. There was also a lack of cohesion, despite this group spending the past three weeks together.

The Lions, who’ve played generally the same side since day one of Super Rugby in February, worked like a well-oiled machine. But during this impressive team performance, the player who made the ultimate difference was flyhalf Elton Jantjies. The youngster showed Mitchell was correct in selecting him ahead of veteran Butch James during the play-off stages. After starring in the Lions’ semi-final win last Saturday, the 20-year-old displayed a Man of the Match performance as he kicked 24 points without missing one attempt.

The platform was set with a good showing in the first half. The Lions mixed moments of impressive attacking play with a resilient defence to hold a 19-6 half-time lead.

Jantjies and fullback Jaco Taute, who nailed a 57m penalty, traded penalties with flyhalf Frederic Michalak early on before wing Michael Killian scored the first try of the match. From a scrum in centre field, centre Doppies la Grange broke the Sharks defence through a set-piece move. His offload put Killian clear.

But it looked like the half would end badly for the Lions. Prop CJ van der Linde had a moment of madness in the 32-minute when he threw Sharks skipper Keegan Daniel over his shoulder whilst clearing a ruck. It earned him a yellow card. The Sharks built momentum with their one-player advantage and paid four visits to the Lions’ red zone. However, they couldn’t find a much-needed finish and the Lions escaped without conceding any points.

Then there was a controversial moment early in the second half when Willem Alberts scored a try that should not have been allowed. The Sharks flanker broke the Lions’ defensive line, but lost the ball forward in the process. However, the knock-on wasn’t sighted by the officials and referee Mark Lawrence, who seeked advice from his assistant, awarded the try. The Sharks were back in it as Michalak’s conversion made it 22-16. Game on.

The Lions, however, had other plans as that was the Sharks’ last score of the match. The following 31 minutes was arguably the best passage of play the Lions have showcased this year.

It was a strong performance that secured 20 points to seal the famous win. First, Pat Cilliers powered over from close range after the Lions attacked from deep. Jantjies added two penalties before Taute had the pace to finish another attacking move in the corner. The following conversion was the final nail in the Sharks’ coffin.

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827 Comments

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  • 801.grant10: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 08:16 am

    @iceman(iceman)-794: amen !

  • 802.Transformation: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 08:17 am

    @mpundulu(mpundulu)-796: :-) why?

  • 803.Gunther: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 08:38 am

    @Transformation(Transformation)-802:

    Joh.

    Juiciy one two combination for julius and fikile on the front page of the Sunday Crimes.

    Bleddy stellenboschwhitecapitalcounterrevolutionarymafia.

  • 804.>^..^< katman: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 08:42 am

    @Gunther(gunther)-803: What was the julius story?

  • 805.Gunther: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 08:49 am

    @>^..^< katman(katman)-804:

    Minutes after the end of his long shuffle/van ride to economic freedom he was whisked to the airport by blue light convoy to attend a party in mauritius for one of the stcky fingers gang.

    All expenses paid natch.

    In other news – I see the DA’s new parliamentary leader has attributed her success to the IFP.

    Ifatpanti.

  • 806.Horings: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 08:53 am

    @mpundula http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=154090

  • 807.ufo: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:00 am

    Well done to the Lion’s…!! A fully deserved victory proving that these Lion’s are the real deal.

    Played the best rugby on the day and played the best rugby through the season.

    Enjoy the win and the trophy and celebrate the revival of Lion’s rugby which can only be good for sa rugby as a whole.

    Congratulations and well done for sticking it out and finally getting rewarded for your loyalty HHS, Katman and RL… True supporters… not fair-weather fans…

    Just two negative notes from the game…

    1 Pity that the stadium wasn’t full for a final… hopefully the win will see the short-fall redressed…

    2 Will the sharks please play lambie at 10…? when lambie touched the ball things happened… but at 15 he only touched the ball if it was kicked onto him or from second phase… he has a great brain and reads the play and situation very well… if he was first receiver the sharks would be a whole different team… he could create a lot more if he got the ball a lot more… and the sharks are ruining his chances of competing for the Bok number 10…

    failing that… come down to cape town… we need a quality flyhalf and you need to play flyhalf…

    hand/glove….

  • 808.grant10_is_a_maaifoedie: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:05 am

    there is NO WAY that the Lions would’ve beaten the Bulls in the final … Bulls with :

    Matfield
    Bakkies
    Spies
    Fourie Dup
    Hougaard
    Steyn

    etc!! no WAYS!!! Something not right @ the sharks – bissie isn’t happy there – its 100% clear! and that backline = KAK Stefan, Adi (reserve), Marius & Hoffman! Plum should go!!

  • 809.au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir...: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:08 am

    @ufo(ufo)-807:
    three words…manchurian candidate…

  • 810.au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir...: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:14 am

    @ufo(ufo)-807:

    i see what you did there at the end…nice…(‘cue’ – micheal jackson’s billie jean)

  • 811.Horings: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:15 am

    @808 Pointless post! We would never know. Sharks won against the Bulls in their biggest game this year and they could not compete with the Lions. I am not saying the Lions would have won, but I have given you an argument that they would.

  • 812.ufo: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:19 am

    @au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-809:

    @au revoir mon tout noirs, au revoir…(i_love_u_bakkiesbotha)-810:

    hehehe

  • 813.Provvas: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:23 am

    After ranting about how the sharks will win, I will be first to admit the Lions played a superior game.

    They showed that playing as a team means more than being called a springbok laden team. Maybe these boks had too much on their minds, or were still not over the WC exit, or maybe they are just not as good as they try to make out to be.

    Well done Lions!! The type of rugby you played was brilliant!!
    Last;y, Take note WP losers: Wp is the only “big” union to not have won anything in the last 10 years…

  • 814.Transformation: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:27 am

    @Gunther(gunther)-803: did you see the grin on juju’s face up there in Mauiritius, economic freedom in our lifetime boyo!

    these okes want whitey basson, GT Ferreira type money.

  • 815.ufo: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:33 am

    @Provvas(Provvas)-813:

    hehehe

    Your last line… is exactly what i said to my mates after the game…

    we are now the union with the longest losing streak since we won our last trophy…

    we really are the biggest losers in sa rugby at the moment… :shock:

    wp/stormers now HAVE to up their game…

  • 816.grant10: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:37 am

    problem is we will see the WP coach take over Bok reins….

  • 817.Gunther: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:47 am

    @Transformation(Transformation)-814:

    if juju carries on like that he will also need the same ifatpanti as Lindiwe.

    Hawu.

    When the head of Gautengs metro asked about why Juius gets ibluelite to the airport he replied that they like to help out members of the public :lol:

    I will remember that next time I am caught in Joburg traffic.

  • 818.Transformation: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 09:58 am

    @Gunther(gunther)-817: eish uLindiwe needs ExTraball’s “science” to help her get rid of IFP

  • 819.Transformation: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 10:04 am

    @Gunther(gunther)-817: you don’t have blue lights? you are sooo behind mate, everytime i’m in jozi if i’m not taking gautrain, i get a calvacade too :D

  • 820.Gunther: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 10:10 am

    @Transformation(Transformation)-818:

    et is a butsex expert :lol:

  • 821.grant10_is_a_maaifoedie: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 10:14 am

    They should use parts of Joshua’s beard to fix the patches in Elton’s hair!

  • 822.charo: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 10:25 am

    @grant10_is_a_maaifoedie(suffer_guy)-821:

    LOL

    not very pc but friggen funny

  • 823.Great White Shark: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 10:27 am

    Gunts you are clearly fighting some inner demons to do with men.

  • 824.ashampoopaloo: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 12:52 pm

    WP/Stormers got the same fckdup proooblem that Sharks have, and Boks have had, they got sweet f’all balls to blood youth and hang on for dear life to fckdup over the hill has beens, plus they got fokol clue about how rugby should be played in this day and age..

    The Rassie / Coetsee blueprint for a successful backline maneuver is flood backline with forwards and have your f’ng overrated chief cook and bottle washer hero for all f’ng seasons be the first receiver go to man in EVERY occasion.

    Coetsee and Burger are the problem at Proooblems… With Rassie hardly knowing how to rectify the fokop because he was instrumental in creating it..

    Bok development squad to progress from here

    Taute / Lambie / Viljoen
    JPP / Mapoe
    Fourie / Sadie
    JdJ / Steyn / Venter
    Aplon / Engelbrecht
    Jantjies / Goosen
    Hougaard / Duvenhage
    Strauss / Vermeulen / Whitely / Koster / Botha
    Alberts / Rhodes / Coetsee / Kolisi
    Brussow / Minnie
    Bekker / Kruger / Vd Merwe
    Mostert / Vd Merwe
    Oosthuizen / Cilliers / JdP
    Bdp / Maku / Chili / Fourie
    Steenkamp / Mtwarira / Greyling

  • 825.mpundulu: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 13:55 pm

    Horings 806: thanks mate!

  • 826.mpundulu: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 13:58 pm

    Transie: I was in a heavy debate with a friend who’s got a penchant to disagree with me on the turn, so I needed to give him a final backhand!

    Kutheni ugeza kangaka, you must deliver answers maaan!

  • 827.Hurricane: Reply to this comment
    31 Oct 2011, 22:40 pm

    @Fern is not a stud,he is merely no19(Fern)-799:
    Grow up clown.
    Only reasons as to why you liked this final as it was a win for SA no matter what.
    I hope you dont ever watch an international game as it will be fixed if SA lose.
    NZ world champs, actually been that way for many years, we dont need a cup to prove anything.

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