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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30 Oct 2011, 12:00 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-500: woody….you boys need sort out the opensider spot…..
and seriously WTF is going on with that midfield?
Your centre problems are up there with my okes props problems!
30 Oct 2011, 12:00 pm
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-497:
Yet another Interesting fact from cane:
8)
Question:
What Country went through both the Soccer WC and the Rugby WC undefeated?
Answer:
NZ.
30 Oct 2011, 12:01 pm
@The Chokerman – formerly cane(cane)-498:
Indeed, without much of a fight.
p.s. the real score is 42-9 minus 7 for that forward pass knock on try by sharkievarkie.
30 Oct 2011, 12:04 pm
another point…..
Where is Lambie going to fit in at Boks? I like him a lot, but in my opinion Jantjes should be backed at 10…..I would also go with Tasute at 15….he adds a whole new dimension, SA answer to Latham !
Lambie may find himself as a utility type sub…surely F Steyn will be at 12 with either J De Jongh, Sadie or J Fourie at 13….
Going to be a most interesting super 15…..we need to make sure we appoint the right HC….we do that we have a bright future I reckon…..
We dont…..watch us head downhill at a snot spoed!
30 Oct 2011, 12:05 pm
Well done RL your team provided a great showing of complete rugby, it was a great performance, which I hope sets a marker for SA rugby that a game involving running, kicking, and passing apportioned to playing what’s in front is the only way to go. The boks should either approach John Mitchell or Wayne smith. Nick mallet though a great coach, still believes in bok traditional strength rugby, he won’t develop back play.
30 Oct 2011, 12:06 pm
I wanted to come here and gloat but I don’t see the need anymore. Fcking enjoying this a lot. Thank you Lions and thank you Mitch and the boys. That was some fantastic rugby. I really hope we can pull this through to the S15. One thing is for sure the Lions will be a lot better next year and watch us in 2013 then we are going for the Cup.
30 Oct 2011, 12:07 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-500:
It happens with split personalities…
30 Oct 2011, 12:07 pm
@The Chokerman – formerly cane(cane)-498: Dear oh dear you’ve changed. How unseeming.
30 Oct 2011, 12:09 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-500:
I was supporting the Lions because they were the Underdog.
What was it, about 13 Internationals in the Sharks and about zero in the Lions.
Lions and Cheetahs also played very attractive rugby through the S15.
I still have great respect for the Sharks, great respect. However some of their supporters on here had this coming.
Plum is an excellant Defense Coach. But not sure Sharks have the ballance right.
Commiserations Spooner, I meant no disrespect.
30 Oct 2011, 12:10 pm
@HHS(Hop Hop Spinnekop)-506: I think you deserve a gloat, your team annihilated us.
30 Oct 2011, 12:10 pm
@The Chokerman – formerly cane(cane)-509:
Aw it’s just a game. Next season we all start over.
30 Oct 2011, 12:11 pm
Odwa Ndungane
Stefan Terblanche
Marius Joubert
Conrad Hoffmann
Ryan Kankowski
Ross Skeate
Alistair Hargreaves
Ross Cronje
Adrian Jacobs
Are all either too old or not good enough
30 Oct 2011, 12:12 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-508:
I’m just getting my own back for some mistreatment dished out over the last 6 years.
I’ll be my old self again in a year or two.
8)
30 Oct 2011, 12:13 pm
@grant10(grant10)-504: That’s right, let SARU feckkk up another Shark.
30 Oct 2011, 12:13 pm
The boks should look at Lambie at fb at taute on the wing. Killian has an enormous work rate, picks different channels of attack, similar to guildford.
30 Oct 2011, 12:13 pm
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-511:
Just a game……………………………………………….yeah right.
30 Oct 2011, 12:14 pm
@The Chokerman – formerly cane(cane)-513: Well it paints you in a very poor light. Be a Kiwi, be a true gentleman, don’t learn how to be a Blue Bull
30 Oct 2011, 12:14 pm
@grant10(grant10)-504: we have the bright young prospects.
I want to see more players like Jantjes and Taute playing fro the Boks – with attacking flair and instinct. We need a back line who can contribute (been lacking the last 8 years).
Lets not forget how good Lambie looked in the 30-10 final last year. He can attack and create too. I think Jantjes and Taute perhaps benefited from not being tainted by the PDiv brush which saw our Bok backs treated as bystanders.
It’s a good problem to have. The only thing I will say is no player should ever be a “utility player”, we have seen what effect this had on Brent Russell, Ruan Pienaar, F Steyn, etc. Lambie needs to select his position and play there. If he is good enough, he will make the team, but not as 10, 12 or 15 cover.
With the right coach and the young, hungry players we have, we can reach the stars and I just hope SARU makes the right decision. Coetzee still seems to be the favourite and I can say that 4 years of Coetzee and Schalk Burger will not deliver us to the promised land of number 1 ranking and 80% win record.
30 Oct 2011, 12:15 pm
@Treehugger(Treehugger)-510: No need. That performance silenced some “groot bekke” for the summer. Great reward.
30 Oct 2011, 12:16 pm
@Great White Shark(Predawn)-511:
“Aw it’s just a game. ”
Yeah, but next year we will still be World Champs.
And the biggest thing in the SARU Trophy Room will still be the fleas in the carpet.
30 Oct 2011, 12:17 pm
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-515: Taute a brilliant attacking 15…why the hell blunt him at wing? No man…let him have options on attack…he is the most natural attacking SA 15 I have seen for bloody years
30 Oct 2011, 12:18 pm
Alberts is the only returning Bok that showed some sort of form over the last two weeks.
30 Oct 2011, 12:19 pm
@The Chokerman – formerly cane(cane)-520: And New Zealand will still be at the bottom of the world with hobbits and sheep for company. And no one cares
30 Oct 2011, 12:19 pm
@The Chokerman – formerly cane(cane)-520: Choker, with the right coach and the young players we have, you can rest assured we will be coming hard for your World Champions.
Don’t rest on your laurels too much.
Very important we choose the right coach. 65% is not good enough for the Boks.
30 Oct 2011, 12:20 pm
@grant10(grant10)-521: he just needs to pull up his socks…
30 Oct 2011, 12:22 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-518: I would not in a million years appoint AC and Schalk….will ****** our rugby….I have never really felt Schalk was comfortable with the role…..and AC bloody average imo….
Lambie a great young player….I personally rate that kid highly…..he lacks that devastating speed required of an attacking 15…Taute has the game that Boks will requre if we go more expansive….
I would love Lambie to focus on 10….
SA is well positioned to launch in 2012……but I am so terrified of SARU…They really need to do the right thing with the HC selection.
30 Oct 2011, 12:22 pm
Sharks need centres and locks, our centres are awful and our locks are softer than a bunch of very soft things kept in cotton wool and kittens mittens.
30 Oct 2011, 12:22 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-523:
New Hobbit movie out next year.
It’s not the size of the man, but the size of his heart.
30 Oct 2011, 12:23 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-525: justrugby mentioned that too!
One of his hobby horses!!
30 Oct 2011, 12:24 pm
If any of you think for one moment AC won’t get the job you are dreaming. It’s not the right decision but it will be the one made. Along with Burger as Captain.
If Lambie tries at 10 the job will go to Elton even he he never plays as well as yesterday ever again, he has the right colour.
Life in SA is not simple, never forget it.
30 Oct 2011, 12:25 pm
Grant 10: I agree, he is a wonderful fb, I’d like to see the boks have a ball playing and counteracting back three, who can link well together, the days of out and out wings without ball playing abilities are coming to an end.
30 Oct 2011, 12:25 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-527: the Sharks need more than centres and locks…
They also need:
Fetcher
Scrumhalf
and a new head coach!
30 Oct 2011, 12:25 pm
@The Chokerman – formerly cane(cane)-528: I know I went to Hobbitton last month, a bit of a rip off if you ask me. $65 to see a few hills.
30 Oct 2011, 12:27 pm
Since we all ignore his posts anyway, shouldn’t they moderators at least give us an option of “ignoring” a poster? It would make the pages much quicker to load without his basket case ranting.
30 Oct 2011, 12:27 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-533: We went to Hobbiton. Don’t remember paying NZD65 though.
Surely you mean for a whole family.
30 Oct 2011, 12:27 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-532: That we do. Deysel is never going to make a decent 4, where they thought that one up I don’t know. Why Keegan is Captain is beyond me, he is still chasing tail, far too young in the head for the job.
Hargreaves still hides behind his mother’s blouse and Skeet would rather be at Harveys than diving into a maul.
As for scrumhalf, jeepers how useless and slow is Hoffman.
30 Oct 2011, 12:29 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-530: elton deserves that 10 spot by a country mile….fark the colour my man….
sharks are farking Lambie around again…..they are the 1 s not playing him at 10…..no one else
30 Oct 2011, 12:29 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-535: http://www.tikitouring.co.nz/hobbiton-matamata.htm $66 dollars!
“The tours to the set from Matamata are $NZ66 per adult and $NZ33 for children from 10 to 14 years. Children from 5 to 9 are $5.”
Maybe I was ripped off but that is what we paid each from the little shop
30 Oct 2011, 12:30 pm
@wooden spoon(wooden spoon)-532: spot on….
30 Oct 2011, 12:30 pm
@grant10(grant10)-504: Grant I like Jantjies plenty great, great player. BUT let us first see him play AGAIN in SuperRugby. He excelled in last years CC but was not up to it for the Barbarian game. Also he never had a good SuperRugby this year. Let us be fair Lambie was our best fh in our conference this SuperRugby. He was mom in last years CC final as well. He was outstanding that day too. He never let us down at the world cup either. He was actually one of our top Boks there. Always was rated on all rugby blogs as one with the highest rate from our Boks. He was very, very good at fb.
It has proven for the Sharks that sometimes introducing Boks late for CC it never works. They played a different game plan for the Boks then to slot into their franchise and play that game plan takes time again and to really gel with their players from their franchise. Similar to Province Boks.
WE need to see all these youngsters for the WHOLE of SuperRugby before we can really judge them. Not now at all. Can never just judge from the CC alone.
30 Oct 2011, 12:31 pm
@grant10(grant10)-537: Two weeks ago Elton didn’t look too flash, don’t go handing out things from one days’ performance.
Lambie at 10, Michalak at 9, Hoffman on a train home.
30 Oct 2011, 12:31 pm
@SjamBok(SjamBok)-534: who you moaning about now again?
30 Oct 2011, 12:33 pm
Grant 10: Elton is the best SA 10, there’s no doubt of that, he has the most variation of the 10′s in SA, his still ball kicking is scaringly accurate.
30 Oct 2011, 12:34 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-541: elton didnt play 2 weeks ago…..except for a cameo….
he has been magnificent all season mate…15 out of 15 kicks for semis and final…..wakey wakey mate….I fear some prejudice showing?
30 Oct 2011, 12:35 pm
@goyougoodthing2(goyougoodthing2)-536:
Re centres – we were crying about this in the S15 already. No-one appears to have listened. They went and bought Joubert FFS.
Re locks – we were crying about this in the S15 already. No-one appears to have listened. They let Mostert go FFS.
Re scrumhalf – McLeod is very inconsistent and Hoffman is average.
Re fetcher – the Sharks always seem to lose the breakdown battle… we rumble up with our “big powerful ball carriers” (Alberts, Bismark, Deysel, Beast, etc) but they seem to frequently get isolated and there is nothing more frustrating than losing the forward momentum… We don’t have anyone other than Bismark who competes at the rucks… We need a Brussow, Pocock, McCaw type player desperately. Daniel and Botes are not the answer.
30 Oct 2011, 12:36 pm
@grant10(grant10)-544: I think you need to compare the 2 kids properly, Elton is good, so is Lambie.
I fear some anti Sharks prejudice coming, wakey wakey
30 Oct 2011, 12:37 pm
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-543: Agree mate….that oke leaves M Steyn in the shade….what a brilliantyoungster….and he will get even better!
my choice as bok 10 with goosen and lambie to fight for understudy.
taute 15
F steyn 12….
JDJ 13….
that there is the future….
find a snappy passing 9….not a FDP or a Ruan Pienaar…
wings Hougaard and JPP…
bring on the world
30 Oct 2011, 12:37 pm
@grant10(grant10)-537: Agree totally. Sharks are messing with Lambie. He should be our number one fh all of the time. NOT Freddie. It does my head in really seeing a overseas player playing there ahead of Lambie. He is a superb play maker and someone we need at 10. Freddie can start at 10. We at the moment just don’t have any really good sh. Hoffman is not up to it really. Might need plenty more game time have no idea but I just don’t rate him at CC level let alone SuperRugby.
Anyhow with Viljoen coming to Sharks next year I think Lambie just may start at fh with Freddie moving to sh. Unless they mess with Lambie even more and play him at inside centre. Then really I hope Province get the cheque book out. Cause no way in hell with they mess Lambie about he would start everytime at fh. I would rather then Lambie play for another franchise and start all of the time at fh than seeing him being messed about by my Sharks. I hate it when we have such a massive talent in our team and the just play him where suits them. I will forever support my team but it irritates me to see some of our great players getting messed about.
30 Oct 2011, 12:38 pm
Well, we can all agree that M Steyn has played his last game in the green and gold.
30 Oct 2011, 12:38 pm
@Puma(Puma)-548: Meant – Freddie can start at 9
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