Lions late show wins
Classy moments from cup finalists make the difference with Cheetahs
FOR most of this game last year’s Super Rugby finalists looked barely recognisable. But in the fleeting moments that they invoked the spirit in which they went about their business last season they separated themselves from the Cheetahs.
With the shadows lengthening and this game very much in the balance, the Lions were forced to dig deep and it took a superb finish from Rohan Janse van Rensburg to seal the win in the 76th minute.
The burly centre almost overran a Ross Cronje pass down the right-hand touchline but an outstretched left arm brought the ball within his grasp and the four log points within the Lions reach.
They were forced to counterpunch for much of the second half but tries by Janse van Rensburg in the 54th minute and a penalty try in the 68th minute had also served to wipe out the advantage the Cheetahs held on the scoreboard.
For most of the match, however, they were beset by early season cobwebs.
The cohesion and fluidity which marked their march to last year’s final were rarely in evidence and it was only when they had their backs firmly to the wall that they looked like last season’s conference winners.
With a team awash with Springboks, the Lions failed to make the fist-thumping impact coach Johan Ackermann would have demanded.
Certainly the Lions contingent, who were garlanded with green and gold last year, were a little off colour yesterday. It meant this match drifted off script. Most pre-game expectations would have centred on a high scoring try-fest but neither side held on to the ball long enough to come within a sniff in the first half.
The Cheetahs came close in the 37th minute but Lions scrumhalf Faf de Klerk spread his limited frame sufficiently over the ball to snuff out the hosts’ position of promise. The red zone infraction earned him yellow.
There were other reasons neither side was able to make headway. Both defences proved strong, while the battle at the breakdown was nothing short of ferocious.
Ruck penalties were the order of the day in the opening half with the teams going into the break deadlocked, but the Cheetahs wriggled free after the restart while the Lions still had De Klerk in the bin.
Shortly after the restart the Lions attempted to run out of their own half but a spilt pass was snaffled by Raymond Rhule, who ran down the left touchline unopposed for the game’s first try.
Fred Zeilinga added the conversion before adding a penalty two minutes later to hand the hosts a handy lead.
He added his sixth and last in the 75th minute to hand his side a two-point lead but the Lions displayed great composure in scoring the match-winning try.
They were made to toil, however. They were resolute in the tight exchanges through the efforts of Ruan Dreyer, Malcolm Marx and Ruan Ackermann, among others, while replacement Harold Vorster and Andries Coetzee became increasingly influential.