Lions pull off second-half miracle
With his side staring down the barrel‚ Swys de Bruin reluctantly reached for the blowtorch at halftime.
His fiery rage did the trick as the Lions recorded one of Super Rugby’s more memorable come-from-behind wins over the Melbourne Rebels at Ellis Park on Saturday.
His side had gone into the sheds 26-5 down before matters were compounded moments after the resumption when the Rebels stretched their advantage to 33-5.
“I lost it‚” De Bruin admitted afterwards.
“There were one or two words that came out badly.
“Sorry about that‚” he said, leaning over to sheepish-look- ing captain Malcolm Marx.
“But maybe it was time to lay the marker down once and for all.”
The Lions scored 28 unanswered points before the result was balanced on the penalty attempt of young Gianni Lombard after the final siren.
Lombard coolly converted from an acute angle to give the Lions a famous win.
“I had to make sure we got back to process‚” De Bruin said about his halftime pep talk.
The Lions had delivered an abject first-half performance, digging themselves a deep hole.
Their lineout and maul were well below par‚ handling errors caused frustration‚ and two intercept tries off passes by Ruan Combrinck and Elton Jantjies compounded matters.
While his starting team slowly turned the tide in the second half‚ substitutes Lionel Mapoe and Andries Coetzee gave the Lions real impetus.
Mapoe was outstanding in carrying the ball into the heart of the Rebels defence‚ while his try underscored the never-saydie spirit that pervaded the Lions in the second half.
Up front though, Kwagga Smith‚ who sustained a groin injury and is a doubtful starter for Saturday’s game against the Sunwolves‚ Carlu Sadie‚ Marnus Schoeman and Marx made the hard yards.
Young Tyrone Green ran with energy and purpose from the last line of defence.
It meant the Lions inexorably closed the gap on the tiring Rebels, who were increa- singly prone to error and law infringements.
It cost them‚ especially when Billy Meaks was sinbinned and the Lions pounced with three tries during the centre’s banishment.
“I’ve never seen a game where the penalty count was 20 to one‚” an incredulous Rebels coach Dave Wessels sighed .