THE LIONS TOTALLY DOMINATE KINGS

Ackermann’s men hit half century, despite Coetzee’s red card, to secure play-off spot Marais has learnt from top post, vows to return better

Lions (19) 54 Tries: Coetzee, Skosan, Smith (2), Marx, Van Rooyen, De Klerk, Coetzee; Conversions: Jantjies (5), Coetzee (2) Kings (3) 10 Try: Vulindlu; Conversion: De Wet; Penalty: De Wet

THE Lions made it 12 wins from 13 matches when they put all their attacking skills on display to comfortably get the better of the Kings at Ellis Park yesterday afternoon.

It was the first Super Rugby game to be played on a Sunday in South Africa and those who turned out at a chilly Ellis Park were treated to a highly entertaining game.

The home team scored some scintillating tries as they made it 10 wins on the trot since suffering their only defeat in the competition, against the Jaguares in Beunos Aires, in round three.

The Lions were made to work hard for their victory as the gutsy, and much-improved, Kings, who had recently beaten the Waratahs, Rebels and Sharks, gave as good as they got from the South African pace-setters. In the end though, the home team’s class and experience got them comfortably across the line.

Johan Ackermann’s men – or rather those who won’t be involved with the Springboks and SA “A” sides in June – can now put their feet up while the competition takes a break, knowing they are well-placed to feature in the knockout rounds from the middle of July. OUTGOING BULLS Super Rugby coach Nollis Marais believes that he is still the right man to take the franchise back to the top but it will have to be his way or nothing.

Marais was shown the door on Thursday by the Blue Bulls Company Board of Directors after they confirmed that former All Black coach John Mitchell would be taking over the running of the team as Executive of Rugby at Loftus Versfeld.

However, Marais will be coach the Bulls in their remaining matches in the competition before taking up his position as head coach of the Currie Cup side.

Marais’ axing comes on the back of the Bulls’ worst season in the competition since 2002, in which they have already lost nine of their 12 matches, including becoming the first South African side to lose to the Sunwolves and conceding their biggest and heaviest losing margin at home to the Crusaders a few weeks ago.

After sinking to yet another defeat

The Lions ended up running in eight tries to the Kings’ solitary five-pointer, in the second half, and that after being forced to play for 50 minutes with 14 men.

Hooker Robbie Coetzee was red-carded on the half-hour mark after striking Kings flank Chris Cloete with his knee.

Cloete was also penalised for pushing Warren Whiteley in the face earlier in the move, but his was only a yellow-card, the second for his team after lock Irne Herbst had also been carded in the eighth minute.

Repeated infringing by the Kings at the line-out led to referee Jaco Peyper sending Herbst to the cooler, but eventually the Lions would breach their defence and open their account through hooker Coetzee.

He was followed (34-20) on Saturday to the defending champions, the Hurricanes, at home, Marais was left lamenting his team’s errors but more so for not accepting the job as coach on his own terms.

Marais was a surprise appointment to take over from Frans Ludeke at the end of 2015 and while many saw it as a natural progression to the main job at Loftus, after Marais had coached every other team at the Bulls, the former loose forward was given very little room to manoeuvre, especially in picking his own management team.

“I know exactly what I wouldn’t do next time. If I had to be a head coach again of Super Rugby, I’ll certainly make sure I have all my ducks in a row when I do that. So I’ve learnt a lot about off the field management, player management and how to do things so I can try-scorers sheet by Courtnall Skosan, who rounded off after taking a pass by Whiteley on the touchline, after the skipper had done brilliantly to collect a crossfield kick by Elton Jantjies and feed his wing.

Then, on the stroke of halftime, flank Kwagga Smith would score the first of his two tries when he showed great pace and stepping ability to leave Malcolm Jaer for dead.

It came after a bizarre passage of play after Ntabeni Dukisa intercepted the ball inside his own 22m area, with the Lions on the attack, but just when it looked like he’d have enough pace to go all the way and score he was caught from behind by Skosan. The Lions snapped up the loose ball and countered, ending with Smith going over. get the best of my personality out there. Heyneke (Meyer) said to me at that stage that ‘you are making a mistake because you know how you are if things are not a hundred percent your way you are not going to be happy about it’. And he tells me every day, ‘I told you, I told you’. So I learnt a lot and you learn a lot and I can only get better from there. I’m looking forward and I’m going to work hard for the next two to three years. I still believe I was the right man for the job but I’ve made mistakes, we all make mistakes and we can only get better from that,” said Marais. Marais will continue working closely with Mitchell when the New Zealander returns back to the capital to take up his position midway through July and it seems as though Marais will do away with some of his coaching staff that includes former

Malcolm Marx and Jacques van Rooyen got their names on the try-scorers sheet soon after the restart and then Smith would score his second, and arguably the best, try of the match. From deep in their own half, the home team broke the defensive line through Marx, who powered his way upfield at a rate of knots, he offloaded to Andries Coetzee, who found Smith and the flanker simply had to dot down in the corner.

Scrumhalf Faf de Klerk and fullback Coetzee rubbed salt into the Kings’ wounds late on with further tries, both coming after wonderful sweeping moves from deep in Lions territory, the home team’s handling, running lines and support play a joy to behold.

When the Lions return to Super Rugby action in July they will host the Sunwolves and then finish their round-robin fixture list with an outing against the Sharks in Durban. Bulls captain Anton Leonard (forwards coach), former Bok hooker Gary Botha (scrum coach) and even backline coach David Manuel.

Bulls captain Adriaan Strauss says the players haven’t had time to digest what has transpired in the past few days but that the show of character and a fighting spirit in their loss to the Hurricanes shows the willingness of the players to contribute to the new order under Mitchell.

“We haven’t had an opportunity to sit down and chat. I think taking the last four weeks into consideration everyone is happy that a call has been made, there’s clarity now. I said it before the game as well, it is not a cliché saying there is a lot of youngsters and the guys want to fight but I think everyone is excited to contribute. We’ve seen the results this year and we need to make it better as a group. So we’re excited that there is clarity moving forward and there is still buy in from all the players,” Strauss said.

The Bulls play the Sharks, Kings and Stormers when Super Rugby returns.