Lions pounce in second half to take down Melbourne Rebels
MELBOURNE Rebels threw away a 33-5 lead to lose 36-33 to the Lions in a ten-try thriller in Johannesburg.
A stunning second-half fightback from the Lions was led by the team’s Springboks contingent of Malcolm Marx, Andries Coetzee, Courtnall Skosan, and Lionel Mapoe, while flanker Marnus Schoeman continued his Super Rugby try-scoring exploits by notching his fifth of the season.
It was the turn of the old guard to prove their reliability in another high-scoring affair at Ellis Park as Lions head coach Swys de Bruins kept faith with a number of youngsters who he blooded in the 47-39 win against the Jaguares last week.
De Bruin, who will head to the World Cup in Japan with the Springboks squad in the autumn as one of Rassie Erasmus’ assistance coaches, vowed there was a need to nurture the Lions’ next generation of stars this season given the evident attraction of moving overseas to its senior players.
“I have to keep on backing the youngsters, it’s something that has to happen this year,” said de Bruin, who gave flanker Vincent Tshituka and centre Wandisile Simelane – both 20 – their debuts against the Jaguares.
“There are a lot of players who are still learning their trade at this level, but the fortunate thing is that we have been working with these youngsters for a while now. We’ve all come a long way together, and it’s about building the system.”
The season so far for the Lions has not been easy after the loss of pack stalwarts Franco Mostert and Jaco Kriel to Gloucester in the summer.
But Malcolm Marx continues to excel as a leader despite his tender age of 24 and the hooker got his team off to a good start against the Rebels, playing a onetwo pass with front row teammate Dylan Smith to cross over in the corner five minutes in.
The Rebels quickly struck back against their opponents, who have now shorn their Marvel’s Spiderman-inspired jerseys for the traditional red and white.
Winger Reece Hodge was able to score his team’s reply by capping a move which saw the ball pass through all the backline four minutes after Marx’s opener.
The visitors, who boasted a 100 per cent record before heading to South Africa, then shut-out the Lions for the rest of the half and built a comfortable lead through tries by Quade Cooper, Billy Meakes and bulldozing Fijian No.8 Isi Naisarani. The match looked all over for the Lions once Tom English extended the Rebels 26-5 half-time lead on 42 minutes, but a superhuman effort from the hosts set up a classic.
It was the new kid on the block Simelane who set up Schoeman to give the Lions a glimmer of hope, once Billy Meakes had been sent to the sin bin.
And the Lions made the most of their man advantage three minutes later when replacement fullback Andries Coetzee was fed through by a pass from playmaker Elton Jantjies to score.
Upon Meakes’ return to the field, the Rebels ill-discipline had shifted the momentum to the hosts.
Winger Skosan took the glory of drawing scores level with a converted try once Marx had won a trademark turnover.All square at 33-33 as the clock ticked past 80 minutes, the Rebels conceded their 20th penalty of the match to allow Gianni Lombard to kick the winning penalty.
There was frustration in both camps as the Chiefs and the Hurricanes played out a 23-23 draw in Hamilton.
The Chiefs prop up the Super Rugby Standings after five rounds and had a haul of 18 points from Damian McKenzie to thank for bringing their losing streak to an end, albeit the All Black missed a 67thminute penalty kick which would have handed his team a first victory.
Centre Anton LienertBrown opened the scoring after just two minutes for the hosts, while Matt Proctor and Wes Goosen crossed for the Canes.
“Things that didn’t go our way in the ruck area, I thought,” Chiefs head coach Colin Cooper complained. “We were pretty hard done by with the penalties.
“Damian’s kick from the sideline just missed, so we had a chance to win it.”
The Brumbies returned to winning ways at the expense of the Waratahs thanks to a brace for hooker Folau Fainga’a.
The showing from the Brumbies pack will fuel belief they can make the Super Rugby play-offs this time around, after missing out in 2018. A penalty try awarded in the 54th minute proved the match-winner, cancelling out scores for Waratahs pair Michael Hooper and Alex Newsome.
The Stormers eased past the Jaguares to win 35-8 at Newlands Stadium.
The Argentinian outfit absorbed some early pressure from the hosts to score the first try of the match however through wing Bautista Delguy.
But tries for Dan du Plessis, Siya Kolisi, Herschel Jantjies and replacement scrum-half Justin Phillips delivered a the Stormers their thirdstraight win ahead of their Australasian tour.