Lions prevail in nailbiter to stay unbeaten

THE Golden Lions went two from two on the boot of Elton Jantjies when they withstood a Chiefs rally to win a nailbiter in Hamilton yesterday.

In the closing two minutes the Chiefs twice won penalties on the Lions line but were unable to convert them. Being four points in arrears they were forced to go for lineout drives, but could not break the well-drilled Lions pack.

The Lions led for most of the game, apart from a brief period at the start of the match and in the middle of the second half as they made light of their arduous travel itinerary. They are the first team in the expanded competition to head from South Africa to Japan where they beat newcomers the Sunwolves 26-13 last week before going to New Zealand.

But while forward power ensured the win, elated captain Warren Whiteley said it was the backs who deserved the credit.

“We weren’t happy with last week’s performance, so SHOUT OUT: Lions skipper Warren Whiteley, left, and Franco Mostert celebrate their victory over the Waikato Chiefs yesterday we worked really hard on our string to spread it from side to side and I think it worked.”

With a superior pack and a lethal 8-9-10 combination of Whiteley, Faf de Klerk and Jantjies, the Lions dominated territory and flyhalf Jantjies feasted on penalties as the Lions raced to a 19-11 lead by half time.

Tom Sanders scored a try for the Chiefs and Malcolm Marx scored for the Lions with Jantjies’ three penalties and a conversion making the difference in the first half while the Chiefs’ extra points came from two McKenzie penalties.

Damian

In yesterday’s other games, defending champion Highlanders scored a narrow 17-16 victory over the Hurricanes in Dunedin, and Western Force thrashed the Queensland Reds 22-6 in Brisbane — AFP