Lions apply fear, force, teeth as they tear apart pitiful Bulls

“LIONS! Lions! Lions!” — the visiting faithful supporters found their voice with that roar last night.

That was the chant that reverberated on the Loftus Versfeld stands from as early as the first minute of the Jukskei derby, when flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff scored the first points of this Super Rugby match between the Bulls and visiting Lions side in the capital city yesterday.

That chant was repeated throughout the match as the Johannesburg side eased to a 56-20 victory over their old enemy.

With that win — their ninth of the season out of the 12 matches played so far — coach Johan Ackermann’s side confirmed its dominance and affirmed the Lions’ status as the “it” team in the SA Conference.

Should the Lions continue producing this kind of dominant performance in the remaining matches of the round robin stages, a play-off spot — for the first time for the Ellis Park side — will be a certainty.

As Super Rugby now takes a month’s break to make way for the international window period, Ackermann will be relieved and satisfied about how his team has performed in the first 12 rounds of matches of the competition.

Defeats to the Crusaders, Hurricanes and Highlander may have stained the Lions’ efforts so far, but the Johannesburg side has more reason to smile about the clinical manner in which they performed.

The absence of Elton Jantjies, who has been ruled out for a month with a fractured finger, was not felt as the visitors ran riot

A close encounter had been expected, but in the end the Bulls had no chance as the Lions proved to be miles ahead of their opposition on the day.

The excitement and festive vibe in the Loftus precinct, with hordes of Lions fans crossing the Jukskei River from Johannesburg to Pretoria to add to the rivalry on the stands, was a precursor to what was anticipated to be a cracker of a clash.

The absence of Elton Jantjies, who has been ruled out for a month with a fractured finger, was not felt as the Lions ran riot at Loftus.

The Lions did not want to leave any stone unturned as they geared up for the encounter in their warm-up.

Anticipating a close encounter, even Lions flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff, who had replaced Jantjies in the side, spent the bulk of his time before the start of the match practising his dropkicks. That tactic wasn’t needed in the end, but instead the pivot contributed immensely with his boot via conversions and penalties.

The Lions scored three tries in the first half and added another four in the second, with Rohan Janse van Rensburg (two), Lionel Mapoe, Julian Redelinghuys, Jaco Kriel, Courtnall Skosan and Faf de Klerk being the men who dotted down.

In response, Jesse Kriel, Adriaan Strauss and Deon Stegmann scored five-pointers while flyhalf Francois Brummer and substitute Tian Schoeman contributed with the boot.

The silence of the Bulls faithful — some of whom vacated their seats even before the final whistle — was reflective of the disappointment that blanketed Loftus.

Although some may have predicted a victory for the Lions, few would have known how one-sided the affair would be in the end.

That defeat for the Bulls ended the Pretoria side’s unbeaten run at home, Loftus Versveld, this season, and so also did the side lose their status as the only remaining team in the Super Rugby competition not to have suffered a loss at their home ground.