Coach lauds Captain Kwagga in Lions’ slaying of the Sharks

THE character their team showed in their second-half revival against the Sharks was enough to convince the Golden Lions’ coaches that their rugby team is ready for the semifinals of the Currie Cup.

The Lions were staring down the barrel before staging an impressive second-half comeback, not just to win but to dump the Sharks from the competition.

Their 28-16 win secured them a place in the semis against the Free State Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on October 15 (3pm).

“Ackers (Johan Ackermann) and I chatted about it afterwards and it showed us that these guys have character,” said assistant coach Swys de Bruin.

“Against the Free State Cheetahs we led 26-8 before our wheels came off, but this was quite the opposite. I think what really shone through was Kwagga’s (Smith) captaincy,” said De Bruin.

The Sharks forwards rumbled early on and had the ascendancy in the scrums. Such was their dominance that they crafted their first try from the pack’s collective grunt.

They went blindside and created enough space for scrumhalf Michael Claassens to crash over in the corner.

They were combative on the deck, showed resolve in the tackle and looked full value for their 10-0 halftime advantage.

To be fair, the Lions had opportunities, but for various reasons couldn’t make an impact on the scoreboard.

“There were moments in which things just didn’t work,” said De Bruin.

“We thought Rohan [Janse van Rensburg] had scored. Ross [Cronje] was over and another TMO might have interpreted it in a different way, and we thought we had our maul set off the first lineout but the ref ruled otherwise.

“We could have led at half time. We changed things in our half-time chat with how we approached the breakdown as well as our attack. I also thought our lineout was outstanding the whole evening.

“The Sharks deserve credit because, as expected, they came with a helluva challenge.

“Apart from Pat [Lambie] and Beast [Mtawarira], that was their Super Rugby side. I’m really proud of our boys.”

Apart from reaching the semifinals, De Bruin has much to smile about.

“The most pleasing thing for me is that our under-19s have scored the most tries in their competition, our under-21s will host a semifinal and now we are in a semifinal. The future looks bright,” De Bruin said.

For a long time at Newlands, Western Province looked like making an unlikely exit from the competition before they rallied in the last eight minutes to beat the Boland Cavaliers 30-28.

They scored two tries in that period to set up a semifinal against the Blue Bulls at Loftus on October 15 (5pm).