Lions put Stormers to sword
● The Lions’ Super Rugby campaign roared back to life against a shell-shocked Stormers yesterday.
They stretched their unbeaten run in derby matches to 20 with a performance of fist-thumping authority that will go some way to banish the memory of their poor results over the past month.
The Lions rumbled with intent from the get-go as Kinshasa-born winger Madosh Tambwe made a name for himself by completing a hat-trick of tries inside 13 minutes. He scored a fourth in the second half when he grabbed the ball from the otherwise impeccable Damian Willemse. That he scored those tries in four distinctly different ways says much about the 20-year-old’s potential.
He joins an illustrious list of 15 including Joe Roff, Joeli Vidiri, Doug Howlett, Mils Muliaina, Caleb Ralph and Sitiveni Sivivatu who all share the record for four tries. His injured teammate Courtnall Skosan joined that list last season and Tambwe is only in the team because of that injury, as well as the one keeping super-charged Aphiwe Dyantyi out.
When Tambwe tried to leave the field in the 54th minute he was momentarily sent back before limping off to a standing ovation. It was richly deserved. His electrifying run in the first minute after he collected a Willemse chip well inside his own half had the crowd in raptures. He spatchcocked the Stormers defence and just kept on going. It was the angle of his attack and his sheer speed rather than the number of defenders he beat that made the try.
It was as a collective however that the Lions put the Stormers to the sword. The influence of captain Franco Mostert was increasingly felt, and returning Bok wing Ruan Combrinck was a reassuring presence in the back three. Elton Jantjies showed some deft touches and Kwagga Smith was a familiar picture of industry.
The Stormers were desperately poor and their evening was perhaps encapsulated in Raymond Rhule’s knock-on with the tryline beckoning after the full-time siren.
Ruck penalties cost the Stormers, particularly when they still chased the game in the first half. It was also an opening half in which the Stormers’ vaunted scrum couldn’t banish the reputational damage they took at Loftus last week. Stormers coach Robbie Fleck then lamented the debilitating effects of playing seven matches in a row and it showed here.
Kinshasa-born winger Madosh Tambwe got himself a hat-trick of tries inside 13 minutes