Reynolds an emerging star

Rudolph Jacobs

At a time when the national team is struggling with flyhalves, Golden Lions pivot Shaun Reynolds is setting the Currie Cup scene alight.

Reynolds (above), Man-of-theMatch in last weekend’s 47-14 win over the Cheetahs, has notched up 57 points in his team’s first three matches of the season at an average of 19 points per match.

The former Welkom Gimnasium pupil scored 17 against Griquas, 18 against the Blue Bulls and 22 against the Cheetahs and has been successful with 20 from 23 attempts at goal while also scoring three tries.

“It was a great team effort and we were very grateful for the win,” Reynolds said.

“The Cheetahs really came out in that second half and gave their all which showed us that we have a few things to still work on.”

Reynolds lauded his forwards for giving them front foot ball and said their backs just had to finish it off.

“And they made it look effortless, so a lot of credit must go to the pack. It was fantastic to win a third game in a row,” he said.

Lions skipper Marvin Orie warned however that Western Province are going to be real a test this weekend.

“Together with the Sharks they are two of the provinces who have performed really well,” he said.

“Those first 30 minutes of the second half is something we need to work on, but it was a fantastic start and if we managed to keep that intensity and tempo we could have recorded a much better result – but we are happy about the win.”

Orie said it was a team effort and added that “the boys” worked extremely hard.

“We are in a transition phase at the Lions. We lost a lot of players to the Springboks and overseas clubs but we are building,” he said.