The Lions hosted the WP in the last match in the play-off rounds for the Currie Cup of 2009. The Lions won a very hard fought match, 27 / 25.

We knew the Lions were on an upwards curve, we knew the Lions pushed the Sharks close last week, yet most of us, me included, doubted wheter they could beat the high-trotting WP Team.

… well, it happened !

WP came out firing and scored an early try through Juan de Jongh after Andries Bekker went one one of his bullocking runs from the centre-position. WP were leading  7 / 0 with just over a minute played.

Herkie Kruger pulled the score back to 7 / 3 with a penalty and the sure-kicking Joe Petersen followed that with a penaly of his own, making the score 10 / 3.

The Lions fought hard and only had bad turn-overs to blame for trailing.

Before Half Time, WP scored again through a Joe Petersen try after yet another storming run by Andries Bekker.

The gutsy Lions heaved back with 2 tries from Doppies Le Grange.

At Half Time the score was WP 20 / Lions 17.

After Half Time the Lions were first to strike with a try by Dusty Noble and suddenly they were in the lead and WP was playing catch-up.

WP scored their 3rd try by Francois Louw and re-took the lead, the score now WP 25 / Lions 24.

The Lions, at this stage a well-oiled machine, earned a penalty and Chris Jonck calmly slotted it, reversing the lead once again. Lions 27 / WP 25.

WP threw everything at the Lions, including the proverbial kitchen sink, the Lions calmly absorbing the pressure.

With less than 30 seconds remaining, WP won a scrum in the Lions 22m area but resolute defence ensured that the Lions bundled WP out on the right-hand touch line.

The game was over!

 

Points:

Lions: 1 Penalty & 3 Conversions Herkie Kruger, 1 Penalty Chris Jonck,  2 Tries Doppies le Grange, 1 Try Dusty Noble

WP: 2 Conversion2 & 2 Penalties Joe Petersen, 1 Try Juan de Jongh, 1 Try Joe Petersen, 1 Try Francois Louw

 

Teams:

Golden Lions: 15 Earl Rose, 14 Dusty Noble, 13 Jannie Boshoff, 12 Doppies la Grange, 11 Johan Jackson, 10 Herkie Kruger, 9 Chris Jonck, 8 Willem Alberts, 7 Derick Minnie, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar (captain), 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Nico Luus, 3 Kevin Buys, 2 Hans van Dyk, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg.
Replacements: 16 Torrie Meyer, 17 Wayne Swart, 18 Willem Stoltz, 19 Todd Clever, 20 Ruan Boshoff, 21 Walter Venter, 22 Michael Killian.

Western Province: 15 Joe Pietersen, 14 Tonderai Chavhanga, 13 Frikkie Welsh, 12 Juan de Jongh, 11 Sireli Naqelevuki, 10 Peter Grant, 9 Ricky Januarie, 8 Luke Watson (captain), 7 Duane Vermeulen, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Andries Bekker, 4 Anton van Zyl, 3 JC Kritzinger, 2 Tiaan Liebenberg, 1 Wicus Blaauw.
Replacements: 16 Deon Fourie, 17 JD Moller, 18 De Kock Steenkamp, 19 Pieter Louw, 20 Dewaldt Duvenage, 21 Matt Toomua, 22 Gio Aplon

Referee: Marius Jonker
Assistant referees: Ben Crouse, Madel Herselman
TMO: Michael Cupido

269 Responses to Lions (17) 27 vs WP (20) 25 (f/t) – Game Thread & match summary

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