The Emirates Lions won their 2nd tour match as the Vodacom Bulls and Cell C Sharks had to dig deep to win at home in an interesting 6th Round of Vodacom Super Rugby.
The men from Johannesburg weathered an early storm and clinched their 3rd successive win over the Melbourne Rebels, by 20 / 16, courtesy of a late try by Lionel Mapoe on Friday in Melbourne. With this victory, the Emirates Lions emulated their feats in 2007 and 2011, when they also won 2 tour matches.
On Saturday, the Toyota Cheetahs started well and were in front at the break against the Crusaders in Christchurch, but the home team took proper advantage of 2 second-half Yellow Cards against the visitors from Bloemfontein to win comfortably by 57 / 14.
2 Matches were played in South Africa on Saturday afternoon, both in less-than-perfect conditions.
First up, the Vodacom Bulls had to rely on a late penalty goal by Handré Pollard to pip the Force by 25 / 24 in Pretoria before the Cell C Sharks, playing for more than 50 minutes with 13 men against 14, following 3 Red Cards, had to dig deep to beat the Chiefs by 12 / 11 in Durban.
The DHL Stormers had a BYE.
Melbourne Rebels (13) 16 / 20 (3) Emirates Lions:
The Emirates Lions displayed supreme patience and grit as they won their 1st-ever match in Melbourne against the Melbourne Rebels by 20 / 16 on Friday.
The home team raced to a 13 / 0 lead which was cut by a mere 3 points at the break as they scored 2 tries in the first 10 minutes of the match.
But the visitors from Johannesburg never gave up and when Marnitz Boshoff crossed shortly after the break, the Rebels’ lead was cut to just 3 points.
Elton Jantjies and Mike Harris traded penalty goals after the hour-mark but Lionel Mapoe’s brilliant individual try with 3 minutes left, sealed a superb win for the Emirates Lions, their 2nd out of 3 tour matches Down Under thus far this season.
Scorers:
Melbourne Rebels:
- Tries: Mitch Inman (1), Jonah Placid (1)
- Penalties: Mike Harris (2)
Emirates Lions:
- Tries: Marnitz Boshoff (1), Lionel Mapoe (1)
- Conversions: Elton Jantjies (2)
- Penalties: Elton Jantjies (2)
Crusaders (10) 57 / 14 (14) Toyota Cheetahs:
The Crusaders, with Dan Carter leading the charge, showed why they are regarded as one of the best teams in the competition when they beat the Toyota Cheetahs by 57 / 14 in Christchurch on Saturday.
This big win came despite the visitors leading by 14 / 10 at the break. Carter scored 27 points as the Crusaders “won” the second half 47 / 0, with the visitors’ Willie le Roux and Coenie Oosthuizen Yellow Carded in final 40 minutes.
Before halftime, the Toyota Cheetahs played some enterprising rugby and both their centres, Francois Venter and Johann Sadie, scored to put them in the lead.
With Le Roux in the bin early in the 2nd half, the Crusaders scored 28 unanswered points. They followed that up with 19 more when Oosthuizen was off. It put an end to the visitors’ hopes of winning and gave the Crusaders their fourth 50-point haul against the team from Central South Africa.
Scorers:
Crusaders:
- Tries: Dan Carter (2), Jordan Taufua (2), Nemani Nadolo (1), Israel Dagg (1), David Havili (1), Penalty Try (1)
- Conversions: Dan Carter (7)
- Penalties: Dan Carter (1)
Toyota Cheetahs:
- Tries: Francois Venter (1), Johann Sadie (1)
- Conversions: Joe Pietersen (2)
Vodacom Bulls (9) 25 / 24 (7) Western Force:
Handré Pollard kicked 20 points, including a long-range penalty goal at the death, which sealed a hard-fought 25 / 24 win for the Vodacom Bulls over the Western Force at a wet Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
Pollard’s last-minute heroics came after an illegal tackle by the visitors and at the end of a very topsy-turvy game. Both sides made too many handling errors, while the decision-making was poor at times.
The Force actually outscored the Vodacom Bulls by 3 tries to 1 – when prop Marcel van der Merwe burrowed over with 2 Aussie players in the bin in the 2nd half – but Pollard’s boot had the final say in a game which will not be remembered for too long.
It was the 2nd time that the Force scored more tries than the Vodacom Bulls, but ended up losing in Pretoria. This also happened in 2009 when the men from Pretoria won 32 / 29 despite scoring only 3 tries to 4.
Scorers:
Vodacom Bulls:
- Tries: Marcel van der Merwe (1)
- Conversions: Handré Pollard (1)
- Penalties: Handré Pollard (6)
Western Force:
- Tries: Adam Coleman (1), Kyle Godwin (1), Sam Wykes (1)
- Conversions: Luke Burton (2), Sias Ebersohn (1)
- Penalties: Sias Ebersohn (1)
Cell C Sharks (9) 12 / 11 (11) Chiefs:
The Cell C Sharks came out tops in a match where there were more Red Cards than tries, when they beat the Chiefs by 12 / 11 at Growthpoint Kings Park in Durban on Saturday.
The Chiefs scored the only try of the match, which saw 3 Red Cards in the space of 15 minutes in the 1st half. There had been 41 Red Cards in the total history of Vodacom Super Rugby, but never more than 1 in a match.
First Chiefs hooker Hika Elliott was sent off in the 16th minute for foul play, but he was followed 2 minutes later by his direct opponent and Cell C Sharks captain Bismarck du Plessis.
When Frans Steyn was also Red Carded in the 28th minute, for an illegal tackle, it was 13 against 14 for more than 50 minutes of a game, played in very bad conditions.
The Cell C Sharks ultimately employed better wet-weather tactics than their Kiwi opponents. Both sides committed a slew of handling errors, but the Chiefs tried to run with the ball more than their hosts, which probably wasn’t the best option.
Scorers:
Cell C Sharks:
- Penalties: Pat Lambie (4)
Chiefs:
- Tries: Sam Cane (1)
- Penalties: Aaron Cruden (2)