It was a weekend of drama and excitement in South Africa as the DHL Stormers moved to the Top of the local Super Rugby Conference and the Emirates Lions kept alive their dream of reaching the Top 6.
The Emirates Lions beat the Toyota Cheetahs by 34 / 29 in an 8-try humdinger on Saturday afternoon to record their 6th victory of the season, making 2015 their 2nd best yet but with 6 Rounds to go.
Last year, the Emirates Lions finished with 7 wins, 2 better than their 5 from 2007, but they are on track to better their best in the coming weeks.
The Toyota Cheetahs also deserve a lot of credit for never giving up as they returned to Bloemfontein with 2 bonus points.
The 2nd local match on Saturday delivered heaps of drama and the result was in the balance right until the end, but the DHL Stormers hung on for their 2nd victory over the Vodacom Bulls this season as they won by 15 / 13.
The visitors from Pretoria scored the only try of the match when Bjorn Basson went over early in the 2nd half, but the match-clinching moment came at the death when Duane Vermeulen charged down an attempted drop-goal by Handré Pollard to lead his side to their 7th win of the season.
Emirates Lions (7) 34 29 (10) Toyota Cheetahs:
8 Tries were scored at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg, where the Emirates Lions scored an entertaining 34 / 29 victory over the Toyota Cheetahs on Saturday afternoon.
The victory – the Johannesburgers’ 6th of the season – means the Emirates Lions are still in with a shout of reaching the Top 6 on the overall log.
The Toyota Cheetahs deserve a lot of credit for never giving up though, after a tight 1st half. On a number of occasions in the 2nd half it looked like the home team were going to pull away, but the visitors stuck to their guns and fought back every time.
The Emirates Lions changed a 10 / 7 halftime deficit to a 24 / 10 lead within the 1st 10 minutes of the 2nd half, mainly thanks to 2 quick tries by Ruan Combrinck and Lionel Mapoe, but the Toyota Cheetahs drew level 15 minutes later after Francois Venter and Johann Sadie scored.
A converted try by Faf de Klerk and another Elton Jantjies penalty sealed the result for the home team, but when Carel Greeff went over for the visitors in the 77th minute, it set up an exciting finale and ultimately secured the Toyota Cheetahs 2 bonus points.
The Emirates Lions came out tops in almost every category, but the visitors played with a never-say-die attitude which ensured the match will be remembered for a long time.
Scorers:
Emirates Lions:
- Tries: Faf de Klerk (1), Lionel Mapoe (1), Ruan Combrinck (1), Warwick Tecklenburg (1)
- Conversions: Elton Jantjies (4)
- Penalties: Elton Jantjies (2)
Toyota Cheetahs:
- Tries: Carel Greeff (1), Cornal Hendricks (1), Francois Venter (1), Johann Sadie (1)
- Conversions: Joe Pietersen (3)
- Penalties: Joe Pietersen (1)
DHL Stormers (12) 15 / 13 (3) Vodacom Bulls:
It was trench-warfare for most of the 80 minutes at DHL Newlands on Saturday, but ultimately the DHL Stormers came out tops with a 15 / 13 victory over the Vodacom Bulls in a very tough local derby.
The home team had to withstand a massive 2nd half performance by the team from Pretoria and if it wasn’t for a superb charge-down of an attempted Handré Pollard drop-goal by Duane Vermeulen at the death, the result could’ve been different.
The DHL Stormers, who ground out victory thanks to a dominant scrum and superb defence, now lead the Vodacom Bulls by 1 point on the South African Conference Log. Where the Pretorians still have their Australasian tour coming up, the Capetonians will play 4 of their remaining 6 matches at home.
The home side took a 9 / 0 lead after 20 minutes thanks to 3 penalty goals by Demetri Catrakilis and at the break it was 12 / 3, but the Vodacom Bulls showed their intentions and closed the gap to 12 / 10 with a brilliant try by Bjorn Basson, which started deep in their own territory shortly after the break.
Thereafter the DHL Stormers had to do most of the defending, but they held on. The result could’ve swung late in the match when Pollard 1st missed a difficult and very long range penalty and then saw his drop-goal charged down, which was a fitting end to a superb match.
Scorers:
DHL Stormers:
- Penalties: Demetri Catrakilis (5)
Vodacom Bulls:
- Tries: Bjorn Basson (1)
- Conversions: Handré Pollard (1)
- Penalties: Handré Pollard (2)
As entertaining as the Cat fight was in JHB, I can only conclude that the Lions nearly threw it away by underestimating the Cheetahs will to win, and by abandoning the structures that had bought the victories on tour and against the Bulls earlier in the season.
Nice to see a decent crowd in at Emirates Park. Does anyone have the official attendance?
I was sitting on the upper main stand with the family and can confirm it was quite full, but didn’t see the official figures.
Lastly, how the hell does anyone afford to buy genuine reproduction mechandise year after year?
I bought a Lions shirt, a golf shirt, a hoodie for my daughter, and a wind breaker for the significant other, and had to shell out almost R 2,5 k!
I don’t buy pirated merchandise though!
I really thought the Bulls would manage to pull it off at Newlands, but full credit to the home team.
The charge down by Vermeulen just oozed commitment, even though Pollard seemed a bit slow to pull the trigger and the intention was well and truly telegraphed to the entire Rugby world.
Very tight in the SA conference, but it seems like it will inevitably be the Bulls and Stormers that will probably make the play off’s. Just the order to be confirmed.
Of course, should there be blue blood spilled in PTA next week…………. Who knows?
2 @ Scrumdown:
Hi Scrumdown there are still quite a few games to play and I don’t know the permutations of the Aus and NZ conferences but do you think the SA team who don’t win the conference could get to the knockout stage? If they did then they may have to travel quite a bit, would this be a good thing for our international season?
@ Scrumdown:
Good to see you had an enjoyable day at the rugby and that the crowd numbers are increasing. I see on the Vodacom Cup thread that Mark Richards scored a try for the Lions against the Leopards, was this game a curtain raiser to the Super game, did you see it? Hope Richards doesn’t have any lasting affects from his knock that only surface later on.
4 @ Bullscot:
Didn’t get to see the game live.
I was in the shop at Ellis Park having my wallet well and truly lightened by my wife and daughter whilst the second half played out.
I saw the game on tv yesterday. It was quite close until the second half, then the Lions ran riot.
One can clearly see the playing style of the SR team being passed down to the junior team.
What really impressed me was the attitude of a guly like Schalk vd Merwe, who had effectively been dropped from the SR side, but who played a blinder, and seemed to genuinely enjoying himself.
On top of that he bagged a brace of tries, both of which were in open play where he ran some great supporting lines to the ball carriers. Kudos.
I think with a knock like Richards took, the great worry is not the immediate aftermath, but the possible long term effects. Especially if he should get another (or moee) knock.
I don’t think that Rugby fully understands or appreciate the ongoing, long term effects of blows such as that.
Coupke that to the player WANTING TO PLAY, in order to get back up to the senior squad, as well as earn more money, and you have a potential disaster waiting to happen.
Let’s hope that Rugby start monitoring, and taking action on this type of injury in a more serious light.
For anyone looking for RWC tickets, their latest newsletter states:
“Fans everywhere will have further opportunities to buy Rugby World Cup 2015 tickets from 10.00 BST today (April 28) with an additional 25,000 tickets set to go on sale to the public.
Extra tickets for 12 matches, featuring the likes of Australia, Samoa, Scotland and South Africa, will go on sale with ticket prices starting at £45. Head over to the official ticketing website to book your seats now”
There are also tickets for the European Championship final at Twickers on offer at 2 for the price of 1!
Evidently not many Frenchmen see the sense in crossing the Channel & paying through the nose to see two French sides contest the final.
‘Appen it should have moved to Paris?
Scrumdown wrote:
Ahh you stole my thunder on this one Scrumdown. They have been struggling to get the Grand Final sold, last numbers from a few days ago were something like 40 000 tickets shifted or something like that, about 1/2 the stadium. They have resorted to all sorts of ways to try and get more folk through the gates such as offering tickets for £2 booking fee or free ticket to anyone who has a ticket to the Aviva Premiership final. There is quite a lot of rugby on in London during the next while, last leg of the 7s, Premiership finals, World Cup etc and with only French teams in the Champions Cup final the interest would be a bit low.
Bismarck surrenders captaincy
http://www.sharksrugby.co.za/index.php/component/articles/?view=article&id=2842675
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