Lions scrum Pumas into submission
Leading just 13-3 after a very competitive first half at the Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit on Friday, the Lions' scrum and maul kicked into overdrive after the break.
They received the dividends of their hard work with tries to Albertus Smith (two from powerful mauls, one where they sprinted more than 20 metres as a cohesive unit) and prop Jacques van Rooyen.
The Pumas just had no answer to the power-play of the visitors – with four players ending up in the sin bin and the home team reduced to just 13 men on two occasions.
Marnitz Boshoff slotted 21 points for the Lions. The flyhalf kicked four penalties, three conversions and a monster drop-goal.
Referee Lesego Legoete was in no mood for any tomfoolery and dished out his first yellow card as early as the sixth minute – when Pumas captain Stefan Watermeyer was sent to the sin bin for knocking the ball down with the Lions just five meters from the tryline. Legoete also awarded a penalty try to rub salt into the hosts' wounds.
The first 60 minutes of the match was marred by ill-discipline, basic errors and bad handling but as the match wore on, the visitors started to stamp their authority on the game. The pressure on the Pumas resulted in multiple penalties to the Lions, with Legoete giving the hosts a team warning.
Legoete dished out another three yellow cards to the home side in the space of 13 minutes with flanks Marnus Schoeman and Uzair Cassiem and prop Khwezi Mona all spending time on the side of the field. With the Pumas down to 13 men at times, the Lions pressed home the advantage and scored two tries through their forwards.
Pumas flyhalf Juan-Claude Roos missed two penalties in the first half which could have changed the nature of the first stanza – but his counterpart was on-song, slotting two penalties and a drop-goal from inside his own half to add to his early conversion.
Boshoff kicked two penalties at the start of the second stanza either side of a three-pointer from Roos before the Pumas showed some spark.
Roos threw a lovely pass to replacement hooker Frankie Herne, who side-stepped fullback Ruan Combrinck before offloading to scrumhalf Francois de Klerk to score the only try for the home side. The Pumas were left 11 points adrift after Roos missed the conversion and it was then that the Lions took control.
Smith scored his first try when the Lions started a rolling maul on the 22-metre line. The openside flank controlled the ball well with the visitors sprinting towards the tryline as the hosts could not form any form of defence. Boshoff hit the post with his conversion attempt to leave the Lions 16 points ahead.
The Lions continued to dominate with their forwards, as they did with the Sharks last weekend, and prop Jacques van Rooyen barged his way over the tryline just after the hour mark after another powerful forwards display close to the line.
Smith then scored his second try three minutes from time with the Pumas down to 13 men as the Lions used the maul to good effect after taking a line-out close to the tryline.
Man of the match: Francois de Klerk was lively and energetic, but very few of his teammates came out of this game with the reputations intact. There were plenty of players in the Lions team to enthuse about – including Sevens Springbok Albertus Smith, lock Franco Mostert, 4 Martin Muller, as well as the front row of Ruan Dreyer, Robbie Coetzee and Jacques van Rooyen. However, the turning point came when Malcolm Marx came on as a replacement at hooker. The Lions' began to dominate the scrum at a level seldom seen in the modern game – pushing the Pumas off every ball, winning several penalties and putting the game beyond down.
The scorers:
For the Pumas:
Try: De Klerk
Pens: Roos 2
For the Golden Lions:
Tries: Penalty try, Smith 2, Van Rooyen
Cons: Boshoff 3
Pens: Boshoff 4
DG: Boshoff
Yellow cards: Stefan Watermeyer (Pumas, 5 – professional foul, slapping down the ball), Marnus Schoeman (Pumas, 61 – professional foul, killing the ball), Uzair Cassiem (Pumas, 67 – professional foul, early tackle)
Teams:
Pumas: 15 John-Wessel Bell, 14 Bernado Botha, 13 Jerome Pretorius, 12 Stefan Watermeyer (captain), 11 Rosco Spekman, 10 Juan-Claude Roos, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 Jason-Colin Fraser, 7 Uzair Cassiem, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Marius Coetzee, 4 Rudi Mathee, 3 Khwezi Mona, 2 Jacques Momberg, 1 Corné Fourie.
Replacements: 16 Frank Herne, 17 De-Jay Terblanche, 18 Giant Mtyanda, 19 Jaco Bouwer, 20 Reynier van Rooyen, 21 Justin van Staden, 22 Hoffmann Maritz.
Golden Lions: 15 Ruan Combrinck, 14 Sampie Mastriet, 13 Nicolaas Hanekom, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ross Cronje (captain), 8 Fabian Booysen, 7 Stephan de Wit, 6 Albertus Smith, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Martin Muller, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Jacques van Rooyen.
Replacements: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Julian Redelinghuys, 18 Luvuyiso Lusaseni, 19 Jano Venter, 20 Jaco van der Walt, 21 Alwyn Hollenbach, 22 Anthony Volmink.
Referee: Lesego Legoete
Assistant referees: AJ Jacobs, Jaco Kotze
