Following the Lions’ impressive 38-14 triumph over the Sharks in their United Rugby Championship (URC) derby at Emirates Airline Park in Johannesburg on Saturday, Planet Rugby picks out five takeaways from the thrilling action.
The top line
With the United Rugby Championship moving towards its business end, these teams came into this encounter on opposite sides of the table with the Lions occupying 13th spot and the Sharks in fourth position.
From the outset, the Lions dominated proceedings and despite atrocious weather, with heavy rain prominent throughout, they adapted better to the conditions and looked the hungrier from the outset.
Meanwhile, their opponents battled to get going and everything went in the home side’s favour during the opening period.
It was not surprising that the Lions held a 19-0 lead at half-time – courtesy of tries from PJ Botha, Francke Horn and Edwill van der Merwe with Gianni Lombard adding two conversions – and it was a deserved one as the Sharks looked a pale shadow of the side who came into this encounter as one of the leading teams in the competition.
It was more of the same after the interval as the hosts’ dominance continued and they were rewarded with further tries from Richard Kriel, Jarod Cairns and Lombard while the latter and Nico Steyn succeeded with a conversion apiece.
Although the Sharks struck back with two late tries from Ethan Hooker and Siya Kolisi – with Grant Williams and Jordan Hendrikse adding the extras – it was too little too late as the home side had the game sewn up by then.
Lions forwards lay a solid platform
Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen will be happy with the performance of his pack as they laid an excellent platform for their backs who thrived despite the terrible conditions.
The home side had the better of proceedings for most of the match and their pack deserve plenty of credit as they won most of the collisions up front and did brilliantly to set up some phases before striking out wide with their backs.
The Lions front-row of Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Botha and Juan Schoeman deserve plenty of credit as they stood up well in the scrums against their Sharks counterparts Ntuthuko Mchunu, Bongi Mbonambi and Ruan Dreyer, who are all Springboks, and the home side’s trio eventually won the set-piece battle.
Meanwhile, JC Pretorius was the Lions’ ‘Energizer Bunny’ as he never stopped going and wreaked havoc at the breakdowns. He received good support from captain Horn, Ruben Schoeman, who was the top tackler, Ruan Venter and Darrien Landsberg, who all emptied the tank while they were on the field.
Lions half-backs show their class
With their forwards giving them good front-foot ball, the performances of the Lions’ half-back duo of Morne van den Berg and Lombard had a huge impact on this encounter’s end result.
Springboks scrum-half Van den Berg proved a real handful around the fringes of the rucks, varying his play well with clever offloads and deft kicks out of hand while also providing a slick service to Lombard.
The Lions fly-half deserves plenty of credit as his decision making and game management was excellent throughout which ultimately helped his side over the line.
Lombard kicking out of hand was brilliant for the entire game and he kept Sharks full-back Hendrikse the run-around with some perfectly weighted kicks inside the visitors 22, including a brilliant 50-22 in the game’s latter stages.
Sharks’ Springboks contingent fail the test
Despite having 12 Springboks in their squad and some players who were invited to the Boks’ upcoming alignment camp in Cape Town, the Sharks delivered a performance which does not match the calibre of players within their ranks.
We’ve already mentioned how their front-row lost their battle at scrum-time and their other Boks also failed the test with the likes of Jason Jenkins and Phepsi Buthelezi also making little impact in the forward exchanges.
With the Sharks’ forwards taking a battering, their backs also struggled to gain momentum with Springboks like Lukhanyo Am, Jaden and Jordan Hendrikse largely anonymous while highly rated players like Siya Masuku, Jurenzo Julius and Hooker also battled to get going.
Towards, the end of the game Kolisi and Williams came off the bench and showed flashes of brilliance as they combined for a try scored by the Boks captain and Kolisi also threw the final pass to Hooker for his try but by those were merely consolation scores as the Lions had the game in the bag by then.
Sharks’ ill discipline prove costly
Central to that poor display from the Durban-based outfit was their discipline, or lack thereof – as they conceded multiple penalties which was a major reason for the end result.
The Lions came out full of confidence and delivered a clinical display while it was a total different story for the men from Durban who battled to build momentum for most of the match.
It was not surprising that the visitors finished on the losing side as they eventually conceded 13 penalties to the Lions’ seven and played with 14 men for 20 minutes after Mchunu and Julius were yellow carded either side of half-time for cynical defensive fouls inside their 22.
On both occasions, the Lions capitalised on their numerical advantage as they crossed for five-pointers and the Sharks will have to work on improving their discipline ahead of these teams’ rematch next weekend.
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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/lions-v-sharks-five-takeaways-as-dominant-hosts-take-the-spoils-while-visitors-springboks-contingent-fail-the-test
