Ken Borland

The Gauteng Lions played like the team that has had more exposure to the higher level of the United Rugby Championship as they swept aside a young, inexperienced Natal Sharks XV 46-5 in their Currie Cup opener at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Lions were captained by stalwart hooker Jaco Visagie, a man with plenty of SuperRugby and URC experience, while players like Morgan Naude, Darrien Landsberg, Jarod Cairns, Nico Steyn, Rynhardt Jonker and Gianni Lombard are also regular participants in the European franchise tournament.

The Sharks, in contrast, had captain Nick Hatton and scrumhalf Bradley Davids from last year’s Currie Cup, and centre Litelihle Bester is highly-rated as a former SA U20 star and has even played in the Challenge Cup. But the rest of the squad they brought to Johannesburg was really made up of young talents they are looking to develop further.

The youngsters started well, won the early kicking game and dominated the first seven minutes in terms of territory. But they just could not crack open a committed, physical Lions defence.

And then a poor kick by flyhalf Jean Smith, with father Franco watching from the stands, went over the dead ball line and gave the Lions their first entry into Sharks territory with a scrum. The opening try came after 10 minutes, with three more coming in the first half, the Lions going into the break 24-0 to the good.

The home side scored three more tries in the second half and coach Mziwakhe Nkosi said he was satisfied by the level of performance, whatever the large difference on the scoreboard.

“We were quite apprehensive going into this game because we didn’t have a warm-up match, but it was a good start and we will certainly take it. It was good to get the cobwebs out and get the result we did.

“We came in blind and in the first half, the ball-in-play time was so low, so there wasn’t really any flow due to all the stoppages. With guys like Angelo Davids and Rabs Maxwane on the edges, it’s best to get the ball to them sooner rather than later, and it was good to see us get on to it in terms of how we want to play.

“We were probably the more settled side, but not that much more experienced. These okes have not had much game time in the URC,” Nkosi said.

Visagie was the first to use the space out wide to good effect, finding left wing Maxwane, who then sent flank Cairns charging down the touchline to score the opening try.

Right wing Davids then sliced through a number of defenders after some scrappy play off a lineout, scrumhalf Steyn then sending a crosskick heavenwards and Maxwane leaping high to claim the ball and go over for his first try, in the 22nd minute.

Real calamity struck the Sharks in the 34^th minute, however, when wing Phiko Sobahle was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on that prevented a certain try by Davids after a blindside move by fullback Lombard. The penalty try took the Lions 17-0 clear, and they added two more tries either side of halftime as Smith was also yellow-carded for the same offence.

Maxwane was put in space again for his second try in the 39^th minute and he fed Davids for a try on Lions debut in the 51st minute. Davids had provided the initial impetus for the superb move with his counter off a Sharks kick, while impressive centre Jonker did great work down the right touchline and then cutting infield.

With flyhalf Lubabalo Dobela kicking a penalty and the conversion, the Lions were 34-0 up with half-an-hour to play.

But the Sharks were the next to score, a breakdown in the chain of communication at the back allowing Sobahle to dot down a kick through by Bester, with Lombard getting in the way of replacement flyhalf Kade Wolhuter.

Davids was running free again in the 71st minute and set up Jonker for a try, while replacement prop SJ Kotze burst through off a lineout and sent replacement scrumhalf Layton Horn over for the final try.

Sharks XV coach JP Pietersen acknowledged that he is still trying to bring this new young group together as they look to defend the Currie Cup title they won in thrilling fashion at Ellis Park last year.

“It was our first game together as a group and the average age of the team is 23. So it was a challenge for these young men. They did alright and we showed some fight, especially in defending the Lions’ mauls. But we stayed in the pressure cycle and a team like the Lions will always capitalise.

“We’ll have better cohesion next week and we’re going to be working hard together from Monday. The Sharks angle in the Currie Cup is to develop youngsters for the URC, that’s the trend in the competition.

“The defence wasn’t there today, but that does not mean it is an issue. Defence is about cohesion and trust. This Lions group have been together for three+ years and they have that synergy and understand their game better,” Pietersen said.The Gauteng Lions played like the team that has had more exposure to the higher level of the United Rugby Championship as they swept aside a young, inexperienced Natal Sharks XV 46-5 in their Currie Cup opener at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Lions were captained by stalwart hooker Jaco Visagie, a man with plenty of SuperRugby and URC experience, while players like Morgan Naude, Darrien Landsberg, Jarod Cairns, Nico Steyn, Rynhardt Jonker and Gianni Lombard are also regular participants in the European franchise tournament.

The Sharks, in contrast, had captain Nick Hatton and scrumhalf Bradley Davids from last year’s Currie Cup, and centre Litelihle Bester is highly-rated as a former SA U20 star and has even played in the Challenge Cup. But the rest of the squad they brought to Johannesburg was really made up of young talents they are looking to develop further.

The youngsters started well, won the early kicking game and dominated the first seven minutes in terms of territory. But they just could not crack open a committed, physical Lions defence.

And then a poor kick by flyhalf Jean Smith, with father Franco watching from the stands, went over the dead ball line and gave the Lions their first entry into Sharks territory with a scrum. The opening try came after 10 minutes, with three more coming in the first half, the Lions going into the break 24-0 to the good.

The home side scored three more tries in the second half and coach Mziwakhe Nkosi said he was satisfied by the level of performance, whatever the large difference on the scoreboard.

“We were quite apprehensive going into this game because we didn’t have a warm-up match, but it was a good start and we will certainly take it. It was good to get the cobwebs out and get the result we did.

“We came in blind and in the first half, the ball-in-play time was so low, so there wasn’t really any flow due to all the stoppages. With guys like Angelo Davids and Rabs Maxwane on the edges, it’s best to get the ball to them sooner rather than later, and it was good to see us get on to it in terms of how we want to play.

“We were probably the more settled side, but not that much more experienced. These okes have not had much game time in the URC,” Nkosi said.

Visagie was the first to use the space out wide to good effect, finding left wing Maxwane, who then sent flank Cairns charging down the touchline to score the opening try.

Right wing Davids then sliced through a number of defenders after some scrappy play off a lineout, scrumhalf Steyn then sending a crosskick heavenwards and Maxwane leaping high to claim the ball and go over for his first try, in the 22nd minute.

Real calamity struck the Sharks in the 34^th minute, however, when wing Phiko Sobahle was yellow-carded for a deliberate knock-on that prevented a certain try by Davids after a blindside move by fullback Lombard. The penalty try took the Lions 17-0 clear, and they added two more tries either side of halftime as Smith was also yellow-carded for the same offence.

Maxwane was put in space again for his second try in the 39^th minute and he fed Davids for a try on Lions debut in the 51st minute. Davids had provided the initial impetus for the superb move with his counter off a Sharks kick, while impressive centre Jonker did great work down the right touchline and then cutting infield.

With flyhalf Lubabalo Dobela kicking a penalty and the conversion, the Lions were 34-0 up with half-an-hour to play.

But the Sharks were the next to score, a breakdown in the chain of communication at the back allowing Sobahle to dot down a kick through by Bester, with Lombard getting in the way of replacement flyhalf Kade Wolhuter.

Davids was running free again in the 71st minute and set up Jonker for a try, while replacement prop SJ Kotze burst through off a lineout and sent replacement scrumhalf Layton Horn over for the final try.

Sharks XV coach JP Pietersen acknowledged that he is still trying to bring this new young group together as they look to defend the Currie Cup title they won in thrilling fashion at Ellis Park last year.

“It was our first game together as a group and the average age of the team is 23. So it was a challenge for these young men. They did alright and we showed some fight, especially in defending the Lions’ mauls. But we stayed in the pressure cycle and a team like the Lions will always capitalise.

“We’ll have better cohesion next week and we’re going to be working hard together from Monday. The Sharks angle in the Currie Cup is to develop youngsters for the URC, that’s the trend in the competition.

“The defence wasn’t there today, but that does not mean it is an issue. Defence is about cohesion and trust. This Lions group have been together for three+ years and they have that synergy and understand their game better,” Pietersen said.

The character of the Bulls was enough for them to weather the loss to injury of key players and the stern challenge of the tenacious Lions side as they registered an impressive 37-22 victory at Ellis Park in their United Rugby Championship derby on Saturday afternoon.

The joy of the bonus point victory was tempered, however, by the awful injury toll the Bulls suffered. Both the co-captains, Ruan Nortje and Elrigh Louw, both key Springbok forwards, face lengthy time on the sidelines.

Nortje limped off the field in the first five minutes with a leg problem, but it was the terrible injury to Louw that was most disturbing. A typically barn-storming run by the 25-year-old had ended with his leg trapped and then twisted. The agonising pain was obvious and he was already in surgery by 5pm.

The in-form Cameron Hanekom was also off the field at the time, for a head impact assessment. If the Bulls seemed shellshocked early in the second half as they tried to overturn a 10-11 deficit from the first half, then it was understandable.

But Hanekom returned and so did the Bulls’ mojo. The bench, boasting four Springboks in Akker van der Merwe, Nizaam Carr, Willie le Roux and Canan Moodie, played a key role in turning the tide and it was the visitors who certainly finished the game the stronger side. The Lions could only put up with the high-tempo battering for so long and the different financial positions of the two teams was clearly seen in the bench depth.

But the temptation to think everything was going against them and it was just not their day was there for the Bulls. But the champion character was what shone through in the end.

“I’m really proud of the team, after all the disruptions and then we went 10-14 down, some teams would have thought ‘well that’s it’. They could have capitulated,” coach Jake White said.

“But it says a lot about their character and they got the bonus point as well, you’ve got to play really well to do that at Ellis Park. We needed our bench to be really strong in terms of accuracy and the bottom line is we had four Springboks on our bench, which is a massive bonus.

“We needed that collective impact to come on and it was probably the best we have finished a game for the last two or three seasons. The Lions looked a bit tired and we could put pressure on them in a very high-tempo match. It was good to see that we had that vasbyt, that we could play at that tempo for the full 80 minutes, and it means a lot to the team to turn a potential loss into a bonus point win,” White said.

The Bulls began well and led 10-0 after 16 minutes. A tremendous steal by prop Gerhard Steenekamp was followed by flyhalf Boeta Chamberlain kicking across the field and into the Lions’ 22; busy wing Sergeal Petersen snaffled the ball out of the air and fed David Kriel on his inside for the opening try.

But the Lions enjoyed a strong second quarter, the Bulls’ efforts being deflated by some ill-discipline, soft mistakes and inopportune turnovers. Two penalties by flyhalf Sam Francis were followed by Henco van Wyk charging over for a try, having gathered a clever little kick by his midfield partner, Rynhardt Jonker.

A sombre mood settled over Ellis Park following the Louw injury, but then an excellent game of rugby emerged. The Lions were leading 17-13 after 53 minutes, but that was when the Bulls bench began to make their presence felt, along with the returning Hanekom and lock Cobus Wiese, who enjoyed an outstanding game.

The Bulls showed their composure and went back to basics, their scrum winning penalties, their forwards carrying powerfully through the middle and using the maul to good effect. Wiese and flank Marcell Coetzee both powered over for tries and it was replacement hooker Van der Merwe who claimed the bonus point as he rounded off a whirling dervish of a lineout drive.

“It’s disappointing because at one stage in the second half I thought we had turned the momentum,” Lions coach Cash van Rooyen said. “But under pressure we just started to do things differently. Some parts of the game we handled really well, others not. But you can’t buy experience and speeding up learning when we only had 205 caps in the whole team is difficult.

“Decision-making, communication and execution in the moment, these are things we work on every day. But inexperience makes a difference,” Van Rooyen said.

When Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen said after the game that Munster had been “able to prevent us from playing”, it was said with grudging respect more than churlishness, and few could argue that the defending champions were not deserving winners at Ellis Park even if the 33-13 scoreline maybe did not fully indicate how competitive the home side were.

The brilliance of the Munster performance was that the more the Lions roared, huffed and puffed, the more resolute and clinical Graham Rowntree’s side became. The coach said afterwards that the sheer power his players had shown had been why the Lions were stifled, the key to victory in a match in which Munster only had 36% of possession and 31% of territory.

“I was very pleased with our power game, especially the way we stopped their maul and used ours. It was a very good defensive display and we managed to get our power game going, which is something we have drilled a lot,” Rowntree said.

“It’s been very special that we’ve shown power on both sides of the ball against two big South African teams now and I’m delighted that we’ve come away from this trip with 10 points.

“We had a plan and we stuck to it, except for a few moments where we strayed off and were a bit loose and our discipline let us down. But we have some tremendous leaders, guys who are real warriors in the big moments, and we are always moving on from our mistakes.

“There are still elements of our game we need to think about, to not score more tries is maybe a bit frustrating, but the fundamentals are always there. Last year told us that we have composure when we are in the fire,” Rowntree said.

Given their ability to win away from home and the fact that they seem to play better the stronger the pressure, Munster certainly look capable of defending their United Rugby Championship title. But Rowntree is blacklisting any talk that is focused too far ahead.

“We have momentum but we still have to take it game-by-game. Winning both games on the highveld gives us a lot of confidence and we do have some guys coming back from injury. It’s pretty much knockout rugby from now till the end of the competition,” Rowntree said.

Van Rooyen praised Munster for their management of the game.

“You could feel them dictating the tempo of the match, and then they got ahead and managed to squeeze us. Once we got going, we looked dangerous, but that’s all part of the squeeze, they didn’t allow us to counter.

“We’ve got to try and generate pace in our play, but they kept kicking the ball out, they made us battle at the breakdown and they spoilt our momentum in the lineouts as well. Munster didn’t do anything we didn’t expect, but they just executed so well and they make everything slow. We have been outsmarted,” Van Rooyen said.

Control, composure and clinical use of their chances were the main vehicles for success for Munster on Saturday evening as the United Rugby Championship defending champions continued their push for a home playoff with an impressive 33-13 win over the Lions at Ellis Park.

The Lions, who had hammered log-leaders Leinster last weekend in Johannesburg, gave Munster a ferocious working over, especially in the second half. But Graham Rowntree’s team seldom wavered, keeping a firm grip on proceedings by defending brilliantly and managing the game well. Their tactical kicking, and the speed and aerial skills of wings Shane Daly and Calvin Nash, had their opponents under pressure.

The territory stats (62%) favoured the Lions, but they were only able to score one try. They broke the Munster line a few times, but the scramble defence was also full of passion.

Winning ugly is often the mark of champion sides, but two victories in South Africa will satisfy even the most aesthetically-focused supporter. To be fair, Munster were helped by a Lions team that shot themselves in the foot often, wasting numerous opportunities inside the 22 through their own lack of composure.

Munster were 23-6 up at halftime as the Lions added ill-discipline in their own half to their lack of execution inside opposition territory. Three times inside the first 22 minutes the kicking tee was fetched for Jack Crawley and the polished flyhalf succeeded with penalties from 42, 47 and 45 metres to give the visitors a 9-0 lead and a solid start, especially when playing away on the highveld.

Having successfully repelled three promising Lions lineout drives, Munster then scored from their first maul to ram home the stark contrast between the two sides. Crawley’s excellent penalty kick put them in the corner and eighthman Jack O’Donoghue dotted down for the opening try six minutes before the break.

The Lions then suffered a mortal blow when they had a penalty on the halftime hooter but lost the lineout and then Munster won a penalty. Fullback Simon Zebo hacked a loose ball ahead and then chipped it over a sliding defender, and was bearing down on the tryline when he was taken out off the ball by Lions centre Marius Louw.

Referee Craig Evans, in consultation with the TMO, awarded a penalty try and issued Louw a yellow card.

The terrible turn of events for the home side certainly seemed to raise the hackles of the Lions because they came out breathing fire after the break. Halfbacks Sanele Nohamba and Morne van den Berg broke through at times, but the Munster cover defence was always up to the task. Both Crawley and Zebo made important interventions in this regard.

In the 49^th minute, the Lions were not able to cover as well as Munster wing Shane Daly went over in the corner, space having been created by a forward thrust through the middle off a lineout.

The Lions were 6-28 in arrears and threw everything at Munster for most of the remaining half-hour, but were only able to cut the deficit by a converted try, from close range, by replacement hooker PJ Botha.

And they could not prevent Munster having the final say, either, as replacement loose forward Gavin Coombes rounded off a rolling maul.

Even though the Bulls, who Munster saw off last weekend in Pretoria, beat the Ospreys with a bonus point in the earlier game, the title-holders were not going to be denied a return to third place in the standings.

Munster look an extremely difficult team to beat at the moment, such is the precision of their play, their game-management and their commitment in defence.

Scorers

Lions – Try: PJ Botha. Conversion: Jordan Hendrikse. Penalties: Hendrikse (2).

Munster – Tries: Jack O’Donoghue, penalty try, Shane Daly, Gavin Coombes. Conversion: Jack Crowley. Penalties: Crowley (3).

Teams

Lions – Hendrikse (Lombard 70^th), Kriel, Cronje, Louw, Van der Merwe, Nohamba, Van den Berg, Naude (Smith 62^nd), Visagie (Botha 50^th), Dreyer (Ntlabakanye 50^th), Alberts (Nothnagel 52^nd), Delport, Pretorius, Tshituka (Venter 56^th), Horn.

Munster – Zebo (Haley 55^th), Nash, Frisch (Carbery 68^th), O’Brien, Daly, Crowley, Murray (Casey 46^th), Loughman (Wycherley 55^th), Scannell (Clarke 68^th), Archer, Snyman, Beirne, O’Mahony (Ahern 52^nd), Kendellan, O’Donoghue (Coombes 48^th).