The Lions put the Dragons to the sword with a dominant 60-10 win at Ellis Park yesterday to swoop into the round of 16 of the Challenge Cup.
The Joburg side had been boosted by the return to fitness of a number of stars for the round-four clash and started like a house on fire with a number of line breaks by their big men earlier on as they moved the ball through the hands.
The Dragons conceded a penalty at the breakdown and flyhalf Sam Francis put the first points on the board. The Dragons failed to capitalise on a penalty of their own when Lions winger Mafura went off his feet. Will Reid’s effort came off the post. Reid did succeed with another penalty to draw the Dragons level but they were getting mauled in almost every area by the Lions.
Lions skipper Francke Horn made the most of space down the right wing to dot over in the corner after the Dragons defenders had been sucked into the middle. Francis converted to make the score 10-3.
The talented young flyhalf then broke through the Dragons defensive line and threw a dummy pass before dotting over. He was also instrumental in dictating play for the Joburg side alongside the likes of inside centre Marius Jonker who was rightly named player of the match for an industrious, tireless performance around the park, with Morne van den Berg also solid as ever in front of a sparse crowd.
In fact, that could be said of all the Lions players who roared back to form after a dour display against Montpellier - dominating the scrums, line-outs and broken play, as they cut through the bewildered Dragons time after time, and refused to give an inch on the defensive end till the final whistle that sounded after a Nico Steyn chip off a line-out maul had been gathered by replacement Manuel Rass who dotted down.
As usual, prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye was a menace in the scrums and with his general play as the Lions played at a fast tempo that never really allowed the Dragons to settle. A storming Ruan Venter try in the 22nd minute, off another brilliant Jonker offload, was a reminder of how much the Bok flank had been missed.
Not to be outdone, the Lions skipper showed the skills of a back to step one defender and then hold off another as he touched down in the left corner this time after the Lions had resumed the second half with the score 36-3.
The try had come after the Dragons began the second half with a bit of fire in the belly but were let down by some poor handling. They were finally able to breach the Lions’ defence in the 54th minute with a Paula Latu pick-and-drive.
The Lions’ reply was swift, with Quan Horn Horn beating a number of Dragons defenders to put Lombard in for the score, before a rolling maul in the 61st led to a Jaco Visagie try.
But the Lions brains trust, led by coach Ivan van Rooye,n will perhaps be most pleased with the way the team finished strongly, which bodes well for the play-offs and the rest of the season, as well as the return to the Lions style of play.
Pride restored.