RUGBY NEWS - The long period of dominance enjoyed by the Emirates Lions over fellow South African teams in Vodacom Super Rugby was ended in bizarre fashion at Kings Park on Saturday as the Cell C Sharks clinched a 31-24 victory that looked highly unlikely for most of the match.
The Lions have made a penchant in recent seasons of winning games they should perhaps have lost. That, say some, is the hallmark of champion teams. An example was the quarterfinal at Emirates Airlines Park last July, when the hosts had to rely on a late penalty from Ruan Combrinck to win on a day when the Sharks were the better team.
Well, that trend was completely turned on it’s head here, and largely because the Lions conspired against themselves and gave the Sharks a sniff when they should really have been shut out of the game.
For the first hour it looked as if the return of skipper Warren Whiteley and talisman Malcom Marx, plus Combrinck on the wing and Courtnall Skosan off the bench, was going to have the desired effect. They just didn't kick their goals and as a result they didn't capitalise on their dominance. It was almost as if they gifted the Sharks this one.
Although the Sharks were the first on the board after a strong start saw them muscle a try to No 8 Dan du Preez after just three minutes, it was the Lions pack that did all the roaring in the first half and more much of the second. Their scrum dominated the Sharks unit to the extent that it was hard to fathom that the entire home front three was made of Springboks.
It was an awesome scrum that destroyed the Sharks eight that set up the momentum for the first Lions score, that was created all too easily off the overlap for Combrinck to go over in the right corner. Elton Jantjies, looking so much more assured behind an advancing pack than he was behind the struggling Springbok eight at Newlands the week before, added the conversion from touch.
