Africa-Press – South-Africa. The Lions’ woeful Currie Cup campaign continued on Wednesday with a 49-17 defeat to Griquas at Tafel Lager Park in Kimberley.
SCOREBOARD |
Griquas 49-17 Lions
The men from Johannesburg have now lost all of their opening five matches in this year’s competition to be rooted to the bottom of the seven-team log, while Griquas have solidified their position in the top four.
Griquas scored seven tries to just two from their visitors, who were outplayed in all departments.
On paper, the Lions fielded a strong side skippered by Springbok Jannie du Plessis and they would have backed themselves to bounce back from their disastrous 66-14 loss to the Cheetahs two weeks ago.
They took an early 3-0 lead through a James Tedder penalty, but what followed was a first half of almost complete Griquas dominance.
The Lions couldn’t get out of their own half and saw very little of the ball, but Griquas were struggling to find the clinical execution when it mattered most.
The sustained pressure from the hosts eventually paid off when, in the 17th minute, fullback Rynhardt Jonker sliced through Lions defence before offloading to Munier Hartzenberg who finished off the move.
Zander du Plessis converted from wide right, and Griquas had a 7-3 lead.
It was Griquas doing all of the playing after that, turning down shots at goal in the hunt for more tries, and when No 7 Hanru Sirjel spilled the ball with nothing but the try line in front of him, the Lions were hanging on by a thread.
Griquas did have their second when scrumhalf Johan Mulder darted over from close range to make it 14-3 on 35 minutes, but the Lions were given just a glimmer of hope when Griquas second-rower Derik Pretorius was yellow-carded for a high tackle.
The Lions, just 5m out, did not convert their opportunity and they were 14-3 down going into the break.
It was Griquas, again, who looked the better side after the restart and it was No 13 Sango Xamlashe who scored his side’s third, while replacement Kudzwai Dube barged over from close range on 52 minutes to get number four.
Du Plessis had converted all of the tries, and with a 28-3 lead with less than half an hour to play, Griquas had already all but secured the victory with the Lions on the ropes.
The floodgates had opened completely when lock Mzwanele Zito glided through for his side’s fifth, and at that point things were getting messy again for the Lions.
Then, fully against the run of play, the Lions found a try out of nowhere when they won a turnover in their own period and launched a counter.
It was substitute James Molentze who scored, limiting the damage as Tedder converted to make it 35-10 to Griquas, but any Lions joy was short-lived as a massive overlap saw Jonker dive over to hand Griquas their sixth.
Tedder, meanwhile, was having a better display than most in a Lions shirt, and he set up a hugely attractive try with a pinpoint cross-kick that saw Divan Rossouw gather down the left and dot down in the corner.
Tedder then converted from wide left, and Griquas were 42-17 up.
There was time for one more Griquas try that came through Sirgel, completing a one-sided affair that will do nothing to convince Lions supporters that this union is on the right track.
Scorers
Griquas 49 (14)
Tries: Munier Hartzenberg, Johan Mulder, Sango Xamlashe, Kudzwai Dube, Mzwanele Zito, Rynhardt Jonker, Hanru Sirgel
Conversions: Zander du Plessis (5), Ashlon Davids (2)
Lions 17 (3)
Try: James Molentze, Dina Rossouw
Conversion: James Tedder (2)
Penalty: Tedder
For More News And Analysis About South-Africa Follow Africa-Press
