By Brenden Nel.
Lions centre Manuel Rass forces his way over the tryline in their game against Glasgow Warriors at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images.
The Emirates Lions overcame a tumultuous week to record a much-needed 35-24 victory over the Glasgow Warriors in their Vodacom United Rugby Championship match at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday.
After a week where the players promised to play for each other to try and turn around a five game losing streak at their home ground, they produced a counter-attacking performance reminiscent of the Lions of Johan Ackermann and Swys de Bruin that saw them score four first half tried and sew up the game by the break.
In the process they stopped the Warriors 11-game unbeaten streak, although Franco Smith’s team did claim a bonus point for four tries that may become very valuable as the season heads towards the playoffs.
The Warriors were missing 14 Scotland test players, but it didn’t look that way as they started well, scoring first and played attacking rugby for the first half.
Unfortunately for them the Lions were adept at capitalising on their mistakes as they turned turnover ball into points in the first half and gave their small crowd something to shout about.
The Warriors were first on the board as a beautiful line run by Sam Johnson went through the easies of gaps as Eli Caven ran a supporting line to crash over untouched.
But the Lions may look wounded but they found their fighting spirit pretty quickly as they counter attacked with glee and looked like a side possessed.
It started with a beautiful sideline break by Edwill van der Merwe, whose inside pass found a flying Sandile Nohamba to level the scores and it was followed a moment later by Francke Horn, who celebrated his return to the side with a try.
Horn was one of the biggest movers in the team and you could see why the Lions missed him so much as he energised the pack throughout the game.
Another dropped ball saw the Lions attack and Mannie Rass go over from close range before Van der Merwe was the recipient at the end of a number of passes as the Lions grabbed the bonus point on the 36th minute of the game.
Glasgow hit back from the kickoff after a dropped kickoff ball was bobbled and Cole Forbes went over after some short passing ahead of the line.
Gianni Lombard finished the half with a penalty to put his side 17 points ahead.
At 31-14 at the break, the Lions were feeling confident, while Glasgow still had everything to play for.
But the second half was more of an error fest as both sides tried desperately to play. Edwill van der Merwe received his marching orders for a professional foul but it didn’t stop them from extending their lead when Ruan Venter went over from close range.
Another yellow to Quan Horn later left the Lions with 14 men but it didn’t show, even though Glasgow tried hard to exploit the extra man.
Eventually Tom Gordon forced his way over the line from close range to give them a chance, but they were still two scores out.
They were hopeful when Ruan Dreyer was red carded, compounding the Lions’ disciplinary woes for a cleanout gone wrong that reduced them to 13 men for a few minutes, but it didn’t stop them attacking and they were rewarded with an offside penalty that allowed Lombard to extend the lead even more.
With Glagow trying their hardest, the Lions held out in the end for the victory, which may not have been the most enterprising or spectacular, but would have given everyone at their stadium a sigh of relief after a tough week.
Scorers
Emirates Lions – Tries:Sanele Nohamba, Quan Horn, Mannie Rass, Edwill van der Merwe, Ruan Venter. Conversions:Gianni Lombard (2).
Glasgow Warriors – Tries:Eli Caven, Cole Forbes, Tom Gordon, Tom Jordan. Conversions: Jordan (2).