By Brenden Nel.
The Emirates Lions gave their stalwart Jaco Kriel a great sendoff in a high-scoring Vodacom United Rugby Championship game against Zebre Parma on Saturday, winning 50-35.
The match saw 13 tries and a willingness from both sides to run with the ball, but little defence as the Lions were marginally around the park but were far from impressive.
While on attack there were some sublime moves, the frequency of tries just underlined the fact that this was a lower table, end of the season clash where there was very little at stake.
Kriel’s final game was the overriding factor, and after an illustrious 15-year career, the Springbok flanker ended it on a high, scoring a try from a rolling maul to cap off a fine career.
That Kriel stayed on field for the entire 80 minutes is a testament to his teammates and the coaching team for letting him finish up on his terms in an age where players rarely achieve this feat.
The Lions were rocked early though as Italian winger Simone Gesi scored a first half hat-trick – thanks to an impressive performance by flyhalf Tiff Eden, who had a hand in all three tries.
And for a moment it seemed the impossible might happen.
Eden dissected the defence with such ease that the Lions looked shocked when he sent the ball wide for Gesi to touch down. But when that was repeated twice more in the half, it was clear defensively there were holes for the Joburg side.
Still, the Lions struck back quickly – first through a beauty of a backline move that saw Edwill van der Merwe score from a loop around.
Then it was Sanele Nohamba, breaking away at the back of a five metre scrum to go over untouched and then Kriel scored from the lineout.
The Lions third try was from the most bizarre of cross kicks – where Marius Louw just cleared an injured player and medical personnel to send the ball through the legs of defender Jacob Trulli and into the path of Edwill van der Merwe, who touched down in the corner for his second try.
Kriel put in a beauty of a last pass for Quan Horn to score just before the break and leave the home side 31-22 ahead.
But the try festival continued into the second half, especially when Eden was yellow carded for a deliberate knock down.
Nohamba grabbed a carbon copy of his first try with a similar dart from the back of a scrum before Andries Coetzee put his name on the scoresheet.
From there on it was never a debate whether the Lions would win or not, but just what the scoreline would be.
Rynhardt Rijnsburger got his debut try for the Lions and they were cruising, only for Zebre to show their never-say-die attitude and score two late tries in the end.
One of them was a thing of beauty – replacement Geronimo Prisciantelli chipped over the defence, collected and chipped an angled kick across field for a chasing Trulli, who scored with such ease that it made it look too easy, and not the exceptional piece of skill the crowd got to witness.
Kriel was mobbed by his teammates on the final whistle, and by photographers capturing the moment.
He was denied a win on his last game at Emirates Airline Park, but on Saturday he was gifted the win by his teammates, and a fitting one it was.
Scorers
Emirates Lions – tries: Sanele Nohamba (2), Edwill van der Merwe (2), Jaco Kriel, Quan Horn, Andries Coetzee, Rynhart Rijnsburger. Conversions: Nohamba (5)
Zebre – tries: Simone Gesi (3), Jacopo Trulla, Juan Pitinari Conversions: Tiff Eden (2). Penalties: Eden (2).