By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Caption: Lions lock Etienne Oosthuizen offloads the ball to flyhalf Chris Smith during their URC derby against the Stormers at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon. Picture: Sydney Seshibedi/Gallo Images.
The Lions claimed a hard-earned 24-10 win over the Stormers in their Round 12 United Rugby Championship clash at Ellis Park on Saturday afternoon.
It was a largely scrappy game, with a number of mistakes made by both teams.
The Lions finally broke the Stormers defence through a box kick from scrumhalf Morné van den Berg which was beautifully plucked out of the air by winger Angelo Davids. Some slick handling then saw youngster Siba Mahashe sprinting to the line to open the scoring. Flyhalf Chris Smith struck it sweetly to give the Lions a 7-0 lead.
The Lions then started settling into their game and just four minutes later, it was centre Henco van Wyk who crashed over. Smith once again successful with the conversion to double the hosts’ lead.
The Stormers started the second half looking much more assured, and were rewarded with their first points of the match through a penalty goal from flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
But the Lions hit straight back with their third try, attacking after getting the ball back from the kick-off, taking play into the Stormers 22m and getting close, where replacement back Erich Cronje got the ball at pace and powered over for the converted try and a 21-3 lead after 45 minutes.
The Stormers thought they had scored their first try in the 50th minute when they rumbled a maul over, but it was chalked off for them changing their line at the lineout.
However, they didn’t have to wait much longer to score, as they were soon back in the Lions 22m, attacking off a lineout, and eventually the ball found JD Schickerling who ran through a massive hole to score under the posts in the 54th minute.
Feinberg-Mngomezulu added the extras, but three minutes later the Lions earned a penalty in the Stormers 22m and Smith slotted it to push them 24-10 up.
Lions – Tries: Siba Mahashe, Henco van Wyk, Erich Cronje. Conversions: Chris Smith (3). Penalty: Smith
Stormers – Try: JD Shickerling. Conversion: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu. Penalty: Feinberg-Mngomezulu.