Currie Cup - Lions vs Pumas on 2 January 2021
January 2, 2021 - The match was played in Nelspruit on Saturday 2 January 2021, kick-off was at 14:00 SA Time.
The Lions started the match poorly when Courtnall Skosan failed to gather the ball from the Pumas kick-off, and this allowed the Pumas to score a soft try when Willie Engelbrecht got the ball from an offload in the tackle by Phumzile Maqondwana and had no defenders in front of him. Ginter Smuts added the conversion to put the home side in an early 7-0 lead.
Just 2 minutes later the Lions scored from a maul close to the Oumas line, with Jaco Visagie getting the try, and Elton Jantjies kicking the conversion, to make it 7-7 after 5 minutes.
Tiaan Swanepoel then kicked two penalties after 18 and 21 minutes to put the Lions in a 13-7 lead, and Ginter Smuts replied with a penalty for the Pumas after 24 minutes to make it 13-10 for the Lions.
The Pumas then scored from a maul close to the Lions try-line, with Smuts adding the conversion, to put the Pumas in the lead at half time, with the score 17-13 in their favour.
Early in the 2nd half the Lions went back in the lead when Tiaan Swanepoel scored, the try came from a maul that was collapsed by the Pumas, but the ball was available for the Lions, and Warner passed it left to Dan Kriel, who quickly passed to Jantjies on his left standing deep, he ran a bit laterally but this drew the last Puma defender to him, and he then passed to Swanepoel on his outside who crossed the try-line untouched. Jantjies added the conversion to make it 20-17 for the Lions after 44 minutes.
8 minutes later the Lions scored a spectacular counter-attack try, it started with a knock on the halfway line by flyhalf Devon Williams, Dan Kriel picked up the ball and passed to Simelane, he passed to Tshituka on the Lions 10 metre line, and he passed to Swanepoel, who threw a long pass to Warner, who ran about 10 metres and drew the defender before passing to Skosan, who beat the tackle of Mgijima and then stepped the next Puma defender, Luther Obi, on the inside, before passing back to Warner in support on the inside, and he drew the last Puma defender and passed back to Swanepoel, who again crossed the try-line untouched. Jantjies added the conversion to make it 27-17 for the Lions.
5 minutes later Smuts added another penalty for the Pumas, to make it 27-20, but it must be said that this penalty was a bit harsh, with Warner penalised for not rolling away in the tackle, but the replay did show that he basically rolled away immediatly after the tackle.
6 minutes later on 64 minutes the Pumas conceded a scrum penalty on their 10 metre line, and Swanepoel kicked it to make it 30-20 for the Lions.
The Pumas then scored a great counter attack try of their own, it started when the Lions ran a ball from just outside their own 22, Dan Kriel was tackled by Luther Obi, and spilt the ball, reserve hooker AJ le Roux picked the ball up and passed to the Fullback Mafura, who threw a long pass to Taljaard, who kicked a grubber that was collected by Cronje who scored. The conversion was missed, but the score was now only 30-25 for the Lions.
The Lions had the final say, when just 2 minutes from time, the Pumas were caught offside, and Swanepoel added another penalty, to make the final score 33-25 for the Lions.
Officials
Referee: AJ Jacobs
AR1: Paul Mente
AR2: Morne Ferreira
TMO: Johan Greeff
Teams
Pumas: 15 Tapiwa Mafura, 14 Luther Obi, 13 Erich Cronje, 12 Ali Mgijima, 11 Etienne Taljaard, 10 Devon Williams, 9 Ginter Smuts, 8 Willie Engelbrecht, 7 Phumzile Maqondwana, 6 Daniel Maartens, 5 Pieter Jansen van Vuren (captain), 4 Darrien Landsberg, 3 Ignatius Prinsloo, 2 Simon Westraadt, 1 Morgan Naude.
Replacements: 16 AJ le Roux, 17 Eduan Swart, 18 Brandon Valentyn, 19 Francois Kleinhans, 20 Chriswill September, 21 Tiaan Botes, 22 Alwayno Visagie, 23 Wayne van der Bank.
Lions: 15. Tiaan Swanepoel; 14. Stean Pienaar, 13. Wandisile Simelane, 12. Dan Kriel, 11. Courtnall Skosan; 10. Elton Jantjies (Capt), 9. Andre Warner; 8. Len Massyn, 7. Vincent Tshituka, 6. Jaco Kriel, 5. Marvin Orie, 4. Willem Alberts, 3. Wiehahn Herbst, 2. Jaco Visagie, 1. Dylan Smith.
Replacements: 16. Jan-Henning Campher, 17. Ruan Dreyer, 18. Carlu Sadie, 19. Reinhard Nothnagel, 20. Wilhelm van der Sluys, 21. Morné van den Berg, 22. Manual Rass, 23. Marnus Schoeman.
Scorers
Pumas: 25 (17): Tries: Willie Engelbrecht, Simon Westraadt, Erich Cronje. Conversions: Ginter Smuts(2). Penalties: Ginter Smuts(2).
Lions: 33 (13): Tries: Jaco Visagie, Tiaan Swanepoel(2). Conversions: Elton Jantjies(3). Penalties: Tiaan Swanepoel(4).