Friendly - Lions vs Sharks on 20 March 2021
March 20, 2021 - The match was played at Ellis Park on Saturday 20 March 2021, and kick-off was at 16:15 SA Time.
The Lions drew first blood in the match when Ngia Selengbe got the ball as first receiver from Andre Warner from a ruck close to the Sharks try-line, and powered his way over the line for the try.
The Sharks hit back straight away with a lon range gem, it started from a scrum just inside the Sharks half, the ball popped out at the back of the Sharks scrum and was kicked ahead by Andre Warner, the
ball rolled into the Sharks 22 metre area where it was picked up by Werner Kok, he passed left to Boeta Chamberlain, and he passed to Lukhanyo Am, who threw a long pass to Yaw Penxe close to the touchline in space,
he made ground all the way back to the 10 metre line, beat the tackle of Tiaan Swanepoel, and then in the tackle from Wandisile Simelane, got the ball away to Lukhanyo Am. He passed to Rynhard Jonker, who got close to the Lions 22 metre line, where he kicked ahead and Aphelele Fassi won the race to the ball, gathered and scored a great try.
The Lions then scored a longe range try of their own, it started with the Sharks on the attack in the Lions 22, Mzamo Majola spilt the ball about 5 metres from the try-line, Jan-Henning Campher picked it up and passed to Warner on his left, he threw a long pass to Odendaal close to the poles, who did well to take the pass, he then threw a skip pass to Simelane, he progressed to the 22 metre line, drew the defender Kok, and passed to Skosan on his outside, he did the same, drew the defender and passed to Swanepoel, this was on the Lions 10 metre line, Swanepoel then sprinted to beat the cover defender and scored.
The next try for the Lions came from a loose ball that was recovered by the lions and passed to Simelane, just outside his 22. He drew the defender and passed to Jantjies on his inside, he also passed inside to Horn, and just before the Sharks 10 metre line he passed to Tshituka on his inside, who sprinted the 40 metres to score under the poles.
The Sharks then scored an easy try when Boeta Chamberlain kicked a cross-kick into the Lions in-goal area where Werner Kok gathered the ball to score.
The Lions next try came from pressure on the Sharks try-line, where the Lions were taking the ball up with pick-and-go, and then after a few phases the Sharks defenders were all sucked in, and Jantjies threw a wide pass to the left to Skosan, who had no defenders in front of him, and he could have walked in the try if he wanted to.
This made the halftime score 26-14 to the Lions.
Early in the second half the Sharks hit back with a try from a rolling maul by Dylan Richardson, but the Lions hit back straight away when the Sharks threw a long ball in the line-out on their try-line, and Jan-Henning Campher was the first player to react and he caught the ball and scored a simple try.
Dylan Richardson then scored another, again from a Sharks rolling maul, but this time the ball came out to Richardson on the blind side and he managed to power his way over for the try, although it looked a bit like a double movement and perhaps should have been a lions penalty instead.
The Sharks then gifted the Lions another try, Curwin Bosch kicked a cross kick in his own 22, and Simelane read it and gathered the ball and scored in the right hand corner.
Ntuthuko Mchunu then scored two tries, the first from a pick-and-go from a ruck on the Lions try-line, and the second probably the best try that he will ever score, when he took a pass from Richardson on the halfway line into a gap between Lions defenders and ran in the 50 metre try. This made the score 40-all in the game, and then a comedy of errors as the referee blew the final whoistle while there was still time on the clock, luckily he reversed the decision, and then from the resulting play the Lions were awarded an offside penalty, Swanepoel kicked it to give the Lions a 43-40 win.
Officials
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge
AR1: AJ Jacobs
AR2: Griffin Colby
TMO: Marius van der Westhuizen
Teams
Lions: 15. Tiaan Swanepoel; 14. Ngia Selengbe, 13. Wandisile Simelane, 12. Burger Odendaal, 11. Courtnall Skosan; 10. Elton Jantjies (Capt), 9. André Warner; 8. Francke Horn, 7. Vincent Tshituka, 6. MJ Pelser, 5. Wilhelm van der Sluys, 4. Willem Alberts, 3. Carlu Sadie, 2. Jan-Henning Campher, 1. Ruan Dreyer.
Replacements: 16. PJ Botha, 17. Nathan McBeth, 18. Jannie du Plessis, 19. Reinhard Nothnagel, 20. Sibusiso Sangweni, 21. Ross Cronjé, 22. Fred Zeilinga, 23. Dan Kriel.
Sharks: 15. Aphelele Fassi, 14. Werner Kok, 13. Lukhanyo Am (capt), 12. Rynhard Jonker, 11. Yaw Penxe, 10. Boeta Chamberlain, 9. Sanele Nohamba, 8. Sikhumbuzo Notshe, 7. Mpilo Gumede, 6. Henco Venter, 5. Reniel Hugo, 4. Le Roux Roets, 3. John-Hubert Meyer, 2. Dan Jooste, 1. Mzamo Majola.
Replacements: 16. Dylan Richardson, 17. Ntuthuko Mchunu, 18. Thomas du Toit, 19. Emile van Heerden, 20. Thembelani Bholi, 21. Grant Williams, 22. Curwin Bosch, 23. Marius Louw
Scorers
Lions: 43 (26): Tries: Ngia Selengbe, Tiaan Swanepoel, Vincent Tshituka, Courtnall Skosan, Jan-Henning Campher, Wandisile Simelane. Conversions: Tiaan Swanepoel(2), Elton Jantjies(3). Penalties: Tiaan Swanepoel
Sharks: 40 (14): Tries: Aphelele Fassi, Werner Kok, Dylan Richardson(2), Ntuthuko Mchunu(2). Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain(3), Curwin Bosch(2). Penalties: