Newly signed coach John Mitchell has reason to smile this morning after his charges outgunned Western Province at Coca Cola Park on Friday night.
Left wing Michael Killian together with another flawless display from flyhalf Elton Jantjies secured the Lions their fourth straight victory in the Currie Cup as they defeated the much fancied Western Province 46-28.
Right wing JJ Engelbrecht weighed in with a try in the corner but De Waal hit the right hand upright with his conversion attempt.
Duane Vermeulen dotted down as well after a good break by Dewaldt Duvenhage , De Waal was on the mark this time and Province raced to a 21-10 lead.
Jantjies, true to form, kept the Lions in the hunt with penalty kicks and at the half time break the Lions were trailing by 2. Whitehead had to leave the field due to injury and his replacement, new Sharks signing Conrad Hoffmann went over on the left wing. De Waal again converted to stretch the gap to 19-28. Jantjies, not to be outdone kept the Lions within striking distance with two more penalties. Killian then scored after Lions eighth man Warren Whiteley chipped ahead and suddenly the Lions were in the lead.
Killian showed his pace again with an eighty meter sprint down the left wing from their own tryline before Derick Minnie dotted down. Jantjies converted both tries and suddenly the Lions had an 11 point margin. Jantjies later sealed the match up when he went over close to the uprights in the 76th minute.
While it might be a bit premature to speculate it really looks as if the Lions might`ve turned the corner. Province must be trying to figure out where their wheels came off. They have now suffered three losses in a row.
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Was a spectacular performance from the Lions . One can see they are gaining confidence match by match . I think John Mitchell is working wonders with the team .
OP DIE LEEUS !!!!!
I likes FeLion 1…
Well done Lions; I thought WP would take it, but their pack was waaay too soft, and for some reason they didn’t play the kicking game when the Lions wanted to run the ball.
LOL at the title in all caps!!
Well it doesn’t happen very often, so I suppose they can have a little license. 😉
I thought Pierre was a Sharks fan
Latest news is that a 7.1 magnitude quake has hit Christchurch! 😯
Apparently the damage is massive. Amazingly no one has been killed. 😎
Where is HH from?
You mean latest news from yesterday, klempie? 😈
Dunedin
@Big Fish (Comment 8) : Hey I’ve been distracted with work! 😈
Original Pierre resides in Cape Town. He ‘supports’ the Sharks and yet he seems to have a ‘soft spot’ for the Lions.
Oh dear 😀
Hey, there’s nothing wrong with a ‘soft spot’, I have one for them myself. And they played really well yesterday, especially the second half. I was always singing Killian’s praise and got very fustrated with the previous coach for only playing him off the bench most of the time. He had a superb game, Derick Minnie also had a good game and his form is the best I’ve seen of him in quite a while. And the young Jantjies…what can one say but “Wow”, he got so much talent and he always looks so composed and calm. Mitchell is doing something right and one of these day the Lions going to became a force again.
we need to hang onto our players now !!! but it seems under mitchell the players are more happy then ever ..
The LIONS are playing better…have hotter feline dancers…and are 4th on the log…
Better days…
@Zibbie (Comment 13) : I agree the Lions need to forget about buying players and put the money towards keeping their current team happy and making sure they don’t get poached.
@Nita (Comment 15) :
im not saying we should not buy new players . i think we will get slaughtered again in the super 14 if we had to play it now .. we have talented players yes , but they are very inexperienced . we need one or two experienced blokes to help guide the current young and very exciting players
@Zibbie (Comment 16) : They just need to keep hold of Jantjies, I can see any province wanting him in their team.
@Nita (Comment 17) :
we have a few good youngsters in the current team .. woudent say it to loud on a sharks website though 😛 😈
Thank you Lions !
You made my week not even a Bok loss can change that !
Long may it continue.
@CoffeeShopBok;-) (Comment 19) :
I wasn’t that fortunate. 🙁
arise, sir elton jantjies 😀 what a boytjie
@robdylan (Comment 4) : Pierre is a sharks fan, but a closet Lions fan, mainly, I think, because the Felions are the hottest dancers in the CC.
@wpw (Comment 11) : You stopped crying yet ❓ ❓ 😆
@Greg (Comment 23) :
Hey Greg!!
No crying at all. It is after all only a game!! 🙄 😕
@wpw (Comment 24) : You wouldn’t have said that had you won 😆
this game and the bok performance showed just how average dick muir is as a coach. john mitchell looks like he may at least have brought some normality back to the lions. now a little work and the lions can turn themselves around in time to save their spot in super rugby.
a player i am liking at the lions is warren whitely. he is looking good.
@Greg (Comment 25) :
I suppose you are right!! 😈
Once again, well done.
What does the rest of your fixtures look like??
@try time (Comment 27) : which is why they are talking to pierre spies, big joe and kanko, their eye for talent is not so good is it? wonder how jantjies escaped their talent scouts
Oh, seriously, well played Lions.
@wpw (Comment 28) : Thanks, man, still going to milk it just a little bit though
rest of the season looks like this:
Griquas (home)
Bulls (away)
Sharks (home)
Cheetahs (away)
Pumas (home)
Tough run-in, but with some results going the right way, could possibly sneak into the semis
Man, this result really made may weekend, I’m actually struggeling to be bitter about the Boks losing!! It would have been even better if the Sharks thrashed the Bulls and the Lions could have remained in 4th position on the Log!!
@MB1810 (Comment 32) :
Better get use to it !!! will be happening much more often from now on !!!
@Greg (Comment 22) : You`re right there Greg.
Sometimes I envy Lions supporters. . . 😉
@robdylan (Comment 4) : Sorry I stuffed up by putting the pic on the ” front page”. Still don`t know how to do the correct placement thing!