1
Lions bounce back to win, Schoeman leaves it late for Bulls
By Stephen Creek
Aphiwe Dyantyi grabbed a brilliant brace as the Lions ran in seven tries to bounce back from a 10-point deficit and beat the Jaguares, while the Bulls left it late to overcome the Hurricanes.
The South Americans raced into an early lead in Johannesburg when Emiliano Boffelli went over in the third minute. Nicolas Sanchez converted the try and sent over a penalty to leave the hosts chasing the game with only 18 minutes on the clock.
Dyantyi's fine footwork allowed him to launch the Lions' fightback with a try nine minutes later and they put themselves in front at the break through a penalty try and an Andries Coetzee score.
The second half looked set to be a one-sided affair when Rohan Janse van Rensburg rounded off a neat passing move with a 64th-minute try, but Bautista Delguy – who gifted the Lions their first-half penalty try – went over twice in three minutes to give Jaguares late hope of a positive result.
But Warren Whiteley spared the home crowd a nervous finish when he collected Elton Jantjies' pass and jinked his way through the Jaguares defence to cap off a 47-27 victory with a seventh try.
In Pretoria, Handre Pollard's two penalties were the difference between the Bulls and the Hurricanes at the break at Loftus Versfield, after first-half tries from John-Ben Kotze and Lodewyk de Jager were cancelled out by the Hurricanes' Ricky Riccitelli and Wes Goosen.
A turgid second-half turned on the referee's decision to rule out a TJ Perenara try and, even though Beauden Barrett went over just before the hour mark to become the youngest player reach 1,000 points in Super Rugby, Pierre Schoeman's touched down nine minutes from time to ensure the home side earned maximum points.
Trending on RugbyPass
2
Robertson says Italy sensed All Blacks' weaknesses
3
All Blacks player ratings vs Italy
4
Scotland's Sione Tuipulotu admits anger at Australian rugby
5
Latest Comments
GB = England, Scotland, Wales. UK = England, Wales, Scotland, NI
Nothing to stew son.
Go to commentsTupaea is a natural 12. What is it with you kiwis and playing players out of their positions. Is that some sort of national sport? Is that on purpose? You’ve got an utility back and a winger at 12 and 13 respectivelly. You played Savea at 8 for ages, wasting the potential of one of the world’s three best players in the last 4-5 years.
ALB is equally effective at 12 and 13, so why not have him or Tupaea at 12, and Proctor at 13? God forbid you’d have two midfielders playing at their natural positions! There must be a law in New Zealand, that prohibits that. Small sample size, but Proctor walked on water in his international debut at 13.
But the kiwi selectors seem to love Rieko’s speed, so as long as the horse is fast enough, they decided they’ll teach him to climb trees anyway.
You don’t have a better 10 than BB and Mo’unga. DMac is a more instinctive attacker (almost as good as Mo’unga … almost), but doesn’t have BB’s game-controlling skills. You have and will lose games due to his aimless kicking and spur-of-the-moment inventions none of his team mates are able to read at the international pace. Works okay at Super Rugby level, doesn’t mean it’s transferable to test matches. But hey, suit yourself.
Go to comments