Johannesburg, July 29 (ANA) – The Lions had to stage a valiant second-half comeback to defeat the Hurricanes 44-29 in their Super Rugby Semi-final at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Lions will now host the Crusaders in the final at the same venue next Saturday.
The Lions played loose, error-strewn rugby in the first half-hour of the encounter to fall to 22-3 down before eventually destroying the defending champions in the second half.
The early pressure came from the Lions and they were rewarded with a penalty when a Hurricanes player joined the ruck from the side and Elton Jantjies put his side 3-0 head after five minutes.
But the Hurricanes replied with a counter-attack from a Lions error, with scrumhalf TJ Perenara booting through a kick from a dropped pass and then nudged it further ahead and pounced on it in the Lions in-goal area, with Jordie Barrett missing the conversion for a 5-3 lead on nine minutes.
The Canes ruthlessly pushed on when they again capitalised on a Lions error, with Jordie Barrett scoring against the run of play and converting his try for a 12-3 lead, and then a further Barrett penalty stretched his side into a 15-3 lead.
The Lions persisted in trying to play attacking rugby in the wrong areas of the field and when scrumhalf Ross Cronje fumbled in his half, flank Ardie Savea snapped up the loose ball and scampered home for the try, and a 22-3 lead.
The Lions tightened up their play and the last 15 minutes of the half were dominated by the home side and after a series of penalties kicked to the corner, prop Jacques van Rooyen, crashed over, with the Janjties conversion making it a more manageable 10-22 deficit at half time.
Having scored seconds before the break, the Lions then crucially scored first after half time, Cronje darting over after four minutes of relentless pressure. The conversion made it 22-17 and the Lions were right back in the contest.
The Lions were now in full flight and Malcolm Marx scored his ninth try of the season 13 minutes into the half after heavy forward domination. Jantjies missed an easy conversion attempt to leave the scores locked at 22-22.
But the score would quickly change, and not in the favour of the home team, with centre Ngani Laumape finding space on the blind side after his team had counter-attacked from the kick-off following Marx’s try.
It was 29-22 and in an ever dramatic match, Canes flyhalf Beaudon Barrett was yellow-carded for a professional foul that prevented Ruan Combrink from scoring. As the game hit the three-quarter mark, Harold Vorster made the extra man count with a sensational attacking line that saw him cut through the defence and this time Jantjies was on target and his team had the lead at 32-29 with 17 minutes to go.
Barrett missed a chance to draw level but the Lions’ lead was tenuous and nobody could predict what might happen in the last ten minutes or so. And as the game went into the final minutes there was a break from substitute centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg that set up Jantjies for a clean run to the line, and the conversion of his try gave the Lions a 10-point lead at 39-29.
And in a frenetic climax to the match, Lions substitute hooker Akker van der Merwe intercepted a Perenara pass to offload to Kwagga Smith for the try and the winning 44-29 lead.
Scorers
Lions – tries: Jacques van Rooyen, Ross Cronje, Malcolm Marx, Harold Vorster, Elton Jantjies, Kwagga Smith. Conversions: Jantjies (4). Penalties: Jantjies (2)
Hurricanes – tries: TJ Perenara, Wes Goosen, Ardie Savea, Ngane Laumape. Conversions: Jordie Barrett (3). Penalties: Jordie Barrett (1). – African News Agency (ANA)
