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Lions scrum-half Andre Warner puts pressure on his direct opponent, Sanele Nohamba. (Gallo images)
The Lions needed a last-minute penalty from Tiaan Swanepoel to beat the Sharks 43-40 in an entertaining game at Ellis Park.
The game was tied at 40-40, but Sharks captain Lukhanyo Am was pinged for offside and Swanepoel knocked down the last 3-pointer.
The result did not do the sharks justice. They put together an impressive comeback in the second half to put themselves on a level playing field.
The Sharks trailed 26-14 at halftime, but an impressive second half by their young forwards, especially hooker Dylan Richardson and Ntuthuko Mchunu, saved some of the loot.
They scored a couple of attempts that kept the Lions, who dominated large swaths of the game, within reach in most cases.
The Lions were first on the board through wing Ngia Selengbe, who somehow crashed from a rolling maul.
However, the Sharks were quick to reply, with a wide, swift movement that contained some Rynhardt magic. Jonker saw Aphelele Fassi crossing over to try.
At 7-5 at 10th minute, that would be the last time the Sharks would lead in the first half with a long-distance try from fullback Swanepoel in the 14th.th minute gave the Lions a breather.
The try, which started on the Lions’ 5-meter line, had its origin in a knock-on by Mzamo Majola. The Lions quickly got the ball through the hands and Swanepoel was free from the throw line.
12-7 became 19-7 when forward Vincent Tshituka was on the receiving end of a clever interaction and scored under the poles in the 20th minute.
The sharks made an attempt on 24th Minute in which Werner Kok was favored by the rebound of a cross shot by Boeta Chamberlain.
Leadership should have been taken in 32North Dakota Minute, but the eighth Sikhumbuzo Notshe, who was playing a good game, hit the test line in front of him.
They paid for that mistake six minutes later when Courtnall Skosan picked up a long pass from Elton Jantjies and calmly crossed the line.
The Sharks forwards weren’t in the game much due to a lack of kicks, but they recovered in the second half.
His first response in the second half was through replacement hooker Richardson at 46.th minute, it crashed a short distance from a rolling mallet.
The rolling deck sequence was so severe that it cost the Lions a man via Carlu Sadie, who was in the sin bin.
Richardson then went from hero to zero in 51S t minute when his overthrow in a lineout was thwarted by his Sharks counterpart Jan-Henning Campher, who scored.
Richardson, however, made up for his mistake four minutes later when he crashed again from a rolling maul, even though his attempt needed to be reviewed above.
Decent Curwin Bosch attempted an ambitious crosskick from his try line, but it was picked up and scored by Wandisile Simelane at 66.th minute.
The Sharks got back to their forwards and replacement mainstay Mchunu hit a pair of downs that helped the Sharks tie.
Simelane should have crossed for his second match-winning attempt, but slipped while cramping. The Lions continued to apply enough pressure to get the penalty for sealing the game.
Scorers:
Lions
Attempts: Ngia Selengbe, Tiaan Swanepoel, Vincent Tshituka, Courtnall Skosan, Jan-Henning Campher, Wandisile Simelane
Conversions: Swanepoel (4), Elton Jantjies (2)
Penalty: Swanepoel
Sharks
Attempts: Aphelele Fassi, Werner Kok, Dylan Richardson (2), Ntuthuko Mchunu (2)
Conversions: Boeta Chamberlain (3), Curwin Bosch (2)
