Cape Town - Anthonie Volmink scored a hat-trick of tries as the Golden Lions XV thumped the Valke 75-14 (halftime 35-7) in their provincial tournament match at the Barnard Stadium in Kempton Park on Saturday.
Left wing Volmink completed his hat-trick shortly after the start of the second half while replacement flyhalf Shaun Reynolds ended with 17 points after he scored a try and kicked six conversions.
Right wing Selom Gavor scored two tries as the Golden Lions ran in 11 tries in total in a match they completely dominated.
The Golden Lions are automatic qualifiers for this year’s Currie Cup competition while the Valke were already out of the running for a qualification place which meant that there was little but professional pride at stake for the near-neighbours.
But the Golden Lions showed that they were not going to be plagued by lethargy and they opened the scoring in the fifth minute when Gavor went over for a converted try.
The Valke’s defence then held firm for 15 minutes but as the match entered the second quarter the visitors added to their lead when Volmink skated over for a converted score.
The Valke cut the deficit to seven points after 29 minutes when fullback Christian Rust went over for a converted try.
But the Golden Lions struck back almost immediately when fullback JW Bell dotted down just a minute later for a converted try.
The visitors then ran in two tries in the last two minutes of the half with Gavor and Volmink both grabbing their second tries as the Golden Lions went to the break holding a commanding 35-7 lead.
Volmink completed his hat-trick six minutes after the restart before Reynolds went over for a 50th minute try that he converted himself.
The Golden Lions continued to pile on the points with replacement loose forward Robert Kruger crashing over for the converted score before the Valke finally struck back when replacement prop Barend Steyn rumbled over for a converted try in the 64th minute.
But the Golden Lions were ruthless and they ran in tries from inside centre Jacques Nel, replacement lock Luvuyiso Lusaseni and replacement hooker Pieter Jansen to bury the Valke.
SCORERS
Hino Valke – Tries: Christian Rust, Barend Steyn; Conversions: Warren Potgieter, Christo Coetzee.
Xerox Golden Lions XV – Tries: Selom Gavor (2), Anthonie Volmink (3), JW Bell, Shaun Reynolds, Robert Kruger, Jacques Nel, Luvuyiso Lusaseni, Pieter Jansen; Conversions: Jaco van der Walt (4), Reynolds (6).