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Janse van Rensburg honours mother with two tries

Johannesburg - Golden Lions centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg dedicated his two tries to his late mother after a 55-36 Super Rugby triumph over the Waratahs of Australia in Johannesburg on Saturday.

His mother died three days ago after a long illness and the Springbok fulfilled her wish that he play for the 2016 runners-up at Ellis Park stadium.

"It was the wish of my mother that I carry on playing and I dedicate my tries to her," said the centre who took his season try tally to four from two matches.

The Lions won a try fest 8-5 to claim a bonus point in a more impressive showing than last weekend when they scraped past the Cheetahs.

While some tries stemmed from excellent attacking rugby, others came after poor defending during a match played in perfect conditions.

The Lions were particularly deadly from driving mauls after line-outs, using the tactic to score three times.

Ahead within four minutes, the Lions should have led by more than 33-24 at half-time given two Waratahs were yellow-carded.

An Elton Jantjies drop goal followed by the second Janse van Rensburg try stretched the lead to 19 points and the South Africans never looked like being overtaken.

Even when the Johannesburg outfit were reduced to 14 men by a second-half sin-binning, they did not lose control of an often scrappy encounter.

Skipper Warren Whiteley, Ruan Ackermann, Andries Coetzee, Ross Cronje, Sylvian Mahuza and Malcolm Marx were the other Lions try scorers.

Jantjies succeeded with six of his eight conversion attempts and slotted a drop goal for a 15-point haul.

Rob Horne, Michael Hooper, Bryce Hegarty, David McDuling and Israel Folau crossed the try-line for the Sydney outfit.

Reece Robinson kicked three conversions and a penalty and Hegarty a conversion.

The Lions face the Jaguares in Argentina next weekend while the Waratahs complete a tour of South Africa by playing the Sharks in Durban.

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