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Johannesburg - The Golden Lions held off a ferocious charge by the Free State Cheetahs to claim a 43-33 victory in their Currie Cup semi-final at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Johannesburg-based side have in the process booked a home final date with Western Provinces next weekend in a repeat of last year’s final.
The Free State Cheetahs nearly caused a major upset as they had the Lions, who were the overwhelming favourites going into the match, under the cosh for extended periods in the match.
The match nearly started with a disaster for the Lions as they got pinned in their 22 from the kick-off when flyhalf Marnitz Boshoff passed the ball into the posts.
They managed to regain the ball and exited to breathe a sigh of relief as they received a brief respite.
Five minutes later the Cheetahs did manage to get over the whitewash when standout centre Francois Venter bounced off a tackle and avoided another to score, with flyhalf Niel Marais missing the conversion.
The Lions responded 10 minutes later when they set up the rolling maul with influential captain Jaco Kriel scoring from the back while Boshoff converted for the two-point lead.
The visitors reclaimed the lead when Marais slotted a penalty on the quarter mark before adding another a minute later to extend their advantage to four points.
Boshoff got his side within a point of the Cheetahs thanks to a penalty goal in the 26th minute before the Bloemfontein side scored their second try three minutes later when Boom Prinsloo touched down from the back of a rolling maul.
Shortly before the teams went off for the break Boshoff added another penalty conversion with the Cheetahs leading by three points (16-13).
The tit-for-tat battle continued in the second half with Lions lock Lourens Erasmus striking the first blow when he sold a dummy to evade the defenders to score while Boshoff converted with the lead swinging in the hosts’ favour.
The Cheetahs replied with their third five-pointer of the game when Gerhard Olivier collected a Sergeal Petersen pass that went to ground.
They then took an eight-point lead in the 56th minute when Marais received the ball from a scrum where he stepped to the right to score and convert his try.
The Lions then started to claw their way back which started with a penalty conversion by Boshoff in the 59th minute.
Ten minutes later the match swung further in their favour as Boom Prinsloo received his marching orders to spend 10 minutes on the sideline.
The Cheetahs then conceded a penalty try thanks to a scrum infringement which Boshoff converted before the Free Staters pulled back another.
Petersen, who was a constant threat for the Cheetahs pierced the defence before off-loading to a speeding Sias Ebersohn on his inside for the try. Ebersohn though missed the easy conversion attempt.
Kriel then added his second try of the evening thanks to a brilliant run down the touchline where he bounced a tackle and avoiding two more to score.
The Cheetahs were then reduced to 13 men when Maks van Dyk was also shown a yellow card with Boshoff stretching the lead with two more penalty conversions to take the game away from the visitors.
Scorers:
Golden Lions:
Tries: Penalty Try, Lourens Erasmus, Jaco Kriel (2). Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (4). Penalties: Boshoff (5).
Free State Cheetahs:
Tries: Niel Marais, Boom Prinsloo, Francois Venter, Gerhard Olivier, Sias Ebersohn. Conversion: Marais. Penalties: Marais (2).
Teams:
Golden Lions
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Courtnall Skosan, 13 Stokkies Hanekom, 12 Howard Mnisi, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Ross Cronje, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Steph de Witt, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Lourens Erasmus, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Malcom Marx, 1 Jacques van Rooyen
Substitutes: 16 Robbie Coetzee, 17 Ruan Dreyer, 18 Fabian Booysen,19 Kwagga Smith, 20 Jaco van der Walt, 21 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 22 Sampie Mastriet
Free State Cheetahs
15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Sergeal Petersen, 13 Francois Venter, 12 Rayno Benjamin, 11 Raymond Rhule, 10 Niel Marais, 9 Shaun Venter, 8 Niell Jordaan, 7 Oupa Mohoje, 6 Boom Prinsloo, 5 Francois Uys (captain), 4 Armandt Koster, 3 Luan de Bruin, 2 Jacques du Toit,1 BG Uys
Substitutes: 16 Torsten van Jaarsveld, 17 Maks van Dyk, 18 Reniel Hugo, 19 Gerhard Olivier, 20 Ruan van Rensburg, 21 Sias Ebersohn, 22 AJ Coertzen
