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Johannesburg - The Golden Lions claimed their third successive victory with a hard-fought 36-33 success over the Blue Bulls at Ellis Park on Saturday.
The Blue Bulls scored the game's opening try when Ruben Van Heerden crashed over after a period of sustained pressure from the visitors.
After working their way up to the 22, the ball was sent out left with Pierre Schoeman turning provider with his pop pass as Van Heerden hit the gap and dotted down.
Marnitz Boshoff added the extras as the Blue Bulls took an eight minute 7-0 lead.
In the 17th minute, the Blue Bulls lost a man when Jannes Kirsten was sin-binned as a consequence of repeated infringements with the hosts applying sustained pressure this time around.
From the resulting penalty, the Golden Lions kicked for touch, took the lineout with Robbie Coetzee going over at the back of a successful driving maul, immediately capitalising on their numerical advantage.
Soon after, it was the home side who were reduced to 14 men when Andries Ferreira was yellow-carded for tackling a man in the air.
Just as the Golden Lions had done, the Blue Bulls scored straight from the penalty in precisely the same fashion – from a driving maul. It was Jano Venter who emerged from the pile of bodies before Boshoff added the extras to give the Blue Bulls a 14-17 lead with 23 minutes gone.
However, the hosts hit back immediately after brilliant interplay between centre pairing Harold Vorster and Rohan Janse van Rensburg ensuring the latter cruised over the whitewash. Jaco Van der Walt levelled the scores with his penalty.
Five minutes later, it was once again wonderful combination play between the centres as this time around Vorster's excellent chip kick was expertly collected by the dangerous Janse van Rensburg who grabbed his second in quick succession. Van der Walt added the extras.
And in the 37th minute, the Golden Lions extended their lead to 26-14 once again from the driving maul with Jacques van Rooyen going over this time.
The Bulls hit back with a Johnny Kotze try five minutes after the interval after excellent play by Warrick Gelant to set him free on the left wing.
And Gelant turned from provider to scorer with an excellent individual try in the 66th minute as he skinned a couple of defenders before dotting down in the right-hand corner. Boshoff added the extras to give the away side a slender 28-26 lead.
But the Golden Lions hit back immediately; first with a Van der Walt penalty and then an Aphiwe Dyantyi score after he collected a box and raced through.
Soon after, the Blue Bulls responded as the topsy-turvy nature of the game continued. Manie Libbok made the break and was brought down. Duncan Matthews then broke and gave it to Piet Van Zyl who assisted Pieter Jansen for the try.
Teams:
Lions
15 Jaco van der Walt, 14 Sylvian Mahuza, 13 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 12 Harold Vorster, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Ashlon Davids, 9 Marco Janse van Vuren, 8 Ryan Kankowski, 7 Cyle Brink, 6 Kwagga Smith, 5 Marvin Orie, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Jacques van Rooyen (captain)
Substitutes: 16 Pieter Jansen, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Robert Kruger, 20 Fabian Booysen, 21 Shaun Reynolds, 22 Aphiwe Dyantyi
Blue Bulls
15 Warrick Gelant, 14 Duncan Matthews, 13 Burger Odendaal (captain), 12 JT Jackson, 11 Rabs Maxwane, 10 Marnitz Boshoff, 9 Andre Warner, 8 Jano Venter, 7 Jannes Kirsten, 6 Nic De Jager, 5 Aston Fortuin, 4 Ruben van Heerden, 3 Matthys Basson, 2 Edgar Marutlulle, 1 Pierre Schoeman
Substitutes: 16 Johan Grobbelaar, 17 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 18 Tim Agaba, 19 Marco van Staden, 20 Ivan van Zyl, 21 Manie Libbok, 22 Johnny Kotze
