Our featured image just features the Cell C Sharks, and not the Lions, because at times it seemed like there was just ONE SIDE on the field!
The Lions were given a reality check when a full-strength Sharks team handed them a 57 / 14 drubbing in their pre-season friendly.
In what was their last run-out before their return to Super Rugby, a young and inexperienced Lions selection were outscored by 9 tries to 2 at Ellis Park on Friday.
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The Sharks had raced into a 31-0 lead at half-time, following a first half that saw referee Jason Jaftha stretchered off the field after sustaining an injury.
Flyers S’bura Sithole (3) and Odwa Ndungane (2) scored the bulk of the tries between them.
Ndungane opened the scoring in the second minute and touched down a second time in the 15th minute.
Springbok lock Pieter-Steph du Toit, Lwazi Mvovo and Frans Steyn scored the other first-half tries.
Sithole scored the first of his hat-trick of tries in the 45th minute, with prop Lourens Adriaanse going over just before the hour mark.
The Lions eventually opened their account when Stephan de Witt went over in the 64th minute.
Sithole got his second, before Coenie van Wyk scored for the Lions and Sithole completed his hat-trick in the dying minutes.
The scorers:
For the Lions:
Tries: De Witt (1), Van Wyk (1)
Cons: Du Plessis (1), Van Wyk (1)
For the Sharks:
Tries: Ndungane (2), Du Toit (1), Mvovo (1), Steyn (1), Sithole (3), Adriaanse (1)
Cons: Lambie (3), Zeilinga (3)
Teams:
Lions: 15 Coenie van Wyk, 14 Deon van Rensburg, 13 Nicolaas Johannes Hanekom, 12 Alwyn Hollenbach (Captain), 11 Chrysander Botha, 10 Willem du Plessis, 9 Francois de Klerk, 8 Willem Britz, 7 Ruaan Lerm, 6 Warwick Tecklenburg, 5 Martin Muller, 4 Lourens Erasmus, 3 Jacobus Stephanus Roux, 2 Willem Wepener, 1 Jacques van Rooyen
Replacements: Malcolm Marx, Charles Marais, Corne Fourie, Stephan Vermeulen, Pieter Hugo Kloppers, MB Lusaseni, Stephan de Witt, Ross Cronje, Jacobus Willem Jonker, Ruan Combrinck, Deon Helberg.
Sharks: 15 SP Marais, 14 Odwa Ndungane, 13 Paul Jordaan, 12 Francois Steyn, 11 Lwazi Mvovo, 10 Patrick Lambie, 9 Cobus Reinach, 8 Lubabalo Mtembu, 7 Jean Deysel, 6 Marcell Coetzee, 5 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 4 Anton Bresler, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis (Captain), 1 Tendai Mtawarira
Replacements: Monde Hadebe, Dale Chadwick, Lourens Adriaanse, Stephan Lewies, Jacques Botes, Ryan Kankowski, Charl McLeod, Fred Zeilinga, Heimar Williams, S’bura Sithole, Jaco van Tonder.
Referee: Jason Jaftha
riposting what I said before the game
I don’t buy this – warm matches means nothing bla bla bla and you don’t want to give away anyting beforehand or cause an upset thus creating higher expectations bla bla bla
The Lions needs some consistency and cohesion or they will be klapped very hard again this year.
Sharks doing the right thing here.
This is just my view
@ Gena_ZA:
The Lions were never going to lose this game by less than 30 points.
If Ackermann had played his key players and Bondisio and Minnie got injured and were out for 6 weeks, he’d have been fired.
It was STUPID of Lions Rugby PTY LTD to accept this as one of their “warm up” games IMO.
By the way, how many log points did the Sharks get for this performance?
I rest my case.
This is not about log points but a warm-up = get continuity for the S15, sadly they missed the opportunity, what exactly did they learn by getting played off the park?
Same with the Bulls only playing one game and missing on finding each other before the tournament starts
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