Emirates Lions' hearts broken
2020-02-15
The Emirates Lions got their hearts broken at Emirates Airline Park on Saturday as the centre of the DHL Stormers, Ruhan Nel, cantered over in the 82nd minute to award his team a 33-30 victory.
At that stage the Lions were leading 30-26 and could have been excused for thinking they had this one in the bag.
Dan Kriel rounded off a beautiful team try for the Johannesburg team and when his skipper, Elton Jantjies, slotted a monster kick from the middle of the field to edge his team 30-26 ahead with just two minutes remaining, an upset win for the home team seemed to be on the cards.
However, the visitors from Cape Town refused to give up and kept the ball alive in a thrilling last passage of play, which finished with Nel running in for the winning try.
Juarno Augustus and Godlen Masimla each scored a try to hand the visiting side an early lead. However, the Emirates Lions soon replied with two tries of their own through Andries Coetzee and Courtnall Skosan, with the latter fielding a perfectly weighted chip kick from captain Jantjies to dive over next to the post.
That successful passage of play gave the Lions the lead for the first time in the match at 15-12, however, Springbok utility player Damian Willemse landed two successful penalty goals just before the break to nudge the visitors 18-15 in front at halftime.
The match erupted into life in the second half when both sides displayed a great willingness to attack. Like two heavyweight boxers, the teams traded attacking blows to the absolute delight of the 16 800 strong crowd.
Sergeal Petersen scored shortly after the resumption of play and Jantjies, who had an outstanding match, replied with a converted try.
Kriel then scored his first try of the competition on his birthday and when Jantjies landed his long range penalty it looked all over for the visitors (30-26).
Scorers:
Emirates Lions 30 (15) – Tries: Andries Coetzee, Courtnall Skosan, Elton Jantjies, Dan Kriel. Conversions: Jantjies (2). Penalty goals: Jantjies (2).
DHL Stormers 33 (18) – Tries: Juarno Augustus, Godlen Masimla, Sergeal Petersen, Ruhan Nel. Conversions: Damian Willemse, Jean-Luc du Plessis. Penalty goals: Willemse (3).
Annemie Bester