By Lucky Maree
It is safe to say when Paul Simon sang about “miracle and wonder” on this very field of Ellis Park in 1992, he was not thinking about the Gauteng Lions rugby team.
After the turmoil of the last week at the Gauteng Lions (with the players rating the management at 0 and lower during a survey) it is difficult to believe that the Lions will be anywhere near competitive.
When the Warriors score after seven minutes it seems inevitable that they will run away with the game.
But then there is some “miracle and wonder” when scrumhalf Sanele Mohamba scores to even the score – and two minutes later the Lions do it again and, incredibly they lead by two tries to one.
The Lions, seemingly having some fun, score another two tries while the Warriors score one and incredibly at the break, the Lions lead by 27 points to 14.
After ten minutes the Lions take a tap kick on the five metre line and score on the second push. The scoreboard tells the story. The Lions lead by 32 – 14.
After 55 minutes the Warriors are still in the game scoring a five pointer after losing one player to the yellow peril. Then the ref (correctly) applies the law and for a minute or two the Lions are down to 13 players.
As one player comes back, the Warriors score against 14 players. What a shame if the Lions come back from the dead – and then watch it slip away because of cards (whether applied correctly or not).
With 15 minutes to go the Warriors need two scores to win. While the Lions commit the error of seemingly defending their lead, they do it well and the Warriors are nowhere near scoring.
When Ruan Dreyer is red carded, the Lions are galvanised into action. Not only do they come close to scoring, they defended like, well, lions.
With ten minutes to go, the Warriors are still eight points behind. If they score now, they would still have a chance – but it’s beginning to look less and less likely.
While the Warriors enjoy most of the possession, they spend an awful lot of valuable seconds throwing the ball around behind the advantage line.
With two minutes to go, the Lions have an 11 point lead and the few Lions fans in the stands are already celebrating. The Warriors are not going to recover from this.
The hooter blows to end the match and this is indeed “a day miracle and wonder”. A great day for the Lions faithful, but it’s more than that. It’s a huge thumbing of the nose to the management who have let the players down for the entire season so far.
Lions (5 tries) 35-24 (4 tries) Glasgow Warriors.
Pictured above: The Lions taking on Glasgow Warriors
Image source: @LionsRugbyCo
