By Lucky Maree
Does one swallow make a summer? Anyone who saw the way the Lions snatch the match from the Glasgow Warriors against all the odds last week, will be watching carefully, if not hoping, that they can repeat the performance.
There are however 15 blue jerseys standing in their way, intent on spoiling their party.
Perhaps it is the anticipation of a great match that makes the endless jersey pulling in the middle of the field a little disappointing. But after 14 minutes the Lions come alive and score from a full line movement through the blinding speed of wing Edwill van der Merwe.
After 17 minutes the Lions’ Sanele Nohamba scores a second penalty and the Lions have a very handy 10 point lead.
While the match is tight and played in the middle of the field with close marking and very little attacking, the men from Johannesburg seem to have the lion’s share of the possession.
On 22 minutes Lions scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba takes a quick tap kick penalty and catches the entire Bulls team with their pants around their ankles.
Maybe the Bulls are embarrassed into action because the forwards do the hard work for the backs to score the try.
The Bulls are down two tries to one but are not looking so sleepy anymore. In fact they score a great running try, again down the left hand side – but the pass is forward.
A minute later, Sibusiso Nkosi scores a try that brings the Bulls within ten points at halftime – but even now, it would be a brave person who bets that Jake White’s Bulls will lose the match.
There was a time when Blue Bulls rugby fans talked about the blue poison. They would look at the clock and say, wait for 60 minutes.
The pushover try the Bulls score with exactly 20 minutes to play does not only even the scores but it is clearly a power try by the stronger pack of forwards.
Five minutes later a penalty hands the Lions a one point lead.
Ten minutes on the clock and it feels like there is at least one more score to come. In whose favour, is the question.
Nohamba takes a pressure penalty, and gives the Lions a four point lead.
The Bulls look like scoring a number of times, but the Lions defence holds. It’s another performance the Lions could be very proud of.
As the clock runs down the last 60 seconds, the Bulls have a classic pushover try. The clock ticks into the red as the Bulls go over the tryline – but the ball is held up.
A great irony is that Morné Steyn had a bad kicking day while Lions scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba has a 100% success rate. The Bulls scored four tries, the Lions only two, but the Lions win a famous victory
Bulls (4 tries) 25-29 (2 tries) Lions.
Pictured above: The Lions celebrating against the Blue Bulls
Image source: The Lions
