Blommetjies adds to Lions' woes
A late try by Clayton Blommetjies helped the Blue Bulls to a 27-26 win over the Golden Lions in a Currie Cup pre-season match at the Wits University stadium on Friday.
The win by the Bulls came in a week when two of the Lions' most prominent players - Grant Hattingh, who featured on the Bulls' bench, and South African Under-20 lock Paul Willemse - made the trek north to Pretoria.
Earlier the Lions had also sacked backline coach Carlos Spencer and conditioning coach Wayne Taylor, while star loose forward Joshua Strauss stepped down as captain.
The Bulls, featuring a decidedly second-string side against a near full-strength Lions selection, came up trumps in a typical warm-up match.
Blommetjies scored after the buzzer, leaving it up to Lionel Cronjé to nail the match-winning conversion.
The Golden Lions were up 26-20 with no time left on the clock, with the Bulls having made nine changes to their team just after half-time.
The Blue Bulls had a 8-7 advantage at the break after an early Lions try was cancelled out by a Cronjé penalty and a try by Ruan Snyman.
CJ Stander scored soon after the restart to put the Blue Bulls up 13-7 with Cronjé’s kick adding the extra two.
Two tries by the home side, the second a great break-out try by Lionel Mapoe, gave them the edge (19-15).
Warwick Tecklenburg scored to put the Blue Bulls in the lead again, but another try by the hosts and a conversion seemed to seal matters for the Golden Lions.
Blommetjies and Cronjé had other ideas though and after a cross-kick Blommetjies scored and Cronjé converted.
It was, as is to be expected, a somewhat stop-start affair at times although both sides tried to run with the ball when possible.
For both teams’ coaches there was something to take from the practice run as well as plenty of work ahead before the Blue Bulls play Griquas at Loftus next Friday and the Golden Lions meet the Cheetahs in Johannesburg on Saturday in the opening round of Currie Cup fixtures.
The scorers:
For the Golden Lions:
Tries: Bezuidenhout, Mapoe, Hancke, Okafor
Cons: Jantjies 2, Durand
For the Blue Bulls:
Tries: Snyman, Stander, Tecklenburg, Blommetjies
Cons: Fouche, Cronje
Pen: Fouche
Teams:
Golden Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Waylon Murray, 11 Anthony Volmink, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Derick Minnie, 7 Joshua Strauss, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Martin Bezuidenhout, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg (captain).
Replacements - from: Francois du Toit, Caylib Oosthuizen, Patric Cilliers, Ruan Dreyer, JC Wasserman, Cobus Grobbelaar, Warren Whiteley, Willie Britz, Ross Cronje, Gus Cronje, Justin St Jerry, Chrysander Botha, JR Esterhuizen, Richard Aingworth, Whestley Moolman, Grant Janke.
Blue Bulls: 15 Jurgen Visser, 14 Sampie Mastriet, 13 Ulrich Beyers, 12 Francois Venter, 11 Clayton Blommetjies, 10 Louis Fouché, 9 Jano Vermaak, 8 CJ Stander, 7 Arno Botha, 6 Deon Stegmann, 5 Cornell Hess, 4 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 3 Frik Kirsten, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Dawie Steyn.
Replacements - from: Morné Mellett, Robbie Coetzee, Rossouw de Klerk, Franco Mostert, Grant Hattingh, Warwick Tecklenburg, Wiaan Liebenberg, Ruan Snyman, Lionel Cronjé, Adri Jacobs, Jerome Pretorius.
Referee: Rasta Rasivhenge