Late bonus for Lions at Loftus

A late try from Lionel Mapoe secured a 32-23 bonus-point victory for the Golden Lions over the Blue Bulls at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.

The second half of this match was a rugby cataract - it just rushed on, carrying you with it, bumping up and down from thrill to thrill. The first 10 minutes of the second half with their 19 points happened at an impossible rate.

In the end the Golden Lions were full value for their win. After all they were the side that ran hardest and most daringly. They were the cataract. And yet right at the end give the Blue Bulls credit as they went for just one more point - just one more bonus point, just one more. There was something heroic in their failure.

The first half yielded 18 fairly sedate points, the first 10 minutes of the second half 19 points. And there could have been more had the goal-kicking of the two excellent kickers, Elton Jantjies and Louis Fouché, been up to their usual standard. They each missed three penalty kicks at goal. In addition Fouché missed two conversions, the late one an easy one which would have levelled the scores.

Jantjies opened the scoring with a penalty from the half-way line when CJ Stander was offside but five minutes later the Blue Bulls took the lead. From a scrum on the right they went 8-9-15 - Dewald Potgieter to Ruan Snyman to elusive Clayton Blommetjies. Challenged Blommetjies had a choice of three players on his inside to pass to. He gave to Snyman who scored easily. 5-3 after 13 minutes.

From the kick-off the Golden Lions tried to run out of their own territory but were penalised at a tackle and this time Fouché got his kick over. 8-3 after 16 minutes.

Loftus Versfeld had only a peppering of spectators but they probably felt assured at this stage but when Fouché missed his next kick the Golden Lions set in motion their first try. They dropped out and won the ball. They grubbered towards touch and Blommetjies was forced to run the ball out. The Golden Lions mauled from the line-out and then Michael Bondesio came away with the ball and they set up phases till Lionel Mapoe raced ahead and hooker Callie Visagie sent right wing Deon Helberg speeding over for a try in the left corner with two team-mates spare on his outside. 10-8.

That was the half-time score.

The Blue Bulls kicked off to start the second half and the Golden Lions ran out of their own 22. Mapoe put in a short bouncing grubber which he recovered. The centre got away from Johann Sadie and François Venter and gave to Alwyn Hollenbach who raced over for the joyous try. 15-8 inside the first minute of the second half.

The Golden Lions started running again by when Mapoe was caught he could not control the ball and Venter snapped it up to run unopposed for the try that levelled the scores at 15-all after 45 minutes.

The Golden Lions attacked again and Warren Whiteley was close but Sadie intercepted and was away but the Golden Lions won a turnover off him and attacked again. It was that sort of to-and-fro game.

Jaco Taute, fuzzy-wuzzy and all, came on for Hollenbach and had a great impact on the game.

Andries Coetzee countered but the Blue Bulls held out. Then Helberg countered. He beat five Blue Bulls and gave to Jantjies who chipped, gathered and gave to Taute who had a long but unimpeded run to the posts. 22-15.

Still the Golden Lions went on attacking, going through nine phases till Jürgen Visser tackled high and Jantjies made it 25-15 with 20 minutes to play.

The cataract subsided as the Blue Bulls got more ball. They turned a penalty into a five-metre line-out but lost the line-out.

The Golden Lions went left and right and left again, enjoying lots of quick ball, but the Blue Bulls came back and a penalty at a  tackle against Ruan Dreyer, on at prop after the late withdrawal of CJ van der Linde, gave Fouché the chance to bring the score to 25-18 with 10 hectic minutes to play.

JJ Engelbrecht ran in counterattack. Tackled on the left Rudi Paige went blind and passed inside to Blommetjies who raced over for an exciting try. Fouché missed the conversion but the Blue Bulls were now just two points behind at 25-23 with 7 minutes to play.

Bless the Golden Lions, they did not close down but carried on running - left, right and left again. Whiteley raced round Willie Wepener and over Blommetjies to score but the referee referred the last pass from Franco van der Merwe to the TMO who ruled that it had been forward.

That gave the Blue Bulls a scrum but with Paige behind the eighthman the ball squirted out the side. Bondesio pounced on it and the Golden Lions went wide right where Mapoe, now on the wing, went over in the corner. Jantjies converted. 32-23 with two minutes to play. That fourth try gave the Golden Lions a bonus point.

With a minute left the Blue Bulls kicked for a line-out. With seconds left the Golden Lions were penalised again right in front of their posts. Kicking the penalty would give the Blue Bulls a bonus point. But scoring a try would have given them two bonus points. They opted for the scrum and attacked till hands went awry and  they missed out on a bonus point altogether.

Man of the Match: Lionel Mapoe. So much that the Golden Lions did that was splendid and exciting started with him...

The scorers:

For the Blue Bulls:

Tries: Snyman, Venter, Blommetjies

Con: Fouche

Pen: Fouche

For the Golden Lions:

Tries: Helberg, Hollenbach, Taute, Mapoe

Cons: Jantjies 3

Pens: Jantjies 2

Teams:

Blue Bulls: 15 Clayton Blommetjies, 14 Akona Ndungane, 13 Johann Sadie, 12 Francois Venter, 11 JJ Engelbrecht, 10 Louis Fouché, 9 Ruan Snyman, 8 Dewald Potgieter (captain), 7 CJ Stander, 6 Warwick Tecklenburg, 5 Grant Hattingh, 4 Wilhelm Steenkamp, 3 Werner Kruger, 2 Willie Wepener, 1 Dawie Steyn.

Replacements: 16 Bongi Mbonambi, 17 Frik Kirsten, 18 Cornell Hess, 19 Jean Cook, 20 Rudi Paige, 21 Lionel Cronjé, 22 Jürgen Visser.

Golden Lions: 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Deon Helberg, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Alwyn Hollenbach, 11 Ruan Combrinck, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Michael Bondesio, 8 Warren Whiteley, 7 Willie Britz, 6 Cobus Grobbelaar, 5 Franco van der Merwe, 4 Hendrik Roodt, 3 Jacobie Adriaanse, 2 Callie Visagie, 1 JC Janse van Rensburg (captain).

Replacements: 16 Bandise Maku, 17 Ruan Dreyer, 18 Michael Rhodes, 19 Jaco Kriel, 20 Ross Cronje, 21 Butch James, 22 Jaco Taute.

Referee: Jason Jaftha

Assistants: Marius Jonker, Stefan Breytenbach

TMO: Johann Meuwesen