Lions shatter Edinburgh's double dream
MATCH REPORT: The Lions won their fourth successive United Rugby Championship match when they edged an Edinburgh team filled to the brim with Scottish internationals.
The 15-9 win at Ellis Park, Johannesburg, also ended Edinburgh's dream of a South African double.
The Lions, with the irrepressible Vincent Tshituka again in fine form, outscored the visitors by two tries to nil to take another step closer to the top 10 on the standings.
* To recap all the drama, CLICK HERE!
Mike Blair’s men had become the first Northern Hemisphere side to win on South African soil this season, when they triumphed over the Sharks in Durban last weekend.
However, they came up short at Ellis Park, as the Lions maintained their resurgence.
Jordan Hendrikse and Vincent Tshituka touched down for the hosts, while Edinburgh were limited to nine points from the boots of Henry Immelman and Emiliano Boffelli.
Immelman opened the scoring with a monster drop-goal in the 12th minute, making the most of the thin Johannesburg air to split the posts from around halfway after collecting Hendrikse’s goal-line drop-out.
The effort produced the only points of a tight opening quarter and Hendrikse was off target with a penalty from similar range in the 21st minute.
Boffelli doubled Edinburgh’s advantage from a penalty after 28 minutes, but that lead was reduced to one point soon after.
Morne van den Berg made decent ground before getting an excellent offload to Edwill van der Merwe, who charged down the wing and passed back inside for Hendrikse to finish.
The flyhalf could not convert and the Lions trailed at the break after Van Den Berg failed to chase down his own kick having broken Edinburgh’s defensive line.
Blair Kinghorn had a try disallowed for a Ben Vellacott knock-on in the build-up eight minutes into the second half, before Edinburgh lost Magnus Bradbury to the sin bin for tackling his man without the ball.
The Lions quickly punished their visitors when a tidy exchange of passes following a line-out drive sent Tshituka over, with Hendrikse adding the extras – his first successful kick in three attempts.
A Boffelli penalty pulled Edinburgh back within three, but Hendrikse followed it up with one of his own to keep the visitors at arm’s length and the Lions defence held firm to see out the closing minutes.
The scorers
For the Lions
Tries: Hendrikse, V Tshituka
Con: Hendriks
Pen: Hendrikse
For Edinburgh
Pens: Boffelli 2
DG: Immelman
Yellow card: Magnus Bradbury (Edinburgh, 50 -foul play, tackling a player without the ball)
Teams
Lions: 15 Quan Horn, 14 Rabz Maxwane, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Manuel Rass, 11 Edwill van der Merwe, 10 Jordan Hendrikse, 9 Morne van den Berg, 8 Emmanuel Tshituka, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Francke Horn, 5 Reinhard Nothnagel (captain), 4 Ruben Schoeman, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Pieter Botha, 1 Jean-Pierre Smith.
Replacements: 16 Morne Brandon, 17 Sithembiso Sithole, 18 Asenathi Ntlabakanye, 19 Ruan Venter, 20 Sibusiso Sangweni, 21 Andre Warner, 22 Henco van Wyk, 23 Tiaan van Wyk.
Edinburgh: 15 Henry Immelman, 14 Darcy Graham, 13 Mark Bennett, 12 James Lang, 11 Emiliano Boffelli, 10 Blair Kinghorn, 9 Ben Vellacott, 8 Ben Muncaster, 7 Hamish Watson, 6 Magnus Bradbury, 5 Grant Gilchrist (captain), 4 Pierce Phillips, 3 Willem Nel, 2 Stuart McInally, 1 Pierre Schoeman.
Replacements: 16 Dave Cherry, 17 Boan Venter, 18 Luan de Bruin, 19 Glen Young, 20 Connor Boyle, 21 Charlie Shiel, 22 Jaco van der Walt, 23 Matt Currie.
Referee: Gianluca Gnecchi (Italy)
Assistant referees: Morné Ferreira (South Africa) , Paul Mente (South Africa)
TMO: Ben Crouse (South Africa)
* Additional reporting by @URCOfficial