Lions maul Cardiff as SA sides' impressive weekend in URC continues

The SA sides' weekend to remember in the United Rugby Championship continued as the Lions roared to a resounding 37-20 victory over Cardiff at Ellis Park in Johannesburg in the early game on Sunday and Seabelo Senatla snatched a hat-trick of tries as the Stormers Crushed Zebre 55-7 in the later match in Stellenbosch.

The Stormers ran in nine tries to one from the Italian side at Danie Craven Stadium with two tries apiece from hooker Scara Ntubeni and wing Leolin Zas win No10 Manie Libbok and No12 Damian Willemse contributing maximum points in the rout. 

Earlier in the weekend the Bulls trampled Munster at Loftus and the Sharks tore the Scarlets apart with a bonus-point win at Kings Park in Durban.

On a glorious Sunday afternoon in Johannesburg, the Lions passed Cardiff in league points with their third win from 11 matches but they have more ground to cover as the victory only moved them up one place to fourth-from-bottom in the 16-team standings.

The Johannesburg side went into combat on Sunday licking their wounds after five consecutive defeats but found strength in their reserves to get over the line against the Welsh outfit to boost their faint hopes of a top eight finish.

The Lions had an ideal start as Morne van der Berg crashed over the try line in the opening minute with Jordan Hendrikse’s precision form his first conversation indicating the No 10 was going to have a key role to play.

The 20-year-old Hendrikse showed nerves of steel as he converted all four tries and scored three of the four penalties as the Lions outscored Cardiff by four tries to two.

Edwill van der Merwe scored two brilliant tries and Hendrikse’s conversations were spot on as the Lions kept the score ticking, but they conceded needless penalties repeatedly shortly after crashing over, allowing Jarrod Evans to eat away at the lead.

With the Lions leading 24-6 after half an hour, one of the penalties from one of the many handling errors was kicked for a line-out and the end result was a try by wing Aled Summerhill. Evans, in his 100th appearance for Cardiff, converted to ensure the Welsh trailed 24-13 going into the break.

The Lions had a sloppy start after the break as they allowed No.8 James Botham to crash over and cut the Lions' lead to four points.

Cardiff’s Max Llewellyn, wearing the number 22 jersey, and prop Dimitri Arhip conceded two quick penalties from scrum and ruck infringements and Hendrikse was again equal to the task to kick the six-pointers that gave the Lions a 10-point lead after an hour.

Despite Cardiff playing with a man down after Kristian Dacey was shown yellow with 18 minutes remaining the Lions were lethargic after the restart and couldn’t close out the match.

The SA side were also fortunate Cardiff failed to find their higher gears but that was largely because Lions flanker Vincent Tshituka and No 8 Francke Horn were immense for the home side, who scored all three of their tries in the first half.

Despite the win, the Lions are still the bottom-ranked side of the four SA teams.

But after the Bulls bulldozed Munster 29-24 and the Sharks’ 37-20 victory over the Scarlets, the standings could see a huge shake up-in the next few weeks as northern hemisphere teams head south in six of the next seven rounds.

The Scarlets will be looking for redemption when they make the short trip on the M1 north to Loftus where the Bulls will lie in wait on Friday, the Lions have home again against Munster on Saturday while the Sharks will welcome Zebre in Durban in the later match.

The Stormers, who locked horns with Zebre shortly after the Lions win, will be at home again in Stellenbosch to face off against Cardiff next Sunday.

Wins for SA sides in home conditions in the next round will see them climb up the table but they may have left it too late as the top five sides — leaders Leinster, Ulster, Munster, Glasgow Warriors and Edinburgh — have amassed significant leads over their rivals.

The Bulls, Stormers and Sharks broke into the top 10 but the Lions have to do more revive their season.