Lions regain roar at home with win against Dragons, Sharks pay for errors

 The Lions secured their first home victory of the season and drew first blood against the visiting Dragons, who they will play three times in less than two months, with a solid if unspectacular 33-25 win at Ellis Park on Sunday.

Flyhalf Jordan Hendrikse, brother of Springbok scrumhalf Jaden, was named Champion of the Match for his tally of 21 points to guide his team home.

The 21-year-old No.10 may not have been selected for the Springboks and SA ‘A’ end-of-year tour but there is a sense he is something special and one for the future.

The Ivan van Rooyen-coached Lions enjoyed a terrific northern hemisphere tour with a hat-trick of wins against the Ospreys, Cardiff and Edinburgh but the Johannesburg franchise had not won at home since April 30.

They did enough to subdue the visiting Welsh side, who only won two round robin matches last season from 18 fixtures.

After both flyhalves — Henrikse and Sam Davies — exchanged a pair of penalties early on and the Lions extended their first half lead courtesy of a try from loose forward Ruhan Straeuli, who crashed over from close range.

The five-pointer came shortly after Dragons captain Ross Moriarty was yellow-carded for collapsing a rolling maul.

Earlier, the Lions also had a player yellow-carded after Emmanuel Tshituka. At second glance it seemed accidental but referee Sam Grove-White was correct according to the letter of the law.

The Lions’ set-piece functioned well without a line-out lost in the first half and exerted dominance at scrum time. The Lions took a 19-6 lead into the break and never looked like relinquishing it.

But the second half started in the worst possible fashion for the Lions, with Henco van Wyk, fresh from SA ‘A’ duty, yellow-carded for head contact at a ruck. Shortly thereafter Sio Tomkinson dotted down for the visitors from a pinpoint crosskick.

The Dragons notched three tries — two well-worked five-pointers in the second half — but the Lions were full value for their eight-point win and also scored a hat-trick of tries.

The Lions host the Scarlets next Sunday, while the next weekend they kick off their European Rugby Challenge Cup campaign away to the Dragons on December 10.

* In the later game on Sunday SARugby.co.za reports it was a night to forget for the Sharks as Cardiff delivered a masterclass in wet-weather rugby to win their clash in Durban 35-0 (half-time 23-0).

The hosts were made to pay for too many unforced errors, indiscretions, wrong options, inferior tactical awareness and being schooled at the breakdowns in their first defeat at Kings Park in six matches since their 5-21 reverse to Edinburgh in Durban in March.