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Cronje hails rampant Lions: We showed what we can do

The Lions celebrate their final try against the Hurricanes

Lions scrum-half Ross Cronje felt his team reached the level they had been aiming for all year as a stunning second-half display sent the South African franchise into the Super Rugby final at the expense of the Hurricanes.

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A repeat of the 2016 final looked highly likely to end in another Hurricanes triumph when the visitors to Johannesburg charged into a 22-3 lead during the first half on Saturday.

However, the Lions reduced the deficit just before the interval through Jacques van Rooyen and then ran in five tries during a remarkably one-sided second half to triumph 44-29.

Referencing the Lions’ sloppy performance in a narrow quarter-final victory over the Sharks, man of the match Cronje said during the post-match presentation: “We came out here and had something to prove from last week. I really believe in the second half we played the type of rugby that we as the Lions have been striving to play throughout this whole season.”

Cronje insisted he and his team-mates had not required a dressing down at half-time.

“[There were] no stern words – there was always that belief in the team,” he added.

“The coach [Johan Ackermann] just revved us up at half-time and the boys went out there and really showed what we can do.”

Hurricanes skipper Dane Coles had no complaints over the end result as his side’s title defence was brought to an end.

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The All Blacks hooker said: “We just didn’t come out and do what we did in that first half. They got a bit of momentum on and they took it right to us.

“We gave it everything we got and unfortunately we came up short. The better team won on the day.”

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J
JW 1 hour ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Where? I remember saying "unders"? The LNR was formed by the FFR, if I said that in a way that meant the 'pro' side of the game didn't have an equal representation/say as the 'amateur' side (FFR remit) that was not my intent.


But also, as it is the governing body, it also has more responsibility. As long as WR looks at FFR as the running body for rugby in France, that 'power' will remain. If the LNR refuses to govern their clubs use of players to enable a request by FFR (from WR) to ensure it's players are able to compete in International rugby takes place they will simply remove their participation. If the players complain to the France's body, either of their health and safety concerns (through playing too many 'minutes' etc) or that they are not allowed to be part in matches of national interest, my understanding is action can be taken against the LNR like it could be any other body/business. I see where you're coming from now re EPCR and the shake up they gave it, yes, that wasn't meant to be a separate statement to say that FFR can threaten them with EPCR expulsion by itself, simply that it would be a strong repercussion for those teams to be removed (no one would want them after the above).


You keep bringing up these other things I cannot understand why. Again, do you think if the LNR were not acting responsibly they would be able to get away with whatever they want (the attitude of these posters saying "they pay the players")? You may deem what theyre doing currently as being irresponsible but most do not. Countries like New Zealand have not even complained about it because they've never had it different, never got things like windfall TV contracts from France, so they can't complain because theyre not missing out on anything. Sure, if the French kept doing things like withholding million dollar game payments, or causing millions of dollars of devaluation in rights, they these things I'm outlining would be taking place. That's not the case currently however, no one here really cares what the French do. It's upto them to sort themselves out if they're not happy. Now, that said, if they did make it obvious to World Rugby that they were never going to send the French side away (like they possibly did stating their intent to exclude 20 targeted players) in July, well then they would simply be given XV fixtures against tier 2 sides during that window and the FFR would need to do things like the 50/50 revenue split to get big teams visiting in Nov.

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