
Lions hold off second-half Stormers comeback to secure URC win
The Lions held off a spirited fightback from Stormers to secure a 30-23 win in round 11 of the United Rugby Championship at Emirates Airline Park.
The hosts enjoyed an 18-point lead at half-time after tries from Morne van den Berg, Henco van Wyk, and Marius Louw, the first two coming with Warrick Gelant in the sin-bin for deliberately slowing the ball down after making a try-saving tackle.
Gelant made partial amends with a superb individual score early in the second half and Evan Roos also crossed after Richard Kriel was shown a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on.
However, the Lions defence held firm under concerted pressure before Jurie Matthee’s penalty secured a losing bonus point.
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Very surprising result, but magnificent for the Lions who have had the worst of luck losing games in very close contests. A team who can't keep hold of their young stars who prefers to go to other stronger unions. They are growing in stature, slowly but surely
Champions -> finalists -> quarter finalists -> also rans.
The Stormers are a poorly coached side. That much is obvious from their regression over the last four seasons.
What are you going to do, Dobbo? FO, maybe?
I don't quite agree. They are forced to play 2nd stringers due to massive injuries from their all stars. They are a great team with no depth. A few injuries and they are average. They don't have the funds to acquire th depth they need so they have to use what they can scrape together. If they were at full strength, they would've beaten both the Bulls and Lions, although the Bulls have a few big injuries too. Only count them out at your own risk, and this is coming from a Bulls fan who can't stand the Stormers. They've put everything into the Bulls game last week as it's the biggest SA derby, like a WC final in SA. They did however underestimate the Lions as they have beaten them quite regularly in the URC thus far.