Victorious Lions roar in Lowveld card fest

A total of four yellow cards were shown to the Pumas on the night, allowing the Lions to dictate terms.

The Pumas suffered their first setback when their captain Stefan Watermeyer received was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-down when the Lions looked certain to score a try.

The referee awarded a penalty try and from the conversion the visitors enjoyed a 7-0 lead in the sixth minute of the match.

While the men from Johannesburg were again impressive at scrum time, both sides struggled to hang onto the ball and the result was that neither were able to build momentum early on.

Johan Ackermann’s men would have been very disappointed that they were unable to capitalize on the early one-man advantage.

Disappointment for the Pumas followed after two missed penalties by JC Roos who has experienced a rare off night with the boot.

Boshoff in turn kicked two more penalties before the half-time while Roos had only one successful kick to show.

Just before the teams headed into the tunnel Boshoff ensured that his men would have a healthy 16-3 lead when he slotted a brilliant drop-goal from 50 metres out.

Boshoff and Roos exchanged penalties after the break (16-9) before the visitors stretched their lead when the man-of-the-match converted his fourth penalty of the evening in the 50th minute.

Desperate to get back into the game Bok discard Faf de Klerk produced a moment of magic after Frank Herne broke the line catching the Lions off guard.

De Klerk finished in style although Roos hit the upright with his conversion attempt and after 52 minutes the score was 22-11.

While losing their captain for 10-minutes in the first half was not enough, three more Pumas players would receive yellow cards (Marnus Schoeman, Uzair Cassiem and Khwezi Mona) in a space of 15 minutes making it a once sided contest.

Flank Kwagga Smith would score two more tries, and Boshoff one, to hand to ensure the Lions left the Lowveld with the full complement of log points.

Scorers: 

Pumas 11 (3): Try: Faf de Klerk. Penalties: JC Roos (2)

Lions 41 (16): Tries: Penalty try, Kwagga Smith (2), Marnitz Boshoff. Conversions: Marnitz Boshoff (3). Penalties: Boshoff (4). Drop-goal: Boshoff - ANA