Jantjies boots Lions to Province Currie Cup victory

The Golden Lions recovered from last week’s Currie Cup loss to the Sharks by scraping past Western Province 26-23 in the Currie Cup at Coca Cola Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.

Man of the match Elton Jantjies kicked a penalty four minutes into extra time to win the match for the Lions which got them back to winning ways and back on top of the Currie Cup standings.

CJ Van der Linde was sent to the bin with two minutes remaining on the clock and Western Province used the numbers advantage to drive Brok Harris over the tryline.

Demetri Catrakilis successfully kicked the conversion to level the scores and earn Western Province a draw. However the Lions worked the ball into Province’s half where they were awarded a penalty which Jantjies slotted and won the match.

The visitors stunned the hosts in the opening minutes of the match as they
romped to a 10-0 lead after 13 minutes.

Province, employing a more expansive game plan than the Stormers did in the
Super Rugby competition, crossed the whitewash nine minutes into the match.

They took the ball through a number of phases with some great interplay, leading
to winger Gerhard van den Heever’s try.

Centre Juan de Jongh played a pivotal role in the lead-up to the try as he
pierced the Lions’ defences with an injection of pace and side stepping.

Eighthman Duane Vermeulen, returning after a long injury layoff, made the final
pass to Van den Heever who scored the try, with flyhalf Demetri Catrakilis converting.

Four minutes later Catrakilis succeeded with a penalty conversion to stretch
their lead to 10 points.

Jantjies scored his side’s first points of the match with a penalty conversion
in the 15th minute.

The hosts, however, still looked flat-footed as they battled to get possession
to launch any kind of attack.

They finally seemed to kick on as Josh Strauss scored their first five-pointer
of the evening after the side found some positive momentum.

Jantjies, in superb form, made a well weighted pass to Strauss who bashed his
way towards the tryline and had to stretch to place the ball for the try.

While the Lions’ playmaker flyhalf missed the conversion kick, he made up for
the mistake shortly before the half-time break to give his side the lead for
the first time in the match.

Jantjies continued his fine place kicking after the break as he added another
penalty conversion to extend his team’s lead to four points.

His opposite number replied with a conversion kick of his own to reduce the
deficit to a point once again.

As both sides’ defences held strong, it turned into a kicking duel between
the two flyhalves, with Jantjies receiving the most opportunities at the posts.

He succeeded with two more penalties within two minutes to hand his side a
seven-point lead, but Catrakilis kept Province within striking distance with
his last penalty conversion of the match.

After Jantjies again extended the lead to seven points, Western Province struck
a massive blow with prop Brock Harris powering his way over the line after Lions
prop CJ van der Linde was yellow-carded for infringing metres from their own
tryline.

Catrakilis converted to level the scores but his counterpart had the final
say of the match.

Lions captain JC Janse van Rensburg made a bold call for a scrum on the halfway
line rather than kicking for the posts.

His decision, however, paid off as the side progressed closer to the tryline
where they received a penalty, which gave Jantjies an easier kick for victory.

Final Score Golden Lions 26 Western Province 23

Scorers

Golden Lions
Try – Strauss
Pens – Jantjies 7
Con –

Western Province
Tries – Van den Heever,