SANLAM Boland Cavaliers stunned the Fidelity ADT Lions 29-10 to breathe new life into their chances of reaching the playoffs of this year’s Currie Cup Premier Division.
The bonus-point win sees the Sanlam Boland Cavaliers leap into the third position in the Carling Currie Cup standings after securing a second home win.
The Cavas were put under early pressure by the Lions’ attack and suffered the setback of going a man down when Lunathi Nxele got a yellow card after four minutes. But the loss of Nxele for 10 minutes did not phase the home side, who turned a great defensive set into an attack with Donovan Don scoring for a 5-0 lead.
A defensive mistake after Nxele’s return, however, opened the door for the Lions to draw level as Kade Wolhuter found space to dive over for the visitors’ opening score.
However, it was the Cavas who would dominate most of the first half proceedings, putting the Lions under immense pressure in the scrums and winning penalties from the set-piece. With fullback James Tedder slotting a successful penalty to put Boland 8-5 up.
More enterprising attack from the Wellington outfit saw Don score his second try of the day as the Lions went down to 14 men for cynical play by scrumhalf Nico Steyn.
Boland kept the pressure on the Lions, but some unforced errors in close to the end of the first half kept them from extending their lead.
After the break, the scores would stay at 15-5 for the first 20 minutes, until the Lions threatened to launch a comeback with Gianni Lombard scoring to cut Boland’s lead to five points.
But slowly but surely the Cavas started regaining their momentum with Tedder spotting space at the back before launching a chip kick and regathering for Xavier Mitchell to go and score under the poles.
With a lead of 12 points, Boland went in hunt of the bonus point with Juan Mostert scoring in added time to lift the Cavas to fourth spot on the log.
SCORERS:
Boland 29 (15) – Tries: Donovan Don (2), Xavier Mitchell, Juan Mostert. Conversions: James Tedder (3). Penalty: Tedder
Lions 10 (5) – Tries: Kade Wolhuter and Gianni Lombard
SANLAM BOLAND CAVALIERS: 15 James Tedder, 14 Donavan Don, 13 David Brits, 12 Lunathi Nxele, 11 Xavier Mitchell, 10 Ashlon Davids (vice-captain), 9 Louis Schreuder, 8 Thurlow Marsh, 7 Ludio Williams, 6 Sauliegh Arendse, 5 Marlyn Williams (captain), 4 Michael Benadie, 3 Dayan van der Westhuizen, 2 Sidney Tobias, 1 Wayrin Losper
Replacements: 16 HP van Schoor, 17 Mthokozisi Gumede, 18 Laurence Victor, 19 Ameer Hendricks, 20 Khwezi Mafu, 21 Chriswill September, 22 Juan Mostert, 23 Erik Lambrecht
FIDELITY ADT LIONS: 15 Gianni Lombard, 14 Angelo Davids, 13 Manuel Rass, 12 Rynhardt Jonker, 11 Kelly Mpeku, 10 Kade Wolhuter, 9 Nico Steyn, 8 WJ Steenkamp, 7 Siba Qoma, 6 Jarod Cairns, 5 Raynard Roets, 4 Dylan Sjoblom, 3 RF Schoeman, 2 Jaco Visagie (c), 1 SJ Kotze
Replacements: 16 Franco Marais, 17 Juan Schoeman, 18 Stian de Bruyn, 19 Johnre Stopforth, 20 Luca Ribbens, 21 Renzo du Plessis, 22 Layton Horn, 23 Bronson Mills