Lions are the Currie Cup Champions

It’s been decades since the Lions held the Currie Cup aloft at Ellis Park but they proved that thet were worthy champions by thrashing the Sharks by 42 points to 16.

It was a one-sided affair that humiliatd the Springbok-laden Durba- based outfit as the Lions ran in three tries while flyhalf Elton Jantjies kicked 24 points through three conversions, five penalties and a dropgoal.

The Lions dominated every aspect of play making the Sharks virtual spectators as they piled on a 19-3 lead and as their frustrations grew for the boys in black so did the penalty count which played right into the hands of Jantjies and the Lions led 19-6 at the break.

The only try by the Sharks came from a knock-on which the assistant referee failed to see – or didn’t want to. Referee Mark Lawrence consulted his assistant on the touch line, Christi du Preez, as he had seen Willem Alberts drop the ball, which was passed to him by Bismarck du Plessis, but du Preez said that the pass was fine. In fact Alberts had knocked the ball forward then picked it and proceeded to score, not that it made any real difference as the Sharks were well beaten.

Perhaps the big lesson to be learned from this match is that a make-shift team will never beat a well oiled machine that has trained and played together for months. Adding a bunch of Big Names to the regular Sharks line-up completely unbalanced the team, who looked like they had never played together before.

Congratulations to John Mitchell and his squad for an excellent season in the face of all the off-field actions and loss of sponsorships. – Staff Reporter SportsCentral