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Lions end Bulls campaign in one-sided rout

rugby30 August 2025 15:39| © SuperSport
By:Brenden Nel
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The Fidelity ADT Lions ended the Vodacom Bulls' run in the Carling Currie Cup and gave themselves a boost to move into the top four of the competition with a one-sided 44-5 victory.

Phiwe Nomlomo’s side were always going to be up against it, with injuries, URC call-ups and other reasons robbing them of the majority of the squad that started the season, so it was no surprise that they couldn’t keep pace with a Lions side that relied heavily on their URC squad.

Whether that is the right way to go awaits to be seen for the Lions, especially as last season they did the same, only to fade in the second half of the URC season, but on the day, there was a significant difference between the two sides.

The only downside from a Lions romp on a warm afternoon was the late spate of cards that threatened to take the game into farce mode as almost every hit was called out and only the mature response of TMO Egon Seconds stopped the game from ending with several players seeing red.

Unfortunately, referee Sean Muller tended to give the harshest sanction for high shots that even the commentators disagreed were worthy of such a sanction, prompting Owen Nkumane at one point to say, “If you look for it hard enough, you will find a reason,” as the last part of the game saw four cards that were all debatable.

Still, the Bulls were never going to be competitive in a match where they were penalised 16 times, being caught time and again for offside, and as a consequence, were always on the back foot.

But the Lions' quality in the backline allowed their dominance, and the bonus point they scored in the process will set them up for the last week in this phase of the competition with a lot of confidence.

The Lions started well and got immediate reward as new signing and former Bulls pivot Chris Smith kicked a penalty and followed it up with a try to give his side an early 10-point lead. Jaco van der Walt hit back after a linebreak to score at the other end of the field, with the contest looking a lot closer than it was to become.

But the Lions took control and a string of penalties against the Bulls put them on their own line, with SJ Kotze barging over from close range to put the Lions further ahead. The departure of Simphiwe Matanzima for repeated infringements with a yellow card gave the Lions another opportunity, and their rolling maul marched over with ease, giving PJ Botha the try.

The Bulls held out for the first part of the second half, but were hanging on by their fingernails, before the card frenzy saw Cornel Smit and Marco Ferreira from the Bulls and Ruan Venter from the Lions get their marching orders.

In between, Richard Kriel dotted down behind the posts to keep the pressure up for the Lions and grab the bonus point before Sam Francis and Haashim Pead finished off the rout with late tries.

 SCORERS:

FIDELITY ADT LIONS - tries: Chris Smith, SJ Kotze, PJ Botha, Richard Kriel, Sam Francis, Haashim Pead. Conversions: Smith (2), Francis, Kriel. Penalties: Smith (2).

VODACOM BULLS - try: Jaco van der Walt

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