Lions claim bonus point win over Southern Kings

The Emirates Lions convincingly beat the Southern Kings 42-19 in Port Elizabeth in Saturday's Super Rugby clash, running in six tries to the hosts’ three.

The Kings started the game superbly as Andisa Ntsila charged down a kick to score the day’s first try just a minute into the game. Lionel Cronje made no mistake in converting. However, two minutes later, Madosh Tambwe intercepted a pass on the Southern Kings tryline and dotted down for the simplest of tries. An Elton Jantjies conversion levelled the scores.

The Lions asserted their dominance over the next fifteen minutes, scoring two more tries. The first came from Malcolm Marx through a maul, while the second was scored by Jantjies after a sustained spell of pressure. The fly-half converted both.

The Kings hit back when Ntsila embarked on a superb run and set up Yaw Penxe for a try. This time, Cronje failed to convert.

However, the Lions were straight back on the front foot and hit back through another Tambwe try, which Jantjies converted from near the touchline.

With seven minutes left of the first half, the Lions added another try through Jaco Kriel after some superb work from an attacking lineout. Once again, the conversion from Jantjies was immaculate. The Lions thus went into the break with a resounding 35-12 lead.

The Kings started the second half as they did the first, as Malcolm Jaer darted through the Lions defence to score the opening try. Cronje made no mistake with the conversion.

No further points were scored until four minutes from full-time, when Harold Vorster clinched the bonus point try. Andries Coetzee added the extra two points and the Lions secured a comfortable victory in Warren Whiteley’s 50^th game as their captain.

KINGS 19

Tries: Ntsila, Penxe, Jaer

Conversions: Cronje (2)

LIONS 42

Tries: Tambwe (2), Jantjies, Marx, Kriel, Vorster

Conversions: Jantjies (5), Coetzee

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