Lions edge past Valke
The Golden Lions rallied ahead late in the Vodacom Cup clash to clinch a 23-22 victory over a resolute Valke outfit at Ellis Park on Saturday, March 15.
The Valke were in the lead until the last five minutes of the match when Lions’ speedster, Anthony Volmink, crossed the whitewash from a well-worked backline move.
They went ahead for the first time in the match when Guy Cronje added the conversion.
The Valke had a perfect start to the match and got their noses in front after just five minutes when left wing Kyle Hendriks received a deft offload from number eight player Juan Pretorius, before racing through to dot-down under the posts.
Cecil Dumond’s conversion was followed by a penalty five minutes later, to give Johan du Toit’s men a 10-0 lead after 10 minutes.
The Lions gradually came out of their shell and found themselves in a couple of good positions to create try-scoring opportunities, but unrelenting Valke defence kept them out.
The home team maintained the pressure and got their breakthrough two minutes before the break when Cronje’s cut-out pass found Willie du Plessis who had to juggle the ball basketball-style before dotting down to make it 10-5.
He missed his own conversion.
The error-filled second stanza saw the two sides exchange penalties until the 64th minute, when Valke hooker, Devlin Hope’s line-out throw fell straight to Lions eighth man Ruann Lerm who crashed through for a try.
The home side added another try ten minutes later through Volmink, with Cronje sealing the win with his conversion.
