Lions comeback falls short
Defending Super Rugby champions the Bulls made a winning start to their 2011 campaign after scraping past the Lions 24-20.
Last Updated: 19/02/11 8:08pm
Defending Super Rugby champions the Bulls made a winning start to their 2011 campaign after scraping past the Lions 24-20 in Johannesburg.
The visitors surged into an 18-0 lead at Coca-Cola Park as Zane Kirchner and Gerhard van den Heever both crossed the try-line in the opening stages.
But the Lions mounted a comeback through scores from Waylon Murray, Martin Bezuidenhout and Warren Whiteley.
The Bulls ultimately hung on as their Gauteng rivals were made to rue three missed kicks from Elton Jantjies, although their new owners can take plenty of encouragement from the display.
The hosts raced out of the gates and had the chance to go ahead in the second minute, but fly-half Jantjies struck his attempt against the upright.
Attack
Both sides then enjoyed some decent attacking spells and although neither could open the scoring, the Lions were clearly looking a better team than 12 months ago.
It was the Bulls that broke the deadlock 15 minutes in, though, as the ball was spread out to the right and Kirchner touched down unmarked.
Just two minutes later, Van den Heever used his pace to break through a small gap in the Lions defence before scoring under the posts.
Morne Steyn had missed the first conversion but added the extras this time and just after the 20 minute mark he made it 15-0 with a 50-metre penalty.
The advantage was then extended by another three points as Steyn struck again, but the hosts finally got themselves on the board when Murray's fine angled run sent him in for a try.
Jantjies fluffed his lines again as he wasted the conversion and Steyn capitalised with two further penalties to make the scoreline 24-5 at the half-time interval.
Dominant
The Lions came out reinvigorated after the break, with John Mitchell's side dominating play for 20 minutes following the restart.
Bezuidenhout and Whiteley took the plaudits for the tries, although it was excellent build up play from their team-mates that made the scores possible.
A yellow card for Stephan Dippenaar had aided the spell of pressure that saw the hosts cut the gap to seven points.
Jantjies' struggles continued as he only converted one of the tires, although he did nail a penalty 12 minutes from time to set up a tense finale.
Steyn sent a penalty of his own sailing narrowly wide but a tired Lions side could not take advantage as the Bulls held on to victory.