Lions down gutsy Griffons

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The Lions defused the Griffons’ second-half revival to come away with a bonus-point Currie Cup victory in Welkom on Friday.

A valiant effort from the Griffons fell short as the Lions claimed a 39-22 victory.

The Lions opened the scoring midway through the first quarter when flanker JC Pretorius dotted down, but the Griffons struck back from the ensuing kickoff with a try from lock Rian Olivier.

Constantly prying at the Griffons defence, the visitors were rewarded with three tries in the 15 minutes leading up to half time, despite a yellow card to lock Ruben Schoeman for a dangerous tackle.

Schoeman scored first before heading to the naughty chair. Winger Boldwin Hansen was then on hand to finish off Sanele Nohamba’s deft kick before hooker Jaco Visagie displayed impressive pace to secure a 26-7 lead for the Lions heading into the break.

It was all Griffons in the third quarter, clawing their way back into the match through centre Carel Coetzee’s try, who gathered a brilliant tap-back from winger Keanu Vers, before sharp work from scrumhalf Jaywinn Juries put hooker Hendrik van Schoor in for the score to make it a 10-point game.

But Griffons hopes were dashed when fullback and captain Duan Pretorius was shown a yellow card for hands in the ruck with ten minutes left on the clock, and Lions lock Raynard Roets settled the contest just before the final whistle when he scored in the corner.

Photo: Shaun Roy/BackpagePix

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