The Lions brought the curtain down on their Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign with a bonus-point victory against last-placed Zebre at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The 50-35 victory boosted the men from Johannesburg into ninth place with a 9-9 record and qualifies them for the Challenge Cup again next season. In a match that featured 13 tries, the Lions scored eight of them, scrumhalf Sanele Nohamba and wing Edwill van der Merwe each scoring a brace while Nohamba added five conversions for an individual haul of 20 points.
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Italian flyer Simone Gesi scored a hat-trick for Zebre who couldn’t have asked for a better start as the first of those touchdowns came in the first minute. But the Lions rallied quickly as Nohamba, Van der Merwe (2), flanker Jaco Kriel and fullback Quan Horn crossed five times to give the hosts a 31-22 lead at half time.
Less than 6️⃣0️⃣ seconds into the game, and @ZebreParma strikes first! ?@Vodacom #URC | #LIOvZEB | #UnitedWeRise pic.twitter.com/bVIpfg23zK
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) April 22, 2023
The tourists lost Argentine flanker Guido Volpi to a yellow card just before the break and when former Bristol Bears goal-kicker Tiff Eden followed him to the naughty chair 10 minutes into the second half, the Lions pounced on the advantage to score three unanswered tries – via Andries Coetzee, Rynhardt Rijnsburger and Nohamba.
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Sanele Nohamba, slipping through the the defence like its nothing! ?@Vodacom #URC | #LIOvZEB | #UnitedWeRise | @LionsRugbyCo pic.twitter.com/K8t0vAq10m
— Vodacom United Rugby Championship (URC) (@URCOfficial_RSA) April 22, 2023
Zebre responded with two fourth-quarter strikes from fullback Jacopo Trulla and Argentine replacement prop Juan Pitinari, but they did little to take the shine off a 50-point victory for the Lions.
Photo: Gordon Arons/Gallo Images