Bulls take honours in derby clash, Lions lose tough battle against Crusaders
While the Lions on Sunday in Johannesburg suffered their third defeat of the season, the Bulls on Saturday night managed to break their month-long winning drought in Pretoria against the Stormers.
The Bulls returned to winning ways on Saturday evening at Loftus Versfeld with their 33-23 derby win over the Stormers, while earlier in the Lions suffered their third defeat of the season when the Crusaders beat them on Sunday evening in Johannesburg.
The Lions played at home on Emirates Airline Park in a repeat of the 2017 final against the Crusaders and the New Zealand side edged the Highveld team 14-8 in a close fought match.
Wing Madosh Tambwe scored the opening try of the match while the Crusaders replied with tries from Sam Whitelock and Jack Goodhue.
The Lions are still heading the SA Conference log with 20 points from their four wins from seven matches. They are followed by the Stormers and Sharks who are both on 13 points, with the Bulls (9) and Jaguares (8) completing the local standings.
Saturday’s Bulls win over their Cape Town rivals saw the men from Pretoria ending a run of four losses in a row, with former captain Adriaan Strauss scoring three times before his substitution in the second half.
It was a fitting performance by Strauss who celebrated his fantastic Super Rugby achievement for the most appearances by any South African at this level. The 32-year-old hooker made his 149th Super Rugby appearance in his first start of the season, surpassing the longstanding record of Victor Matfield’s of 148 matches – where it all started for him, in Pretoria.
Centre Damian de Allende and lock Pieter-Steph du Toit were both yellow carded, which disrupted play for the visiting Cape side while replacement prop Lizo Gqoboka of the home team was also shown yellow near the end of the game.
Sharks flyhalf Robert du Preez delivered a superb performance and contributed a personal tally of 38 points in the Durban side’s thrilling 63-40 triumph over the Blues early on Saturday morning in Auckland.
Du Preez kicked seven penalties, six conversions and also dotted down a try for the SA side who snapped a two-game losing run with their sparkling victory at Eden Park. The difference between the sides was the string of successful penalty kicks which Du Preez slotted with impressive easy.
Next Friday the Sharks visit the Hurricanes, the Emirates Lions host the Stormers on Saturday afternoon while the Bulls have a bye.
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