The Sharks and Western Province are the only two teams yet to register a win in this season's competition.
The Lions are properly back to winning ways after registering a second good victory in this year’s Currie Cup competition.
Mziwakhe Nkosi’s team followed up their first-round demolition of the Sharks (46-5) with another thumping win against Western Province (40-19) on Saturday to be two from two at this early stage of the competition.
It is a powerful statement following the team’s struggles in the United Rugby Championship where the Lions failed to finish in the top eight for a place in the quarter-finals.
While Nkosi said he was pleased with the result and performance at Ellis Park on Saturday, he was not happy with the team’s ill-discipline at times.
“The result was good for us and the performance was good in patches. I thought our breakdown showing was better than the week before but there was ill-discipline, but that’s an easy fix fortunately … hands in the ruck, not rolling away, off-sides at the edges. Each guy must just take responsibility.”
He added that keeping Western Province to 19 points meant the Lions “did one or two things right”.
Wins for Bulls, Cheetahs and Griquas
The Lions are next up against Boland, in their first away match of the campaign. They square off in Wellington on Sunday.
Sitting at the top of the points table with the Lions are their northern neighbours, the Bulls, who’ve also recorded two big wins so far.
After opening up their campaign with a 48-23 away win against Western Province in Cape Town, they smashed the Sharks 64-0 at Loftus Versfeld this last Saturday.
The Sharks, like all the teams who have a URC side, are backing their younger players during the Currie Cup, but there will be some concerns that they have won conceded 110 points in two matches and scored just one try.
The Bulls are next up against the Pumas in Pretoria in what should be an intriguing match. The Pumas from Mbombela always put up a fight against the Bulls and they’ll be keen to hit back after suffering a loss against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Friday (42-25). They’ll hope to find the form that saw them beat Griquas 49-28 in round one.
There was, however, relief in Bloemfontein that the Cheetahs picked up a victory, after their first-round loss to Boland in Wellington. They’re third on the points table, with seven points, three behind the co-leaders, the Bulls and Lions.
In the final game of the round, in Kimberley on Sunday, Griquas hit back in some style to edge Boland in a thrilling 14-try contest, winning 48-39.
This week’s fixtures
Friday: Griquas v WP 3pm
Saturday: Bulls v Pumas 3pm, Sharks v Cheetahs 5.10pm
Sunday: Boland v Lions 3pm
