Shaun Goosen takes a look back at this past weekend's rugby action as the Lions clobbered the Sharks again, the Cheetahs beat the Pumas and Fiji gave the All Blacks a good run.
British & Irish Lions clobber Sharks again
The British & Irish Lions followed up their big win over the Sharks on Wednesday with a 71-31 win over the same opponents at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday. Despite the Sharks leading 26-19 towards the end of the first half, Jaden Hendrikse’s red card for a needless elbow strike early in the second pretty much put paid to any hopes of the show going on. The Lions ended up blowing the Sharks out of the water.
Sean Everitt had made a host of changes for the encounter and despite an aggregated scoreline of 38-125 in favour of the tourists, his side must take the hard lessons from the two clashes. The Sharks were much better in the second game and the youngsters in the side will be that much tougher from the experience as they look ahead toward the inaugural United Rugby Championship (URC). For the Lions, they will face their first proper challenge of the tour when they face a powerful SA ‘A’ squad this week.
Cheetahs get first win over Pumas
The Cheetahs beat the Pumas by a whisker, taking their Currie Cup clash 17-16 in Bloemfontein on Friday. The win was Hawies Fourie’s side’s first in the competition in just their second match and will do their confidence a world of good with a trip to Johannesburg on the cards this week. The ever-dangerous Pumas just couldn’t do enough in the end but remain in second place on the standings.
Jimmy Stonehouse’s men tackle the Sharks on Friday at Kings Park as they continue to search for an elusive playoff berth.
Fiji give All Blacks a headache
Fiji put on a superb show against the All Blacks despite finally going down 57-23 in Dunedin on Saturday. Vern Cotter’s men displayed guts, determination and passion in bucketloads during the clash after only emerging from their 14-day quarantine during the week of the Test match. Skipper Levani Botia of La Rochelle had a phenomenal game in the midfield as his side made for stimulating opposition, posing New Zealand a number of questions at the breakdown and in other areas.
Ian Foster’s charges had come off the back of their farcical 102-0 win over Tonga but were given a proper run in Dunedin on the weekend. In the end, though, they overpowered their opponents with sub hooker Dane Coles scoring four tries from the back of a devastating rolling maul. They will prep to face the Flying Fijians in the second Test of the series this week.
