Lions clinch thrilling comeback win

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The Lions overturned a 28-point deficit to claim a stunning 36-33 win against the Rebels in Johannesburg on Saturday. CRAIG LEWIS reports.

Take a moment to digest the fact that the Rebels moved into a 33-5 lead when Tom English scored soon after the restart. It appeared to be an unassailable advantage after a hapless opening half from the Lions.

Then the visitors began to concede penalty upon penalty. Billy Meakes was duly sent to the sin bin, with Marnus Schoeman, Andries Coetzee and Lionel Mapoe all scoring in his absence.

This signified an exceptional revival, enabling the Lions to cut the deficit to just seven points before the hour mark. The comeback was well and truly on.

Quite remarkably, and especially considering how woeful the Lions had been in the first period, they then drew the scores level when a Malcolm Marx turnover led to a breakaway from Kwagga Smith, making an inside pass for Courtnall Skosan to score.

Filled with renewed belief, the Lions seemed to commit some grave errors, though, when they turned down three kickable penalties within the final 10 minutes and failed to come up with any points, even when the ill-disciplined Rebels saw a man sent to the sin bin.

Yet, they won a scrum penalty with the final play of the game and finally pointed to the posts, with Gianni Lombard coolly slotting an 82nd-minute match-winning penalty.


It capped off one of the most spectacular comeback wins in recent memory, while condemning the Rebels to a fifth successive loss against the Lions. The Australian side will wonder how on earth they lost this one after leading by such a significant margin at the start of the second half.

In the lead-up to this clash, Lions coach Swys de Bruin told SARugbymag.co.za that his side would need to be extremely accurate and organised in order to overcome a well-polished Rebels outfit. With that in mind, he would have been pulling his hair out after an error-riddled start from his charges.

The Rebels didn’t need to be asked twice in the opening stanza, and capitalised on virtually every opportunity to race into a 26-5 lead within the opening half an hour. It could have been an even greater advantage considering that the Rebels players twice knocked the ball on over the tryline.

The Lions looked rattled, with their lineout  proving to be a considerable problem area, and it always seemed a virtually  impossible task to overturn a 21-point half-time deficit.

However, last year’s runners-up had other ideas, and went on to complete a crazy comeback win.


Lions – Tries: Malcolm Marx, Marnus Schoeman, Andries Coetzee, Lionel Mapoe, Courtnall Skosan. Conversions: Elton Jantjies (5).
Rebels – Tries: Reece Hodge, Quade Cooper, Billy Meakes, Isi Naisarani, Tom English. Conversion: Cooper (4).

Lions – 15 Tyrone Green, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Wandisile Simelane, 12 Franco Naude, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Kwagga Smith, 7 Vincent Tshituka, 6 Marnus Schoeman, 5 Stephan Lewies, 4 Marvin Orie, 3 Carlu Sadie, 2 Malcolm Marx (c), 1 Dylan Smith.
Subs: 16 Jan-Henning Campher, 17 Sti Sithole, 18 Frans van Wyk, 19 Rhyno Herbst, 20 Ruan Vermaak, 21 Gianni Lombard, 22 Lionel Mapoe, 23 Andries Coetzee.

Rebels – 15 Dane Haylett-Petty (c), 14 Jack Maddocks, 13 Tom English, 12 Billy Meakes, 11 Reece Hodge, 10 Quade Cooper, 9 Will Genia, 8 Isi Naisarani, 7 Brad Wilkin, 6 Rob Leota, 5 Adam Coleman, 4 Matt Philip, 3 Sam Talakai, 2 Robbie Abel, 1 Matt Gibbon.
Subs: 16 Anaru Rangi, 17 Tetera Faulkner, 18 Jermaine Ainsley, 19 Luke Jones, 20 Ross Haylett-Petty, 21 Richard Hardwick, 22 Michael Ruru, 23 Marika Koroibete.

Photo: Muzi Ntombela/BackpagePix

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Craig Lewis