Kade Wolhuter scored 13 factors because the Lions strengthened their Currie Cup residence semi-final bid with a decisive win in opposition to the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Lions dominated the opening stanza in opposition to the defending champions, racing to a 26-7 half-time lead en path to a six-try 38-21 victory at Free State Stadium.
It was a fourth win on the trot for Mzwakhe Nkosi’s prices on this yr’s version of rugby’s oldest home championship, and cements second place with two rounds left of the common season.
For the Cheetahs, the end result marked a 3rd defeat of the marketing campaign and the defending champions should regroup to face Griquas at 3pm in Kimberley on Friday, whereas the Pleasure journey to Pretoria to deal with leaders, the Vodacom Bulls, at 5:15pm.
A hat-trick hero in opposition to DHL Western Province final week, Lions flanker Renzo du Plessis opened the scoring within the sixth minute after a strong maul, with flyhalf Wolhuter including the extras.
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Three minutes later, lock Ruben Schoeman crossed the whitewash following a break by speedster Tapiwa Mafura, Wolhuter once more on track.
The Cheetahs confronted self-discipline points with yellow playing cards for flyhalf Ethan Wentzel and winger Daniel Kasende within the twenty second and twenty ninth minutes, respectively.
Lions hooker Jaco Visagie and left winger Rabz Maxwane added additional tries for the guests, however Cheetahs No 2 Corne Fourie clawed one again for the hosts simply earlier than the interval, with Wentzel changing to slim the hole on the break.
Kasende dotted down minutes after the restart and Wentzel added the extras to provide the Cheetahs the proper begin to the second 40 minutes.
Du Plessis pounced on a Nico Steyn cross-kick to increase the Lions’ benefit, however Vernon Paulo barged over and fellow substitute Reinhardt Fortuin cut up the uprights to make it a 10-point sport with 20 minutes left to play within the match.
Wolhuter, although, raced by means of to attain and convert his personal landing earlier than the ultimate hooter to place the ending touches on a hard-earned end result for the Lions.
Picture: Johan Pretorius/Gallo Photos