Lions keep it one-sided

The Lions, with flyhalf Andre Pretorius leading from the front, crushed the SWD Eagles 104-14 in an embarrassingly one-sided Absa Currie Cup match at Ellis Park Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The overwhelming 15-try-to-two win keeps the Lions' slim hopes of qualifying for the November 1 final and makes a complete mockery of SA Rugby's strength versus strength policy.

It was a complete team performance from last year's runners-up, but Pretorius, centre Rudi Coetzee and flank Wikus van Heerden were outstanding.

Pretorius contributed 30 points via 11 conversions, one penalty and a try, before being substituted in the 68th minute.

The Lions led 50-7 at half-time.

The home team, unfortunately playing in front of a poor crowd, were simply irrepressible from early on, running from anywhere on the park Na sign of what was to come.

With their heavier pack, the home team dominated the tight exchanges and were on the board as early as the second minute when exciting young centre Coetzee finished off a great team try.

From that moment it was all one-way traffic, as the hapless Eagles, fresh from a morale-boosting home win over Griquas last weekend, had no answer to the Lions power and pace.

Pretorius, back in the No 10 jersey after a long injury lay-off, was the architect, while Coetzee showed he is a player for the future with a superb display in the midfield.

The home side had wrapped up the bonus point by the 29th minute, with Coetzee adding to his early try by having a hand in each of those scores.

The Eagles had momentarily stopped the rot when scrumhalf Heini Adams latched onto a loose ball and cantered over in the 25th minute.

However, that signalled a Lions resurgence and after not scoring for 13 minutes N from the 16th to the 29th minutes N they ran in four tries in the final 10 minutes of the first half to bring up their half century before the break.

The pick of the tries came on the stroke of half-time, when from the kick-off, right wing Giscard Pieters collected a high ball from Enrico Januarie and danced past the bewildered SWD defenders to score under the poles.

The second stanza was more of the same as Lions coach Frans Ludeke rang the changes, but that did not stop the Lions scoring eight more wonderful tries.

Despite the massive win, the 90 points difference fell short of the Lions match record. That goes to the 1993 team who beat the then SE Transvaal 116-10.

Point-scorers:

LIONS 104 (50):

Tries: Rudi Coetzee (2), Giscard Pieters (2), Wikus van Heerden, Andre Pretorius, Willem Stoltz, Oginga Siwundla (2), James van der Walt (2), Doppies la Grange, Delarey du Preez, Roland Bernard (2). Conversions: Pretorius (11), Nel Fourie (1), Jannes Labuschagne (1). Penalties: Pretorius (1).

EAGLES 14 (7):

Tries: Heini Adams (2). Conversions: Rynard van As (1), Donovan Raw (1).- Sapa