South Africa’s Lions Through to Super Rugby Final in New Zealand
South Africa’s Lions are through to the Super Rugby Final for the third year in a row! They will meet New Zealand’s Crusaders next Saturday, 4 August, after both won their home semi-final matches yesterday, Saturday. Yesterday the Lions scored a whopping six tries in their 44-26 win over the Waratahs, while the Crusaders beat […]
South Africa’s Lions are through to the Super Rugby Final for the third year in a row! They will meet New Zealand’s Crusaders next Saturday, 4 August, after both won their home semi-final matches yesterday, Saturday.
Yesterday the Lions scored a whopping six tries in their 44-26 win over the Waratahs, while the Crusaders beat the Hurricanes in Christchurch by 30-12… to each secure their spot in the big match next weekend, which marks the second successive year that the two teams meet in the Final.
Last year the Crusaders beat the Highveld team 25-17… so it’s the Lions turn to claim victory!
According to Reuters, “being alert from the start and avoiding giving away early points will be top of the agenda” for the South Africans, who won’t have the home advantage next weekend.
The Lions have been a little sluggish at the start of their last three games – 0-12 down against the Bulls before winning 38-12, 0-6 down to the Jaguares before winning 40-23 and 19 all yesterday at half-time before beating the New South Waratahs.
Lions’ Coach Swys de Bruin said: “It’s amazing, even with the Springboks against England (in June), it was the same. It seems we have to allow the opposition to run away with the score early and then we catch up.”
He joked: “It gives me grey hairs and it’s not good for the spectators, but you know what? It builds character in a way. But we are going to have to fix that before we meet the Crusaders.”
Commenting on the two tries the team conceded early on in yesterday’s match, Captain Warren Whiteley told the press: “We’d like to improve on that, to be honest with you. We were under pressure, we had to go back to the drawing board, tighten up a bit, we went to our rolling maul and our scrums and I think it worked well. That’s been our strength all season.”
The Super Rugby Final will take place on:
Saturday, 04 August
09h35: Crusaders vs Emirates Lions, AMI Stadium, Christchurch (NZ)
Australian referee Angus Gardner will be on duty for the match.
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