Kade Wolhuter scored 13 points as the Lions strengthened their Currie Cup home semi-final bid with a decisive win against the Cheetahs in Bloemfontein on Saturday.
The Lions dominated the opening stanza against the defending champions, racing to a 26-7 half-time lead en route to a six-try 38-21 victory at Free State Stadium.
It was a fourth win on the trot for Mzwakhe Nkosi’s charges in this year’s edition of rugby’s oldest domestic championship, and cements second place with two rounds left of the regular season.
For the Cheetahs, the result marked a third defeat of the campaign and the defending champions must regroup to face Griquas at 3pm in Kimberley on Friday, while the Pride travel to Pretoria to tackle leaders, the Vodacom Bulls, at 5:15pm.
A hat-trick hero against DHL Western Province last week, Lions flanker Renzo du Plessis opened the scoring in the sixth minute after a powerful maul, with flyhalf Wolhuter adding the extras.
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Three minutes later, lock Ruben Schoeman crossed the whitewash following a break by speedster Tapiwa Mafura, Wolhuter again on target.
The Cheetahs faced discipline issues with yellow cards for flyhalf Ethan Wentzel and winger Daniel Kasende in the 22nd and 29th minutes, respectively.
Lions hooker Jaco Visagie and left winger Rabz Maxwane added further tries for the visitors, but Cheetahs No 2 Corne Fourie clawed one back for the hosts just before the interval, with Wentzel converting to narrow the gap at the break.
Kasende dotted down minutes after the restart and Wentzel added the extras to give the Cheetahs the perfect start to the second 40 minutes.
Du Plessis pounced on a Nico Steyn cross-kick to extend the Lions’ advantage, but Vernon Paulo barged over and fellow replacement Reinhardt Fortuin split the uprights to make it a 10-point game with 20 minutes left to play in the match.
Wolhuter, though, raced through to score and convert his own touchdown before the final hooter to put the finishing touches on a hard-earned result for the Lions.
Photo: Johan Pretorius/Gallo Images
