Following the Lions’ 54-17 win over Edinburgh in Johannesburg, here are our five key takeaways from the URC round 13 clash.
The top line
The Lions romped to a huge URC victory over Edinburgh and, simply put, it was far too easy for the hosts. The chunk of the damage was done in the first-half, as the hosts ran in five tries.
Ruan Venter got the day’s scoring underway after just six minutes, finishing off a superb linebreak from his lock partner. A flurry of tries swiftly followed, with Francke Horn, Darrien Landsberg and Morne van den Berg crossing within seven minutes of each other to give them a healthy lead.
Edinburgh did look to cut into that in the final act of the first-half, getting to within five-metres of the line and even gaining numerical advantage with a card, but the Lions launched yet another superb counter-attack which resulted in a Bronson Mills try.
The Scottish side did launch a mini-rally in the opening exchanges of the second-half, capped off with a tries for Ewan Ashman and Freddy Douglas, but they came either side of an Angelo Davids brace and was not enough to bring them back into the game.
With the clock entering the red, Haashim Pead added the cherry on top of a fine win to bring up the half-century and cement a well-earned victory.
Ramifications
As with any URC game now, given the tight nature of the division, this will see a major shake-up in the table. The Lions started the game outside of the top eight following the Bulls’ and Connacht’s wins on Friday night, and needed to grab a minimum of three league points to return there. They did just that, with their bonus point seeing them climb right back up the table and retake their spot in seventh and gaining a slight advantage on the aforementioned pair.
Within that, their bonus point sees them close the gap on Munster to just one point – with the Irish side yet to play at the time of writing – while Cardiff, Leinster, the Stormers and even Ulster are starting to come into view as well. Could they overtake them?
Edinburgh, on the other hand, have seen their top eight hopes crushed, giving them an almost impossible task to reach the play-offs. This defeat leaves them languishing in 12th at the time of writing, and also sees them dragged back into the dogfight at the bottom of the table with the likes of the Dragons, Scarlets and Benetton.
The Scottish side also have a tough block of fixtures lined up over the next few weeks, with the Stormers and Leinster their next two, but they will then face Zebre and the Sharks, which are certainly winnable games. It’ll be some doing if they make the top eight from here, though.
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A lot to like
Watching the Lions play just leaves you with a smile on your face, doesn’t it? It’s rugby at its purest form, it’s rugby being played for fun, it’s rugby being played to entertain.
There is something almost akin to playing touch with your mates in the park about their attack. Offloads just after contact are rife in their game, allowing for second-phase play while also giving their players slightly more space and time on the ball, but it’s not just flinging the ball for the sake of it.
It’s tactical joue. It’s intelligent joue. It’s clever joue. A lot of the time, it comes directly after some hard graft from the pack.
Venter, Batho Hlekani, PJ Botha were crucial in setting up the platform for the Lions to play off with some big carries in those tight channels, giving their side consistent front-foot ball to play off and causing the Edinburgh defence to splinter.
That in turn created the gaps for Van den Berg, Davids and Quan Horn to pour through at will and simply tear Edinburgh apart. There really is a lot to like about the Lions’ game plan, and it could power them to the play-offs.
URC round 13: Predictions, teams, kick-off times, how to watch and referee appointments
Where next
This defeat should leave Edinburgh scratching their heads as to where they go from here. Yes, they have an injury list as long as the Magna Carta, but this is still a team loaded with internationals, and it’s a team that continually comes out second-best.
Since the start of the year, Edinburgh have won just three matches in all competitions, edging out fellow URC strugglers Benetton and the Scarlets in the league and PREM strugglers Gloucester in the Investec Champions Cup, and in that time have also seen themselves concede 63 points against Bath, 40 against Ulster and 54 on Saturday.
It’s just a grim look for a side that were expected to mount a genuine push for the play-offs this season.
Test watch
As always, there were a number of Test stars and hopefuls who stood out in the clash. Lions scrum-half pairing Van den Berg and Pead will have certainly caught the attention of Springboks head coach Rassie Erasmus, both in the here and now but also one eye on the future, with their attacking intent seeing them become key parts of this Lions victory.
Venter, shifted to lock at the 11th-hour, will also have impressed the Boks coach in his new position, offering real ballast in the tight alongside some more explosive carries in open play as well.
Bok prop duo Asenathi Ntlabakanye and Boan Venter enjoyed a really good ding-dong in the scrum against one another, which will surely please Daan Human given he likes to see his props go at each other in live scenarios.
From a Scotland perspective, Magnus Bradbury and Dylan Richardson gave their all in a brave effort despite being on the losing side.