Rohan Janse van Rensburg scored a brace as the Lions beat the Waratahs 55-36 in Johannesburg on Saturday. JON CARDINELLI reports.
Earlier this week, Janse van Rensburg lost his mother to cancer. Instead of taking some time off to grieve, the Springbok centre vowed to honour his mother by playing for the Lions against the Waratahs at Ellis Park.
Renthia Janse van Rensburg would have been proud of her son's performance on Saturday. The centre produced a typically physical display with ball-in-hand, and finished well to claim two tries. The latter score took the Lions 20 points clear of their opponents at a crucial stage of the second half.
The Lions rattled the Waratahs early in the game. Much of their attacking success was centred on their accurate lineout and powerful scrum. By the end of the first 40, they had scored 33 points.
That said, neither team did well on defence. The Lions pressured the Waratahs and forced them to concede two yellow cards as well five tries in the first half alone. Some shocking decision-making, however, led to the hosts leaking points on the other side of the park. At half-time, the scoreline of 33-24 told the story of a game in which defence was a secondary consideration.
Elton Jantjies was fortunate to escape sanction shortly after half-time when he tackled Reece Robinson off the ball. The Waratahs winger looked set to collect the ball 5m from the Lions tryline when he was hit early by Jantjies. The officials, though, ruled that the foul warranted a penalty instead of a yellow card for Jantjies and possibly a penalty try for the Waratahs.
The Lions were the first to score after that incident. Jantjies, who was erratic on both attack and defence, slotted a long-range drop goal to stretch the hosts' lead.
Then Janse van Rensburg produced the play that knocked the fight out of the visitors. The inside centre barged through one would-be defender and fed Jaco Kriel on the right wing. Kriel was eventually caught by the cover defence, but managed to find Janse van Rensburg in support. Jantjies' conversion saw the Lions moving further ahead at 43-21.
While the game was lost, the Waratahs endeavoured to deny the Lions a bonus point. The hosts continued to attack, though, and when Malcolm Marx scored the team's eighth try in the dying stages, the bonus point was secured.
The Lions will be thrilled with a haul of eight tries and five log points, but will know that their defence requires work. They missed a number of first-time tackles and leaked a total of five tries.
Lions – Tries: Warren Whiteley, Ruan Ackermann, Rohan Janse van Rensburg (2), Andries Coetzee, Ross Cronjé, Sylvian Mahuza, Malcolm Marx. Conversions: Elton Jantjies (6). Drop goal: Jantjies.
Waratahs – Tries: Rob Horne, Michael Hooper, Bryce Hegarty, David McDuling, Israel Folau. Conversions: Reece Robinson (3), Hegarty. Penalty: Robinson.
Lions – 15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Lionel Mapoe, 13 Harold Vorster, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Ross Cronjé, 8 Warren Whiteley (c), 7 Ruan Ackermann, 6 Jaco Kriel, 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Ruan Dreyer, 2 Robbie Coetzee, 1 Jacques van Rooyen.
Subs: 16 Malcolm Marx, 17 Dylan Smith, 18 Johannes Jonker, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Kwagga Smith, 21 Faf de Klerk, 22 Sylvian Mahuza, 23 Jaco van der Walt.
Waratahs – 15 Andrew Kellaway, 14 Reece Robinson, 13 Israel Folau, 12 Irae Simone, 11 Rob Horne, 10 Bryce Hegarty, 9 Matt Lucas, 8 Michael Wells, 7 Michael Hooper (c), 6 Jack Dempsey, 5 Will Skelton, 4 Dean Mumm, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Tolu Latu, 1 Tom Robertson.
Subs: 16 Hugh Roach, 17 Paddy Ryan, 18 David Lolohea, 19 David McDuling, 20 Senio Toleafoa, 21 Jones, 22 David Horwitz, 23 Taqele Naiyaravoro.
Photo: Anne Laing/HM Images
