Kavaliers take down the Lions with ease

Sanlam Boland Cavaliers stunned the Fidelity ADT Lions 29-10 to breathe new life into their chances of reaching the play-offs of this year’s Currie Cup Premier Division.

The bonus-point win sees the Cavaliers leap into third position in the Carling Currie Cup standings after securing a second home win.

The Cavas were put under early pressure by the Lions’ attack and suffered the setback of going a man down when Lunathi Nxele got a yellow card after four minutes. But the loss of Nxele for 10 minutes did not phase the home side, who turned a great defensive set into an attack with Donovan Don scoring for a 5-0 lead.

A defensive mistake after Nxele’s return, however, opened the door for the Lions to draw level as Kade Wolhuter found space to dive over for the visitors’ opening score.

However, it was the Cavas who would dominate most of the first half proceedings, putting the Lions under immense pressure in the scrums and winning penalties from the set-piece. With fullback James Tedder slotting a successful penalty to put Boland 8-5 up.

More enterprising attack from the Wellington outfit saw Don score his second try of the day as the Lions went down to 14 men for cynical play by scrumhalf Nico Steyn.

Boland kept the pressure on the Lions but some unforced errors in close to the end of the first half kept them from extending their lead.

After the break, the scores would stay at 15-5 for the first 20 minutes, until the Lions threatened to launch a comeback with Gianni Lombard scoring to cut Boland’s lead to five points.

But slowly but surely the Cavas started regaining their momentum with Tedder spotting space at the back before launching a chip kick and regathering for Xavier Mitchell to go and score under the poles.

With a lead of 12 points, Boland went in hunt of the bonus point with Juan Mostert scoring in added time to lift the Cavas up the log.

Score

Boland 29 (15) – Tries: Donovan Don (2), Xavier Mitchell, Juan Mostert. Conversions: James Tedder (3). Penalty: Tedder

Lions 10 (5) – Tries: Kade Wolhuter and Gianni Lombard