A powerhouse performance from 21-year-old behemoth Carlu Sadie brought a change of fortune for the Golden Lions, who yesterday held off the fast-finishing Waikato Chiefs to win their Super Rugby clash 23-17 in Hamilton.
It was a well-deserved victory for the Lions after their pre-match preparations were disrupted with coach Swys de Bruin returning home just hours before kickoff for personal reasons.
Sadie was all power as he used his 133kg, 1.82m frame to demolish the Chiefs scrum and, not content with winning penalties, he also crashed over from close range to bag a try for himself.
Photo: AFP
It set the Lions up for a 20-0 halftime lead, which they held until the final frenetic 20 minutes, when the Chiefs struck back with three tries.
However, the home side’s hopes of snatching a late win were diminished when, with only seconds remaining, they turned over the ball and Elton Jantjies snapped over a drop-goal to extend the margin to six points.
“What a game,” Lions skipper Warren Whiteley said when the final whistle blew. “In the second half [the Chiefs] put so much pressure on us, it was a nail-biter. I’m so proud of the boys. It wasn’t an easy week. A lot of travel and some adversity.”
The Lions, beaten finalists for the past three years, have been off the pace so far this season and arrived in New Zealand from a 31-20 loss to the ACT Brumbies in Canberra.
Their revival in Hamilton proved a setback for the Chiefs, who felt they were turning their season around when they beat the Auckland Blues last week for their third straight win after losing their opening four matches.
Without the mercurial services of the injured Damian McKenzie, the Chiefs struggled to make their possession count and it took 60 minutes before they broke the Lions’ defense.
“If we had a few more minutes maybe we would have got it, but in that first half we gave up too much possession,” Chiefs captain Brad Weber said.
The Lions were up 3-0 after 10 minutes with a simple Jantjies penalty and then piled on 17 points in the closing 10 minutes of the first half.
A second Jantjies penalty, again coming after Sadie had twisted All Blacks prop Angus Ta’avao into submission, was followed by Sadie’s own try before Aphiwe Dyantyi latched on to a Warren Whiteley chip-kick to score on the stroke of halftime.
The Chiefs finally put points on the board in the final quarter with tries to Sean Wainui, Nepo Laulala and Tumua Manu before running out of time.
In Japan, the Wellington Hurricanes came from behind to defeat the Sunwolves 29-23 at the Prince Chichibu Memorial Stadium in Tokyo.
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