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JOHANNESBURG – The Golden Lions are leading the South African conference standings at Super Rugby for a third consecutive season by coming from behind to beat the Northern Bulls 38-12 neighbors on Saturday.
Victory also raised them above the NSW Waratahs to take second place in the overall standings, which secured a quarter-final at home and, potentially, a semifinal in Johannesburg.
Waratahs started the second day behind leaders and reigning champions Canterbury Crusaders, only to lose an Australian 40-31 derby against ACT Brumbies.
The crusaders will receive Melbourne Rebels or Coastal Sharks in the quarter-finals next weekend with South Africans needing a home win over the Jaguars later on Saturday to qualify.
The champions defeated Auckland Blues 54-17 at Christchurch while Rebels dropped 43-37 at Otago Highlanders in Dunedin.
The Lions face Jaguares, Waratahs meet the Highlanders and the Wellington Hurricanes attack the Waikato Chiefs in the other.
Bulls escaped blocks in Johannesburg and Manie Libbok and Jesse Kriel's tries built a 12-point advantage in as many minutes.
But 2016 and 2017 S The Lions have re-entered the match and Ruan Combrinck and Malcolm Marx scored to put the teams up to standard.
The Lions took advantage of Pierre Schoeman's yellow card when Courtnall Skosan claimed a try for a 19-12 game.
Bulls failed to score in the second half and his fate was sealed within three minutes of the middle of the first period when the Lions were scooped a penalty try and Combrinck scored again.
Waratahs only needed a second win, but they fizzled against the Brumbies in Sydney.
Three tries by Brumbies in the first 20 minutes opened the game, in one of the best outings of the season, and the momentum that Waratahs had built in recent weeks has collapsed.
– Whitelock not quite happy –
The crusaders already had first place sewn and were able to score points when it mattered to the badly played Blues
. The eight-test-at-the-time The Crusader captain, Sam Whitelock, was not totally happy.
"Certainly this middle." We gave a lot of penalties, we did not learn from our mistakes and if you give any camp a certain number of penalties, "he said. The rebels went down to Highlanders in Dunedin after losing 19 points late in the game.
Looking to get a spot for the play-offs for the first time since they joined the competition in 2011. , Rebels was the dominant force until the last 17 minutes
They built a 34-22 lead, led by halfback Reece Hodge, who finished with a 29-point game in three tries, four conversions and two penalties
Highlanders, ensured a place in the quarterfinals before the kickoff, rested most of his All Blacks, including Ben and Aaron Smith.
But when he watched the defeat in front, the Highlanders scored three tries 12 minutes to confirm place sixth in the table.
Hodge said that the rebels themselves had only b "We were up 13 or 14 points at one point and we can not afford to slip against a team like the Highlanders.
Less than a year after the arrival of rebel Super Rugby In doubt, during tense negotiations to reduce the number of Australian clubs in the competition, they bounced back to win seven season games this year against one in 2017.
AFP
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