Strong defensive effort, moments of attacking brilliance help Lions to win over Pumas

The Pumas suffered only their second loss of the Currie Cup season on Friday evening when they went down 26-10 to the Lions at Ellis Park. 

The Lions opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Mannie Rass profited following a linebreak by the home side somewhat against the run of play.

Gianni Lombard slotted the conversion as the Lions opened a 7-0 lead.

That lead extended to 14-0 just four minutes later when scrumhalf Morne van der Berg stepped a few Pumas defenders from around 10 meters out to score right under the posts.

It took until the 22nd minute for the top-of-the-table Pumas to secure their points of the match to make the score 14-3. 

Those came through the boot of skipper Tinus de Beer who easily kicked a penalty from right in front after the Lions were penalised at the breakdown. 

Van der Berg scored his second of the match seven minutes before half-time as he was on hand to collect a pass from Frankie Horn after the big No 8 had broken the Pumas defence close to a ruck.

Lombard again converted as the home side now had a commanding 21-3 lead which they took into the break after holding out from several Pumas attacks in their half. 

Van der Berg went from hero to villain in the 48th minute after he was sent to the sin bin for a deliberate trip on a Pumas player. 

The visitors, however, couldn't take advantage of their extra man as the Lions' defence continued to stand tall, stopping anything the Pumas threw at them.

With a quarter left in the match, the Pumas still had not managed to breach the Lions' try line, and time for the Currie Cup champions was running out if they hoped to force their way back into the match.

When the Pumas looked like they must score from a rolling maul in the 63rd minute, Van der Berg somehow