Winless Lions' misery continues after another Currie Cup hiding

The Lions' woeful Currie Cup campaign continued on Wednesday with a 49-17 defeat to Griquas at Tafel Lager Park in Kimberley. 

SCOREBOARD | Griquas 49-17 Lions

The men from Johannesburg have now lost all of their opening five matches in this year's competition to be rooted to the bottom of the seven-team log, while Griquas have solidified their position in the top four. 

Griquas scored seven tries to just two from their visitors, who were outplayed in all departments. 

On paper, the Lions fielded a strong side skippered by Springbok Jannie du Plessis and they would have backed themselves to bounce back from their disastrous 66-14 loss to the Cheetahs two weeks ago. 

They took an early 3-0 lead through a James Tedder penalty, but what followed was a first half of almost complete Griquas dominance. 

The Lions couldn't get out of their own half and saw very little of the ball, but Griquas were struggling to find the clinical execution when it mattered most. 

The sustained pressure from the hosts eventually paid off when, in the 17th minute, fullback Rynhardt Jonker sliced through Lions defence before offloading to Munier Hartzenberg who finished off the move.

Zander du Plessis converted from wide right, and Griquas had a 7-3 lead.

It was Griquas doing all of the playing after that, turning down shots at goal in the hunt for more tries, and when No 7 Hanru Sirjel spilled the ball with nothing but the try line in front of him, the Lions were hanging on by a thread. 

Griquas did have their second when scrumhalf Johan Mulder darted over from close range to make it 14-3 on 35 minutes, but the Lions were given just a glimmer of hope when Griquas second-rower Derik Pretorius was yellow-carded for a high tackle. 

The Lions, just 5m out, did