Blues batter Lions
The Blues gave the Lions a lesson in fluid running and passing on Friday night, easily beating the Johannesburg side 55-10 at Ellis park.
Last Updated: 23/02/08 9:57pm
Auckland outfit run in seven tries as they batter the Lions at Ellis Par.
The Blues gave the Lions a lesson in fluid running and passing on Friday night, easily beating the Johannesburg side 55-10 at Ellis Park.
The side from Auckland scored seven tries to one and totally outclassed Lions to confirm there status as one of the teams to beat in this years Super14.
Fly-half Nick Evans scored 25 points as the Blues coasted to a well deserved victory.
Both teams showed tier willingness to throw the ball around from the onset and starting running the ball from inside their 22 right from the start.
But there was only ever one it team in with a shout. The Blues were clinical in their finishing and the Lions missed more tackles than they had players on the field.
Evans showed his class after just six minutes - breaking the line and making 35 meters on his own. Joe Rokococo steadied, and then Kurtis Haiu dived over for his first try to make it 5-0.
Evans slotted the conversion and things were already looking ominous for the home side.
It was bit loose at the break-down from both teams early on, but that played into the hands of the Blues who's handling was immaculate.
Lions scrum-half Jano Vermaak started well with two good kicks, one of which put Blues full-back Nacewa under pressure who had no choice but to hang-on inside his 22. The Blues came in from the side of the maul and Louis Strydom kicked the penalty for the Lion's only points of the half.
Then the Lions' halfbacks undid all their good work. Between Vermaak and Strydom they managed to kick the ball out on the full three times within five minutes and the New Zealanders punished then with the ensuing possession.
A minute after kicking over a penalty, Evans crossed the try line. Centre Isaia Toeava broke the Lions line to put his fly-half in for an easy try.
That Blues needed to make only four passes between break-down to the try line was an indication of how they were tearing the Lions defence apart.
In two more minutes Evans had converted his try and flank Jerome Kaino had added five more points. Evans never missed a kick all night and after 25 minutes it was 24-3 to the visitors. The game was as good as over.
Such was the confidence of the Blues back line that full-back Nacewa attempted a drop goal from nearly 40 meters out. His kick went was unsuccessful but it didn't really matter.
The Lions lacked any kind of fluency when attacking and were never able to string more than four or five passes together. A few times the Jo'burg sided looked like they might get close, but that final pass always went astray.
The Lions tackling wasn't any better. Four times they missed crucial tackles and thereby conceded tries.
The second half started the way the first ended as the Blues number eight Nick Williams scored and awesome try. Centre Benson Stanley side stepped through a gap in the Lions defence and run 45 meters. Williams then simply ran straight over three Lions defenders to score the try of the night.
After 65 minutes Toeava simply ran around Jaco Pretorius to illustrate the difference in class between the two sides. By then the Lions had made 70 tackles and had missed 17 ! The Blues had only needed to make 30.
In the last 20 minutes the Blues seemed to be taking it easy. The game became a little boring- purely because the Lions had all the possession but never, ever, looked dangerous and made error after error.
Two more tries followed for the Blues as the punished the Lions mistakes before replacement wing Jaco van Schalkwyk scored a last minute consolation try for the home side.
