The Lions recorded their sixth straight win at Ellis Park on Saturday to beat Connacht 33-21 and take a big step towards qualifying for the United Rugby Championship quarter-finals for the first time.
The Lions still have two regular season matches remaining, against Leinster and Munster in Ireland, before the knockout games get underway.
Ellis Park has become a fortress for Ivan van Rooyen’s team of late, with the Lions losing only once at their home ground over the URC season – to the Bulls in the early part of the season.
While the Lions are just about certain of their place in the last eight, if things go their way they could even finish inside the top four and host a quarter-final game. Van Rooyen’s team have 53 log points and are in third position, ahead of a few remaining games this weekend.
The Lions scored five tries to Connacht’s three in an exciting match which Connacht will feel they should have got more from. They dominated the possession and territory stats for long periods. especially in the first half, but found it hard to finish off. The Lions’ defence though was excellent.
Angelo Davids, Henco van Wyk (2), Siba Mahashe and Erich Cronje scored tries for the Lions, with Chris Smith converting four. They led 21-0 at half-time.
Matthew Devine scored two tries for Connacht, with the other coming from Paul Boyle.
The victory was the 10th overall for the Lions this season, from 16 matches. They also won the SA Shield for the first time this year, for having the best record against the other SA teams.
