Super Rugby round-up: Wins for Lions and Sharks
Sunday 19 March 2017 08:46, UK
The Lions returned to winning ways in compelling fashion on Saturday as winger Courtnall Skosan grabbed four tries in a 44-14 hammering of the Reds, for whom Quade Cooper was sent off.
The Lions lost to the Jaguares in Argentina last weekend, but their form at home at Ellis Park in Johannesburg has been formidable.
The Lions scored seven tries to two from the Reds, who were 20-0 down when Cooper was issued a red card. He hit Rohan Janse van Rensburg high as the Lions centre went over for a try, and reduced the Reds to 13 men for a while after the sin-binning of Eto Nabuli moments earlier.
For his hat-trick try, Skosan sent a deep kick out of his own 22, chased, collected, and scored without being touched by the defence, putting the Lions out to 39-0 as they outplayed the Reds across the field.
It took the Reds nearly 70 minutes to register their first points, when centre Duncan Paia'aua was put clear by Karmichael Hunt.
Narrow escape
Also in South Africa, the Sharks avoided a big upset with a late 50-metre penalty from full-back Curwin Bosch to beat the Southern Kings 19-17.
The Kings led for much of the game against a sloppy Sharks team that made a heap of handling errors in Durban. The turning point came, though, with the introduction of fly-half Garth April from the bench.
He gave the rudderless Sharks direction and set up a late try for wing Kobus van Wyk to close the gap before Bosch's penalty from the halfway line sealed victory. The Kings suffered from a late yellow card to influential flanker Chris Cloete.
Still, Lionel Cronje missed a penalty for the Kings with a minute to go that would have given the Port Elizabeth-based team the upset of the season so far.
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