The Lions produced probably their best performance of the season to shock the Vodacom Bulls and win their Vodacom United Rugby Championship derby 43-33 at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday.
The Lions leapfrogged the Bulls into seventh spot on the table as the Pretoria side looked disjointed and will kick themselves for their own failings, with the Lions capitalising on their mistakes and looking sharper and more hungry for the 80 minutes.
The Bulls made a plethora of handling errors, were beaten in the loose and had large holes in their defence system that the Lions exploited, and even when they were on attack they were unable to capitalise on the chances they created.
In short, the Lions looked hungry and ready to cause damage. The Bulls, on the other hand, seemed more like a team that was still returning from a three-week holiday and not quite grasping the situation.
LIONS MORE CLINICAL
By the time the home team awoke from their slumber -- in both halves they scored late tries -- it wasn’t anywhere near enough to meet their own standards, while the Lions won their third game in a row and finally got their win across the Jukskei that they’ve been searching for for many years.
Johan Ackermann may be new in the job and have a lot of pressure for last season’s finalists to try and replicate their results, but on this performance they won’t come anywhere near it.
Their defence has been a problem in the first half of the season, but they won more games than they lost and got away with some of it for a while.
On more than one occasion in this Jukskei derby they were sucker punched and their attack couldn’t convert, only to see the Lions turn over the ball and score at the other end.
It may be early days and anyone outside the Lions fanbase may wonder if they can sustain this sort of play for the long run, but on this afternoon’s action at Loftus, there was only one team that looked as if they would challenge to go deep into the playoffs and it wasn’t the Bulls.
True, they were missing a host of Springboks and plenty of regulars as well.
The return of Elrigh Louw was the highlight of the game for the home side but their young pack got bullied and beaten at the breakdown, never got the rub of the green in the scrums despite dominating early action and to a man they were second best to the Lions, especially in the loose trio.
BULLS DEFENCE BELOW PAR
As the Lions head back down the N1 they will be celebrating while the Bulls will be in their changeroom wondering how they couldn’t muster up the game to beat their nearest rivals.
The tone was set early on, and the Lions were far more clinical, taking the points when they mattered and hitting the Bulls hard on the counter, forcing Ackermann’s side to play catch-up for the entire match.
Considering the bookies' odds before the game, this was an inspired performance from the Lions while the Bulls will hardly get a pass mark for their efforts.
It started early as the Bulls dominated proceedings, getting more than 80 per cent of the early possession. But despite this they found themselves 17-0 down early on.
Akker van der Merwe had a scoring opportunity early on and while it seemed he had forced his way over the line, referee Aimee Barrett-Theron decided there was no use looking at the TV replays and called it held up.
From the goalline dropout, the Lions won a penalty and Chris Smith put it over to go 3-0 up. In reality it was a 10 point swing.
Then from the next play a dropped Bulls pass was kicked through and Kelly Mpeku won the race with two of his teammates to score a try based on speed, with it very apparent how few of the Bulls chased back to try and stop the try being scored.
It got worse a few minutes later as the Lions turned over a ball in their own 22, then proceeded to send it wide for Chris Smith to break a tackle and a flurry of hands to pass the ball, resulting in Nico Steyn going over to make it a 17 point lead.
Perfect execution from the Lions 🦁
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 29, 2025
Chris Smith with some magic to break the line and Nico Steyn finishes off a brilliant team move 👏
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BULLS LOOKED STUNNED
The Bulls looked stunned and to be honest, most of it was their own doing. While the Lions were clinical, they weren’t superhuman, but the Bulls' own mistakes took away much of their momentum.
The Bulls finally awoke from their slumber to score two exceptionally good tries - the first when a long pass from a lineout ball sent Sebastian de Klerk past two defenders with an inside ball to Papier to score his first try.
It was almost a carbon copy a few minutes later as this time a drift pass to Stravino Jacobs saw the winger surge down the near touchline to pass inside to Papier again to score.
Embrose Papier on the double 💥
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 29, 2025
Another brilliant team move on display at Loftus ✨
Four tries in the final ten minutes of the first half sees the Lions lead the Vodacom Bulls 22-19 🍿
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The two tries in four minutes made it look as if the Bulls were back, but just as they seemed to take control of the game, a defensive error allowed Chris Smith to break and Quan Horn to put through a grubber that bounced perfectly for Jarod Cairns to extend the lead.
Akker van der Merwe helped march a lineout maul 15 metres to score on the halftime break, leaving the Bulls just three points behind at the break.
The Lions again won a penalty on their own line, then forced a 50-22 to get themselves a lineout which they drove and Etienne Oosthuizen drove his way over in the corner to extend the lead once again.
LATE TRIES SEALED THE RESULT
The sparring continued and their defence was almost breached a number of times, with the Lions growing in confidence as they went on and finally the dam wall broke, with Eduan Keyter and Nico Steyn both scoring within two minutes of each other to put the result to bed.
The Lions taking us to offload city 🤲
— SuperSport Rugby (@SSRugby) November 29, 2025
Some sublime hands across the park and Nico Steyn grabs his second of the day 🦁
One of the best team tries you'll see all season!
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The Bulls did score two late long-range tries through Eduan Keyter and Sebastian de Klerk, but it was too little too late.
The Lions were deserved winners, and are higher on the log for their efforts.
The Bulls, favourites before this game, will be licking their wounds knowing their effort wasn’t good enough and they were well beaten.
Scorers
Vodacom Bulls - tries: Embrose Papier (2), Akker van der Merwe, Keagan Johannes, Sebastian de Klerk. Conversions: Keagan Johannes (4).
Lions - tries: Kelly Mpeku, Nico Steyn (2), Jarod Cairns, Etienne Oosthuizen, Eduan Keyter. Conversions: Chris Smith (5). Penalty: Smith