Saturday 28 February 2015 20:11, UK
The Stormers came from behind to post a 22-19 victory over the Lions in Johannesburg and make it three wins out of three in Super Rugby.
The Lions went into the match looking for their first win of the season and led until five minutes from the end, when Siya Kolisi's converted try ultimately decided the game.
Elton Jantjies opened the scoring with a penalty in the fourth minute and then converted Warwick Tecklenburg's 16th-minute try to give the Lions a 10-0 lead.
Three penalties from Demetri Catrakilis pulled the Stormers to within a point but Jantjies struck another penalty just before half-time and then one immediately after.
After two more penalties from Catrakilis and one from Jantjies, the Lions were still hanging on to a 19-15 lead only for Kolisi to crash over the line at the back of a maul.
The Lions could have pulled the scores level from a late penalty but chose to run it.
The gamble almost paid off and Howard Mnisi did cross the line after incessant pressure only for Damien de Allende to produce a game-saving tackle.
Bulls bounce back
Earlier, the Bulls put a disastrous start to the Super Rugby season behind them with a thrilling 43-35 triumph over the Sharks.
After home losses to compatriots Western Stormers and the New Zealand Wellington Hurricanes, the Bulls were looking good in Pretoria as they twice built 11-point second-half advantages.
But the Durban-based Sharks refused to surrender at Loftus Versfeld stadium and snatched a two-point lead when Patrick Lambie goaled his seventh penalty seven minutes from time.
Super Rugby debutant Tian Schoeman, a late second-half substitute for injured playmaker Handre Pollard, nudged the Bulls ahead again off an angled 25-metre penalty kick. And centre Jan Serfontein snatched a post-hooter try which Schoeman converted to end one of the most pulsating Super Rugby games seen in South Africa.
While the Bulls celebrated a first triumph of the season and a four-try bonus point, Sharks got nothing from a spectacle to which they contributed so much. The Sharks did hold on to sixth place on the table while the Bulls climbed six places to eighth in the southern hemisphere inter-provincial championship table.
Apart from passionate forward exchanges and six tries, spectators were treated to flawless goal-kicking by Bulls fly-half Handre Pollard and opposite number Lambie with neither missing a shot at the posts. Pollard slotted three conversions and four penalties for an 18-point tally before retiring injured.
And Lambie, his rival for the Springboks No 10 shirt at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, contributed 25 points via two conversions and seven penalties.
Lambie tops the Super 15 points scorers charts with 55 points from three matches followed by Polland (43) and Ihaia West (38) of Auckland Blues.
