Congratulations to Ivan “Cash” van Rooyen and the Jozi boys. The Lions beat Leinster 27-26 at 10bet Ellis Park on Saturday. The win opens their United Rugby Championship campaign by toppling the two-time URC champions, with a Kelly Mpeku try two minutes from time.
It is the Lions’ first win over Leinster since they beat them 44-12 at Ellis Park in April 2024. It came against the side that lifted the trophy at Croke Park in June after a 36-7 final win over the Bulls.
Erich Cronje was named Player of the Match. The 29-year-old usually plays in midfield but was deployed on the wing and scored both of the Lions’ first-half tries. He finished the first from a scrum after a Leinster knock-on at the restart, and the second from set-piece ball.
Smith finished with 12 points from three conversions and two penalties, and he also put in the cross-kick that set up the winner. It was a flyhalf’s afternoon in every sense, from the goal-kicking to the game management in the final quarter.
Leinster struck first. Scrumhalf Fintan Gunne went over in the sixth minute, the first of a first-half hat-trick for the Leinster number nine.
Erich Cronje answered in the ninth minute and Smith converted. The flyhalf then added a penalty in the 13th minute to put the home side ahead.
Gunne’s second try swung it back to Leinster before Cronje crossed again in the 24th minute. Gunne completed his hat-trick on the stroke of half-time, and Caspar Gabriel’s conversion sent Leinster into the break 19-17 up.
How the Lions Beat Leinster After the Break
The Lions beat Leinster in the second half with their defence as much as their attack. Neither side scored for the first 20 minutes after the restart as the Lions closed the defensive holes Gunne had exploited.
Smith broke the deadlock with a 61st-minute penalty to edge the Lions 20-19 in front.
Leinster’s Dylan McNeice was sent to the sin bin in the 71st minute for cynical play, and the Lions made the extra man count.
In the 78th minute Smith spotted Mpeku unmarked on the right and put the cross-kick on the money. Mpeku finished on the right, and Smith’s conversion made it 27-19 with the clock running down on the Irish province.
Leinster were not done. SJ Kotze was yellow-carded for a high tackle in the dying stages, and Stephen Smyth scored after the hooter. The conversion closed the gap to a single point, and the final whistle followed.
That late try earned Leinster two bonus points, one for scoring four tries and one for losing by seven or fewer. The Lions took the four points for the win.
Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen
“We didn’t stop momentum, then they get momentum against you and they’re world class.”
Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen
“Second half we stopped momentum a lot earlier and a lot better.”
Ellis Park Win Built on Defence
The numbers show how much defending the Lions had to do. The Sunday Times reported that Leinster had close to 60% of possession and made 11 entries into the Lions’ 22, against seven for the home side.
Leinster turned that pressure into four tries, and Tommy O’Brien also had a try ruled out.
Once the Lions stopped the early leaks, the Irish side did not score again from Gunne’s third try until the hooter. For a team with Leinster’s attacking threat, that is more than 40 minutes of rugby without a point, and it is the stretch where the result was won.
TimesLIVE singled out centre Henco van Wyk for his defensive work in that spell. The tackle count tells the same story: the Lions made 178 tackles to Leinster’s 100.
Leinster head coach Leo Cullen
“We were pretty pleased with lots of things in the first half.”
A Young Leinster, a Full-Strength Lions
Leinster travelled with a youthful squad. Six academy players featured, and only three members of the match-23 from last season’s final were involved: prop Alex Usanov, right wing Tommy O’Brien and Harry Byrne off the bench.
The Lions were close to full strength. They were without Morné van den Berg and Quan Horn, who are on Springbok duty.
None of that takes the shine off the result for the Jozi side. Van Rooyen was named URC Coach of the Year last season after guiding the Lions into their first URC playoffs. Their run ended with a 59-10 quarter-final hammering by Leinster in Dublin.
After that defeat, Van Rooyen said Leinster’s execution and the speed at which they play were incredibly impressive, and that his side had taken lessons from it.
Four months later, the Lions beat Leinster at home, and they have four log points in the bank after round one. Starting the campaign with a win over the reigning champions sets the bar for what comes next.
What’s Next in the United Rugby Championship
The Lions stay at Ellis Park for round two, where they host the Ospreys. Leinster remain in South Africa and travel to Durban to face the Sharks.
For Erich Cronje, two tries and a Player of the Match award in an unfamiliar position is a strong opening statement in the United Rugby Championship.
For the Lions, it is the kind of result that sets a tone for the season, delivered with a finish Johannesburg will be talking about for a while.
