Lions march on to Super Rugby final

Elton Jantjies (Gallo Images)

Johannesburg - The Lions advanced to this year's Super Rugby Final after claiming a deserved 42-30 victory over the Highlanders in Johannesburg on Saturday.
As it happened: Lions 42 Highlanders 30
In a memorable all-round performance, in which they stayed true to their attacking roots, the Lions dominated for large periods and outscored the Highlanders by to one with Elton Jantjies leading the way with a 22-point haul thanks to a try, four conversions and three penalties.
The result brings to an end the Highlanders' reign as champions and the Super Rugby tournament will have new winners as the Lions and their opponents in next weekend's final, the Hurricanes, haven't won the competition yet.
The Lions fast paced style of play proved too much for the Highlanders who made several unforced errors which cost them victory.
The homeside scored two unanswered tries in the opening half but turned on the style after the interval with Jantjies' playmaking skills particularly impressive as they continued to attack from all areas of the field.
The home side opened the scoring as early as the 11th minute when Jantjies went over under the posts, after Malcolm Marx was stopped five metres short of the try-line in the build-up.
Jantjies brushed himself off to slot the conversion before Lima Sopoaga opened the Highlanders' account via a penalty in the 18th minute but Jantjies restored parity with a three-pointer from the kicking tee two minutes later.
Five minutes later, Rohan Janse van Rensburg pounced on a loose pass from Lima Sopoaga on the Lions' 10-metre line and showed a superb turn of speed as he outpaced the cover defence before dotting down under the posts.
Jantjies added the extras which meant the home side led 17-3 but despite trailing by 14 points, the Highlanders didn't panic and upped the ante on attack.
Two minutes later they had a chance to narrow the gap when Elliot Dixon went over the whitewash, after running on to a brilliant offload from Malakai Fekitoa, but he lost the ball while diving over the try-line.
The Highlanders had a chance to reduce the deficit five minutes later when Sopoaga lined up a shot at goal, but his effort was wide of the mark.
Sopoaga would make up for that miss with a penalty on the stroke of half-time which meant the Lions led 17-6 as the teams changed sides.
Scorers: Lions:
Tries: Jantjies, Janse van Rensburg, Skosan, Kriel, Erasmus
Cons: Jantjies 4
Pens: Jantjies 3
Highlanders:
Tries: Faddes, Sopoaga, Naholo, Wheeler
Cons:  Sopoaga 2
Pens: Sopoaga 2

Teams:
Lions
15 Andries Coetzee, 14 Ruan Combrinck, 13 Lionel Mapoe, 12 Rohan Janse van Rensburg, 11 Courtnall Skosan, 10 Elton Jantjies, 9 Faf de Klerk, 8 Ruan Ackermann, 7 Warwick Tecklenburg, 6 Jaco Kriel (captain), 5 Franco Mostert, 4 Andries Ferreira, 3 Julian Redelinghuys, 2 Malcolm Marx, 1 Dylan Smith
Substitutes: 16 Armand van der Merwe, 17 Corne Fourie, 18 Jacques van Rooyen, 19 Lourens Erasmus, 20 Steph de Witt, 21 Dillon Smit, 22 Howard Mnisi, 23 Jaco van der Walt
Highlanders
15 Ben Smith (captain), 14 Waisake Naholo, 13 Matt Faddes, 12 Malakai Fekitoa, 11 Patrick Osborne, 10 Lima Sopoaga, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Luke Whitelock, 7 James Lentjes, 6 Elliot Dixon, 5 Tom Franklin, 4 Alex Ainley, 3 Josh Hohneck, 2 Ash Dixon, 1 Daniel Lienert-Brown
Substitutes: 16 Greg Pleasants-Tate, 17 Aki Seiuli, 18 Ross Geldenhuys, 19 Joe Wheeler, 20 Liam Squire, 21 Dan Pryor, 22 Te Aihe Toma, 23 Marty Banks