Lions vs Highlanders highlights: Lions win nine-try thriller, secure place in the final

Altitude is not the same as wind and rain. I dont have a major problem with the travel as that can be managed to a degree - altitude no.

To be fair my Sharks were rubbish in the QF by the way. They caught a hiding, but so did the Crusaders & Highlanders. It doest take a rocket scientist to work out that the scoreline by the end of the game doesn't accurately reflect the Lions dominance as they subbed more than half the team near the end, took their foot off the pedal and saved themselves for the final.

Some of these ridiculous comments on the Roar never cease to surprise me. This one Kirky..... has to be near the top of the list. I'm guessing you're not a huge fan of Eden Park then, or the other NZ stadiums if you think Ellis park is dreadfully parochial? Or think the Cane's should have played their QF & SF in Dunedin or Auckland? You do realise the Lios played 5 NZ games, and NZ teams played 6 NZ games? Yet the Lions did not benefit from gaining points against the Rebels, Reds & Force, yet did play the Sunwolves (once) and Cheetahs (once). They had to give the Sharks a hiding twice, who had beaten both NZ finalists from last year. And they had a game all the way in Argentina the week before the QF? Not ideal really which is why Ackerman sent a B Team. Plus they played the Sunwolves in Japan. A Kiwi team crossed the Indian ocean for only 1 or 2 games this year... no? What about all the home games in NZ & Aus where travel is close? All the officials were not South African and they weren't in Boks jerseys. Have you not seen these ref jerseys before? Lastly, I'm guessing the Sharks were rubbish, yet the Crusaders & Highlanders were simply tired because of travel and jetlag and not allowed to win because of the refereeing??? When the Sharks had a better record vs NZ opposition than the Crusaders?

I think it's time for Sanzar to get rid of the earned home finals system. It's run it's course. Winning your conference should be reward in itself. Once inter-conference knock out finals begin the fair way to find the best team is to play at neutral grounds with neutral referees: like the Super Bowl and World Cup.

Local conditions of the team who have earned the right to play at home, much like the advantage the Canes will have this weekend looking at the weather forecast...

Yeah cos its really fair for other teams to play Finals in an environment their lungs are not used and need time to adapt to = unequal playing field = fool

Jeez... that's pathetic in it's entirety but complaining about the Lions being allowed in play in Jo'burg? Get a grip man.

Hey Colvin, just btw Sharks played all 5 NZ teams. They beat both the Canes & Highlanders and were in with a shot of winning all their NZ games up until the 80th minute of each game. Someone else on the Roar said they finished with a better record vs NZ opposition than some of the other NZ teams like Crusaders and blues, u haven't personally checked & compared this though. Their problem was they got drilled twice by the Lions, drew to the Bulls and then didn't stand up at all last week in the quarter finals in those tough conditions when the Canes produced a master class. Anyway I get your point about the Conference format ;-)

Mother of pearl. The sheer amount of moaning about how fatigued the highlanders were and how unfair the system is. And altitude as if that's something new. Home ground advantage is a two way street. Cowbells and chainsaws come to mind. Sucks now that the shoe is on the other foot it seems! For a decade the south African sides had horrendous travel schedules. Didn't see any kiwis complaining then.

Wow Kirky... Can you give us some examples of the howlers that Peyper made? Do you really think that after soooo many years of Super rugby that SANZAR would tell a Team to give up its hard earned hosting rights and have the game played at another rival's venue- say 600km from its supporters- for the sake of creating parity? Do the rest of the kiwi readers agree that this would be a fair step for future competitions? So in this case The Lions and Ellis Park must give all the money that comes with hosting such a huge event to the Sharks?

@ Ruka, Jibba Jabba, Kirky The format was decided and agreed by SANZAAR. We all knew it was constructed to allow 3 SA sides to contest the playoffs to bring in the necessary revenue, we all knew that there were some equalities in the format, in other words it was far from perfect. Live with it, or allow the competition to die like the South Pacific Championship, the earliest attempt to have a broad inter-provincial competition. Expansion brings much needed revenue and he ‘who pays the piper calls the tune’. To me, the international flavor that the S18 brings is part of its appeal and the wider audience is a significant reason that it is a viable competition. Home ground advantages are precious as in any competition and all serious contenders seek ‘that advantage’. I do not question that the conference set up prejudices some union but it is what it is for the time being, however, I believe the top 4 sides emerged in the semifinals anyhow. Some are suggesting that the Lions did not deserve to be in the playoffs ‘due to their soft games’. Yes some of the Lions games were not competitive in the expansion of S18 but in the preliminary rounds but that is the way it is in the meantime. But they also beat 2 NZ sides, the Chiefs (away in NZ) and the Blues (at home). They had losses on the road in NZ to the Crusaders (in a close encounter), the Highlanders and the Hurricanes. The only other loss the Lions suffered in the preliminaries was when sending an understrength team to Argentina losing to the Jaguares and with it, as it turns out, the right to host the Final. The Lions last week returned fire on the Crusaders and last night did the same to the 2015 champions the Highlanders a reversal of their away trips losses. The two vanquished were considered to be serious contenders. Neither Coaches or captains used travel or altitude as an excuse for their losses, both conceded that they were beaten by a better side on the day. And they were. The Highlanders had eight days to prepare for last night, staying in Sydney after their Qtr final match in Canberra two Fridays ago. Next week the Lion, are on the road again to challenge the Hurricanes for the title. If they could topple the favourites, they will have beaten every NZ franchise in 2016, a feat I think only accomplished once before in 21 years by the Stormers in 2010 before they lost the final away to the Bulls in Suweto (instead of Loftus which was bring used for the FIFA world cup). Finally the S18 team I support is the Blues and the AB’s and of course being a Kiwi, I will support next week the Hurricanes. If they win I will celebrate with friends. If the Lions triumphant I too will enjoy the moment when history is made.

Interesting rant Kirky, although inaccurate

not all officials were SAfrican

Spot on Ruka: The Lions no doubt deserved to win, but I also think that they were made to look better than they really are by the sheer fatigue factor of the Highlanders! They are a far better side than that!

@Ruka After 21 years of Super Rugby the casual sports follower still has no idea where the teams come from. You might think it's not important, but it is. One of Super Rugby's selling points is that it's international. As soon as you take out the geographic identifiers you lose that strength. It's useful to know that next weeks final is Wellington versus Jo'burg. Oh wait. The 'Canes aren't from Wellington right? They represent people from anywhere who's favourite wind is a hurricane? How about North Island Hurricanes. What's wrong with that? Wellington or North Island or whatever. Just choose a frickin' geographic name so that people know where the teams are from. It's just dumb and it needs to fixed or David Moffett will be right - Super Rugby oblivion within 5 years.

This weekend needed one commonsense change to make it a success: Of the four quarter finalists, two get home advantage - Lions and Canes. Fine. But that should be their only advantage. Rather than seeding, the Chiefs and Landers should have gone to the nearest game. Chiefs to Jo'Burg cos they were already at Port Elizabeth. Landers to Wellington because they were in Canberra. We wouild have all benefited, as would have the two losing teams. And I support the Canes, so this isn't sour grapes.

The only depth the South Africans have is in the Lions team, it's blatantly obvious, so it shouldn't make one scrap of difference to South African rugby. Congratulations to the Lions as they played well and it was pleasing to see them play the typical New Zealand style of rugby that every Country in the World is attempting to do these days! Butttttt!! There is several shadows hanging over last nights game and we all know what they are, ~ A psuedo South African side in Red Jerseys make up the Lions with a contrived draw to ensure they won their Conference!,only leave South African shores three times in the whole draw,! played thirteen games in South Africa with the last nine in Johannesburg!, had a Referee and two Touchies plus a TMO who were all South Africans wearing Springbok Jerseys, so all that, and chuck in the dreadfully parochial crowd who show no respect whatsoever to any kicker from the opposition, and with every Lion player on the Park yapping in Jaco Peypers ear it affected his performance big time. The Highlanders could've played that game for a month on that Park and still would never have won the it, they weren't allowed to. Peyper and his offsiders operated under a proverbial "deer caught in the headlights" scenario and it was very clear that he put on a different Refereeing display that we normally see from him, ~ He did a complete U turn from his normally confident and fair self to the exact opposite. As I mentioned earlier the Lions deserved to win, but they should have, as everything was pre programmed for them to do so! I was so very wrong in my assumption leading up to last nights game re the horrific travel schedule by the Highlanders and it not being of concern to them being the good side that they are,~ but, it showed immeasurably as even in the first half of the game they were running out of puff and to see them miss so many tackles was just ridiculous, the running metres also were way, way, down as they obviously weren't coping, it was so unlike them. So, with all that in reverse to the Lions in the outcome, it was a matter of them just turning up to win, pre programmed in fact. The question remains though, ~ Why was the Lions Draw done in the manner it was? and why was the entire bunch of adjudicating Officials, Referee and the others from South Africa, all wearing the psychologicaly 'intimidating to the Opposition,' Springbok rugby strip? and why were the Lions afforded less travel miles than almost every other team,? and why also were they able to play all the rugby they did, in Johannesburg,? and in fact why was it played in Johannesburg at all? when a much fairer outcome would have been to have played at sea level or thereabouts. The crowd, sorts itself out as they've always been the same in the Republic, but this whole scenario was played with an advantage to the home side right through the Competition therefore has been grossly unfair indeed. There is a lot of unhappy Campers further down the Globe, but the Kiwi Players won't complain, they rarely do but with the dominant status in World Rugby that New Zealand actually has, surely they could have come up with a far better set up than took place this Season. It matters not how much money that African Rugby contributes to the Super Rugby Competition, it must be a fair and equitable Competition in every aspect regarding the overall running to every team playing in the Super Rugby Competition ~ to date it has not been fair! All the very best to the Lions next weekend, but you will be on the Hurricanes patch and very likely the Officials will be wearing an All Black strip!, See y'all there!

Fantastically entertaining game. Some highlights for me were the 75m+ territory gain from a Faf De Lerk kick; Ackermann at 8 did everything to prove that it wasn't nepotism that got him a spot in the team; and the pairing of Elton and Faf - crisp delivery!

No, he meant sanzaar already booked our tickets to welly !

And forward pass to skooting skosan from jantjes ... at least a metre...