VIDEO: Lions rampant despite this Coetzee red card for knee to the head

Lions racked up their 10th consecutive Super Rugby victory with a 54-10 bonus-point victory over Southern Kings, despite having Robbie Coetzee sent-off after 30 minutes on Sunday.

By the time Coetzee received his marching orders for charging into a ruck and hitting Chris Cloete’s head with his knee, the league leaders were already 12-3 up following tries from Andries Ferreira and Courtnall Skosan.

Ferreira went over in the 11th minute when the referee played an advantage that allowed the Lions to drive forward, and their second try was more fluid with Skosan collecting a neat pass from Warren Whiteley before running in to score.

Whiteley was again involved after 40 minutes when Kwagga Smith scored a superb try. The Springbok captain created space for Smith to run into before feeding him the ball and the flanker skilfully side-stepped a cover tackle to score.

Further tries followed from Malcolm Marx, Jacques van Rooyen, Smith and Faf de Klerk, before Andries Coetzee broke the Kings’ line and ran the length of the field to wrap up an emphatic victory.

FULLTIME: #LIOvKIN 8-try win for @LionsRugbyUnion against @SouthernKingsSA despite playing with 14-men in 2nd half https://t.co/vi9IHXszUH pic.twitter.com/KzPXDsmgaR

— Super Rugby Pacific (@SuperRugby) May 28, 2017

Kings did prove that their high-flying opponents could be penetrated when Elton Jantjies, whose kicking was excellent throughout, had a pass intercepted by Luzuko Vulindlu and the winger broke through to score.

But it was scant consolation for the visitors as Johan Ackermann’s side ran out comfortable winners.