Van der Merwe flipped by the energetic Ellis

Science dictates the groundsmen should still be extracting Andy Ellis from the Ellis Park turf this week.

The law of physics states that when a larger object strikes a smaller body of mass it should be a no-contest on the rugby field.

So when Lions lock Franco van der Merwe, who is listed at 114kg, gassed towards the Crusaders' try line he appeared certain to score - especially when confronted by Ellis who weighs around 92kg.

Instead, the halfback somehow managed to flip the second rower so he couldn't ground the ball and saved a try.

"You get your hands on the ball and then put my big frame between him and the ball and it seemed to help," Ellis joked. "Look, he probably shouldn't have got through in the first place and I was just covering that area."

The news was not so good for the Crusaders minutes later, though.

Having attacked from the 5m scrum that followed van der Merwe's near-miss the Lions scored when tighthead prop Patric Cilliers rammed his way through a tangle of bodies.

It was a passage of play that summarised the Crusaders' evening. They did some things well, such as Ellis' miracle save but then failed to organise their defence when Cilliers scored.

Ellis also had to contend with a different kind of missile late in the second half when he was flattened by Butch James.

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