Is this Lions team for real?
After slaying the Dragons 60-10 at Ellis Park last week, you would think so.
But we’ve seen this movie before from the Johannesburg side. They made a four-match winning start to the season, beating Ulster, Edinburgh, Dragons and Zebre – the last two away from home.
Then they lost to Leinster in Dublin, and it’s been an up-and-down campaign since.
Losing 17-10 to Munster in Limerick was understandable, but that was the one where the Johannesburg outfit needed to make a serious statement that they are genuine title contenders.
A 30-14 loss to the Ospreys in Swansea followed, before they beat Pau 43-35 at Ellis Park, and then going down 29-10 to the Stormers in Cape Town and Montpellier 28-5 in France.
So, is the 60-10 annihilation of the Dragons last week a new beginning or a false dawn for coach Ivan van Rooyen’s team?
They can only answer that in this afternoon’s United Rugby Championship showdown against the Bulls at Ellis Park (2.45pm start).
The Lions played some typically thrilling attacking rugby in scoring nine tries last Saturday, which may see some critics making them the favourites for today’s game.
That is also due to the Bulls not firing at full tilt at the moment, although they managed to get out of a hole in ending a four-match losing streak by beating Stade Francais 48-7 in their last Champions Cup encounter last weekend.
Jake White’s Pretoria side, though, played with much better cohesion and seemed to regain their rhythm on attack, which was made easier by a dominant pack, where the much-vaunted Springbok front row of Gerhard Steenekamp, Johan Grobbelaar and Wilco Louw drilled their opponents in the scrums.
The Lions also boast a formidable front row of Juan Schoeman, PJ Botha and Asenathi Ntlabakanye, but can they stop the massive frame of Louw in particular?
The dynamic Ntlabakanye has been superb for the Johannesburg side in the set-pieces and tight loose, but if he wants to take his Bok ambitions further, he will need to impress Rassie Erasmus against Steenekamp and Louw.
The same goes for their powerful No 8 Francke Horn, who is knocking on the national-selection door, but will have his hands full in trying to contain Bulls superstar Cameron Hanekom.
Scrumhalf Morné van den Berg is another Bok contender, but can he keep the Bulls’ nippy Embrose Papier quiet?
Lions assistant coach Jaque Fourie made an interesting observation this week by saying: “It is important that we don’t make it bigger than it is. It is already a massive occasion – the Bulls against the Lions is always a big occasion. So, we don’t want to blow it up too much.”
Perhaps the Lions should “blow it up” much more than they normally do. They are 12th on the URC log, and need to start racking up the wins to remain in playoff contention.
They are on 19 points, but have only played seven URC matches, and are only three points off eighth-placed Edinburgh, who are on 22 after nine games.
It is something that White is wary of too. “One thing you learn about the Lions is that it doesn’t matter where they are on the table,” he said yesterday.
#LionsPride, we NEED you this Saturday. 🦁 #LIOvBUL #ForOurCity @Vodacom #URC #HitsDifferent pic.twitter.com/q7q8CjMq0K
— Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) January 22, 2025
“They can go from 12th to eighth in three weeks, and they’ve done that many times this season as well. It’s just the way the draw’s gone.
“There are still a lot of permutations that can change at the back-end of the competition.”
Lions Team
15 Quan Horn 14 Richard Kriel 13 Henco van Wyk 12 Rynhardt Jonker 11 Edwill van der Merwe 10 Sam Francis 9 Morné van den Berg 8 Francke Horn (captain) 7 Ruan Venter 6 JC Pretorius 5 Ruan Delport 4 Etienne Oosthuizen 3 Asenathi Ntlabakanye 2 PJ Botha 1 Juan Schoeman.
Bench: 16 Jaco Visagie 17 SJ Kotze 18 RF Schoeman 19 Raynard Roets 20 WJ Steenkamp 21 Nico Steyn 22 Gianni Lombard 23 Manuel Rass.