Rise of the Lions: From rabble without a cause to roaring success
The Lions are about to play in their third Super Rugby final in as many years, but rewind just five years and they were a rabble. Robert van Royen looks at how the Lions came to roar.
When current head coach Swys de Bruin signed on as an assistant to Johan Ackermann at the end of 2012, the Johannesburgbased Lions were at rock bottom.
They’d not long been relegated from the Sanzaar competition by the South African Rugby Board, replaced by the Southern Kings for the 2013 competition – punishment for finishing dead last for the third time in five years.
Most outside their setup forgot about them, some thought they’d never be back. But while the Kings took over as the competition’s whipping boys, the Lions’ new-look coaching staff was laying the foundation for what has morphed into a remarkable transformation.
‘‘It was never one man’s effort, never ever,’’ de Bruin this week told media in Christchurch.
‘‘It was really inspired by a bunch of brothers who believe in the same thing . . . how could we get this brotherhood going?’’
That’s what Ackermann, head coach of the Lions from 2013 until the end of last season, former defence coach JP Ferreira, who now works for Munster, and himself asked each other when they teamed up.
There was already plenty of talent on the roster, including current captain Warren Whiteley, first-five Elton Jantjies, and flanker Jaco Kriel, while they added prop Jacques van Rooyen, among others, as they targeted a return to Super Rugby.
But to do so, after many miserable years, was going to take a cultural overhaul. ‘‘We just came together and became brothers. It wasn’t just about winning or losing at that stage, and now as well, it was changing things for the better – trying to score tries, and making a difference in the way we play in people’s lives,’’ de Bruin said.
After the Kings finished the 2013 Super Rugby season with a 3-1-12 record, the Lions trumped them in a two-match playoff to gain promotion back into Super Rugby for the 2014 season.
They were back, but there was doubt whether they would hold their own, something the team had barely done since the competition’s inception in 1996.
It didn’t matter what they were called – Transvaal (‘96), Gauteng Lions (‘97), or the Cats (1998-2005) – they were perennial losers.
Only when former All Blacks coach Laurie Mains took over in 2000 did they make the semifinals for the first time, before again falling a game short of the final the following year.
But when he left, the rot set back in, and ran deep. No more so than in 2010, three years after they unveiled a new logo and became the Lions, when they lost all 13 games.
‘‘It takes time, patience is key. Our first season [back] in Super Rugby we won, I think it was seven or eight games. We slowly worked our way up and after two years, that third season, we really started hitting our stride and building our confidence,’’ captain Warren Whiteley said.
Love or hate the conference system, the addition of hooker Malcolm Marx, arguably the best forward in the world, in 2014 helped the team become one of the most successful sides in the competition in the past five years.
They barely missed out on the playoffs in 2015, only to win 34 regular season games over the next three seasons en route to as many grand final appearances.
‘‘The biggest thing was the continuity we had the last couple of years. Especially within South African rugby, it’s unheard of to keep a team together for so long, and that’s indicative of the culture we have,’’ Whiteley said.
‘‘The brotherhood we have, we just love what we do. This weekend is just another opportunity. We’ve got huge respect for the Crusaders and what they stand for.’’