Lions need to regain their self-belief and start roaring again
The Hurricanes haven’t lost at home to a South African team since the Stormers beat them in 2013, and their loss to the Sharks in a freaky game in 2014 (the Sharks played much of it with 14 men) is the only blemish for the Crusaders in a twodecade domination of SA teams in Christchurch.
If we decide that because the Blues appear to be perennially troubled we should not rank them among the proper Kiwi contenders, then it has been another bleak year for SA in New Zealand.
The Sharks brought some relief with an unexpectedly comfortable home win over the Highlanders. But the failure of the South African flag-bearer in the competition to beat a New Zealand side home or away is a concern from a national viewpoint.
The Lions will get a chance for redress when they play the Highlanders in Dunedin in their final tour match, but need to sort out some issues. The forwards too often lack the energy — and what some might refer to as anger — that they had in previous seasons and tend to drift in and out of games.
They are not riding the crest of the wave like they did in previous seasons and with some key leadership figures missing — and now it looks like they will be missing Malcolm Marx too — you have to wonder whether they have the same hunger and belief that they had before.
The Lions back row may just be too small. They may lack the big gainline breaking traditional South African No 7 that could make all the difference.
Allied to that, they also need to rediscover the game clarity that was a hallmark of their wins over the Stormers and Waratahs but has been absent subsequently.
They are still second on the overall log, so they have time to recover, work on their confidence and build belief. One thing we can be sure of is that without belief, the best the Lions will achieve is being the nearly men once again.