Lions ‘got a wake-up call’ ahead of Australian tour

JOHANNESBURG: How kind the rugby gods have been to the Lions? And they now need to take full advantage.

The Stormers losing for a second week in a row and the Sharks being held to a draw by the Rebels have allowed the Lions (32 points) to open a six-point lead on their nearest challengers in the South African Group, the Stormers (26), with the Sharks on 24.

Of course, things would have been very different had the Lions lost to the Jaguares on Friday, but the home side fought back and thanks to an excellently-taken penalty by Elton Jantjies with two minutes left on the clock won a rather forgettable encounter 24-21.

It was arguably the Lions’ worst performance at home in almost a year, but they now head to Australia for three matches there with their home record extended to 10 unbeaten games.

The narrow victory – their seventh in eight matches – has left Johan Ackermann team in a very favourable position at the halfway point of the competition, but they now have to get the better of the weak Australian sides, the Force, Rebels and Brumbies, tobe fully in charge as the competition starts to get to the business end of matters.

Captain Warren Whiteley, who led his tour party to Perth yesterday, said the close shave against the men from South America was possibly exactly what the Lions needed.

“We were lucky, that’s for sure,” he said after the match. “It was maybe the wake-up call we needed.”

Indeed, while the Force, Rebels and Brumbies have won only six games between them, the Lions will know they’re going to have to work very hard in the coming weeks if they’re to get the desired results. They’ll know full well what happened to the Waratahs (against the Kings this week) and what the Rebels did to the Sharks ... no team can be taken lightly.

“We dipped off against the Jaguares (after the win against the Stormers) and that’s not good enough ... we need to be more consistent and put quality performances together from one week to the next. This competition certainly keeps you on your toes and we’re now fully aware of that as we go on tour.”

The Lions will be without key flank Jaco Kriel as he rests a knee injury picked up on Friday, while wing Madosh Tambwe will also be absent as he teams up with the SA U-20 side for the Junior World Championship in a few weeks’ time.

Wing Ruan Combrinck, who’s been sidelined since December last year after undergoing a shoulder operation, has also stayed home even though he was expected to make his comeback to action this past weekend. Combrinck is now expected to rejoin the Lions team when they return from their tour.