What the others can learn from the rejuvenated Lions
FOR a team that began Super Rugby looking like stragglers at a homeless shelter, the Lions finished the season as the best team to watch in the competition.
Their flowing movement, passing, offloading and finishing have been a marvel.
It isn’t often that a bush mechanic working with scrap metal can build something that moves like a Formula One car, but coach Johan Ackermann has done that in two years.
The expensively assembled Bulls and Sharks should be in the race for play-off places going into the final group-stage round but they checked out prematurely. They could learn a thing or two from Ackermann’s men.
“The Lions have gotten better defensively, especially when it comes to defending that inside channel,” said former coach John Mitchell.
“Their scrum has progressively improved as well. They made some adjustments to it on the Australasian tour and became more unified there.”
Mitchell, with assistants Carlos Spencer and Ackermann, took the Lions to the Currie Cup title in 2011 and during his time seeds of a high-intensity New Zealand-style game were sown.
Still, the ability to transfer domestic form to the international provincial competition proved as challenging as landing a Boeing on Mount Everest.
“Depth was the biggest hindrance,” said Mitchell. “We never had it. We got eight injuries in the first eight weeks of Super Rugby the year after we won the Currie Cup. They’ve been able to rotate well. They haven’t had the same group playing all the games. Look at how they have rotated their scrumhalves, front row and midfield.
“I’ve been hugely impressed by Ruan Combrinck. He’s created certainty for teammates with his finishing. He has always had the skill but at times some of his fundamental [duties] haven’t been executed well.
“I always knew Jaco Kriel would become a great foot- baller. He provides different skills to Siya Kolisi and Marcell Coetzee but he can have a huge impact coming off the bench in test rugby,” Mitchell said.
To compensate for not having the budgets Frans Ludeke in Pretoria and Gary Gold in Durban enjoy, Ackermann employed shades of baseball manager Billy Beane’s Moneyball concept. According to Money- ball, if every player gives better than 80% to the task that their position demands, regardless of the list of skills he lacks as a player, the sum of those 15 efforts will strengthen the game.
Former Springbok prop Lawrence Sephaka said building a tight-knit unit went a long way to having their best season since the days of the Cats.
“Talent or no talent, you have to have that team spirit Ackermann has fostered. There is definitely something special going on there.
“They are playing the most expansive game of the South African teams,” Sephaka said.
Former Bok scrumhalf Werner Swanepoel believed fearlessness was the key ingredient.
“You need big kahunas to play the way they have,” he said. “You get the impression that the Lions don’t fear anyone. A lot of our sides are so structured that they fear making a mistake.”