Sunwolves give Lions an almighty fright

● If the Blues exposed cracks in the Lions’ make-up last weekend, the Japanese side laid them bare as fault lines here yesterday.

The team with a mythical creature as its mascot debunked a few myths about the Lions. The Lions are clearly not the ruthless beast everybody thought they were. If last week’s defeat was just brushed aside as an aberration, the Lions may be in for a rude awakening next week away to the Jaguares and a week later here against the Crusaders.

If the few who braved the slight chill arrived here expecting to see a performance of fist-thumping authority after last week’s horror show against the Blues, they were in for more exasperation. The Lions barely held on for this win.

Without regular captain Warren Whiteley, coach Swys De Bruin had thrown down the gauntlet to the senior players in his group to set an example.

Again, however, the Lions failed to deliver a performance commensurate with the amount of experience that resides in their ranks. Malcolm Marx was a notable exception, again standing like a beacon in a sea of mediocrity.

The Lions again went about their business driven by outcomes and not process and it again led to mistakes, which played into their opponent’s hands. To be fair, staying in team structure requires unremitting discipline against a team so committed to at times chaotic attack like the Sunwolves.

As was the case last week, the Lions’ defence proved porous and needs immediate attention to make an impact this season. The line speed of the Sunwolves’ defence had a suffocating effect on the hosts’ ball carriers.

Deft passes and cute angles were the order of the day with visiting centre Michael Little and fullback Kotaro Matsushima full of plotting and scheming.

By the time Hosea Saumaki evaded three would-be defenders to score in the corner in the 52nd minute it was clear the Lions were in for another scrap. When lock Kazuki Himeno scooted through unchallenged from an intercept delivered courtesy of Elton Jantjies, it was all too evident the Lions were again digging themselves a hole.

The Lions were forced to go to the heavyhitting Marx and Rohan Janse van Rensburg to bash the door down.