Lions owe it to themselves to defy the odds

The Crusaders’ muted celebrations at the end of their semifinal win over the Hurricanes suggest they feel their job is not yet done. But they would have been alone in thinking that the later game in Johannesburg had lost much of its relevance.

There is a reason South African teams have no record of success in New Zealand Super Rugby playoff games.

Until the organisers of the competition schedule a twoweek break before the final, there will remain an air of inevitability about the showpiece game of the season when there is a big travel element involved.

At the same time, Lions captain Warren Whiteley had it right with his comment – when you are in the final, you give yourself a chance.

It reminded me of a column former Wallaby captain Dick Cocks, who also captained Natal and was later a Natal selector, wrote in a Durban newspaper on the morning of the 1990 Currie Cup final between Northern Transvaal and Natal at Loftus Versfeld.

Natal were given as little chance then as the Lions will be given now, but Cocks, who usually wrote with great humour, wasn’t trying to be funny when he pointed out that Craig Jamieson’s team had a better chance than Western Province, Transvaal, Free State and the rest of the Currie Cup provinces who wouldn’t be contesting the decider.

I join those who give the Lions little chance this week. The flight from west to east is more debilitating than the one from New Zealand to SA.

The Lions haven’t been as good this year as they were in previous seasons when they contested the final, and the Crusaders showed ominous form in easily dispatching the second-best team in the competition in their semifinal.

But the Lions, in looking for reasons why the critics can be silenced, needn’t look further than some of the history built up by Saturday’s opponents over the past two decades.

Using last season’s final, when the Crusaders travelled through the time zones to win the decider in Johannesburg, would be a bit disingenuous.

The Crusaders team the Lions should use as their reference point is the 2011 vintage that didn’t win the competition but fell at the final hurdle.

That was the year of the Christchurch earthquakes and the Crusaders were forced to spend almost the entire season on the road. More than 100,000 flying hours were racked up by Richie McCaw’s team.

They travelled to Cape Town for their semifinal, won that and then headed back to Australasia to play the Reds in Brisbane in the final.

That was a crack Reds team that had topped what was then the Super 14 log. Yet the Crusaders took them down to the last minutes on their home field in one of the few epic finals of the Super Rugby era.

The Lions have a similar history in that they have a team that have stayed together for a long time and have overcome obstacles. This could well be the last chance for this Lions team, now playing a third final.

They face an Everest on Saturday, but they owe it to themselves to defy the odds.