Doing things the hard way is the Lions way

by more than five points and six of those after trailing at the interval.

In another season those tight matches could have gone against them and they’d be sitting bottom of the pile, without a win.

But they’ve made the most of those close encounters and racked up a number of very good wins to keep them in with a shout as the competition enters its final month. They’ve been the most attack-minded of the South African teams and also improved their defence – and they’ve reaped the rewards.

The come-from-behind victory at Ellis Park on Saturday was rightly lauded by Ackermann, but he knows all too well it’s going to take something even more special if his Lions are to qualify for the knock-out stages for the first time. “The importance of the win was to keep us up there,” said Ackermann about the significance of the victory.

“We’re not thinking about the play-offs yet; there’s still far too much rugby to be played, but we know we’re going to have to keep on winning if we’re going to make it.”

Indeed. The Lions will possibly have to win all their remaining games – against the Brumbies (home), Cheetahs (away), Waratahs (home) and Stormers (away).

“We’re probably one or two or even three games (wins) shy,” said Ackermann. “If we’d won a few of our early games, like the Stormers match (which they narrowly lost) we’d have been in a much better position than we are now.

“The thing is we’re not picking up bonus points so we’re simply going to have to keep on winning ... our whole season will rely on that.”

The Lions have picked up just three bonus points – one each in the losses to the Stormers and Bulls and one for scoring four tries against the Cheetahs.

Right now, Ackermann’s team are eighth in the standings – two spots off the play-off places – with 31 points.

Only the Stormers, who’re leading the SA Conference, have picked up less bonus points than the Lions this season – just two – but they’ve won eight times to the Lions’ seven. The local conference though remains as tight as ever, with just three points separating the Stormers, Bulls and Lions.

Ackermann said he was hoping to see more of the composure his side showed