Jake White: Jukskei Derby too close to call
Today’s Jukskei Super Rugby derby between the Lions and the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld is a watershed moment for Johan Ackermann’s team.
The Bulls are second in the South African Conference with 29 points after last weekend’s narrow loss to the Stormers, the conference leaders with 30 points, while the Lions are lurking in third spot with 26 points thanks to six victories from their last seven matches.
Today’s match is D-Day for the Lions. If they beat the Bulls they set themselves up nicely for a shot at reaching the play-offs, and at the same time prove they are not the laughing stock of the competition as has been the case so often in the past.
A win today will be a massive boost for the Lions in the stronghold of South African rugby ... it could be the moment they turn things around. Today provides them with the prefect opportunity to see where they are as a union. A loss, however, gives everyone a feeling of same ol’, same ol’.
The Lions’ season is such a feelgood story. Their resurgence as a franchise is great news for South African rugby and it is amazing what they have done this season.
It is wonderful they enter today’s match knowing they have a solid chance to beat the Bulls. A lot of credit must go to Ackermann, who has got them to gel as a team, with no real big-name players. He has got them to play for each other and the results are showing just that.
Having said all that, I state this with plenty of respect, but they still have a long way to go to reach their glory days of yesteryear.
Yes, they had a good tour Down Under, but the three teams they beat – the Reds, Blues and Rebels – are not title contenders and are all below them on the standings.
You must remember they used to be the richest franchise in the world, they were Super 10 champions and had two-thirds of the 1995 World Cup-winning Springbok squad at their disposal. They played at a top stadium like Ellis Park, where you were put on a waiting list to get your hands on one of their suites.
They have a long way to go to reach those heights again and a victory today will go a long way in starting the process.
On the flipside, the Bulls’ track record speaks for itself. They could so easily have beaten the Stormers last weekend – and even the loss was not a bad result considering it was against the do-ordie Stormers.
The Lions could do worse than taking a leaf out of the Bulls’ history books. As a franchise, the Bulls were the whipping-boys of Super Rugby from 1999 to 2002, where they only won four matches. It was so dire at Loftus Versfeld that the Bulls failed to win a match in the 2002 season. In those days they had a centre pairing of Danie van Schalkwyk and Andre Snyman. Despite those dark days they went on to become Springboks. Things go around in circles. Fast-forward to 2010 and the Bulls had won three Super Rugby titles in four years. They are still the only South African team to win a Super Rugby title if you don’t count the Lions’ Super 10 triumph in 1993.
So if the Bulls win today they are on track to make the play-offs and perhaps go all the way, but the Lions are good enough to beat any team on any given day. Jake White is South Africa’s World Cup-winning coach of 2007 and currently the director of rugby at French top-tier club Montpellier.