Super Rugby

time again

The men from Jozi will be hard pushed to repeat their heroics of last year, when they reached their third straight final but retained the dreaded bridesmaid tag. There’s a notion that the other three South African franchises - the Sharks, Bulls and Stormers – will put a lot of pressure on the Lions, along with the Jaguares, to ensure they don’t run away with the show again. The Lions have lost some key personnel in Springbok lock Franco Mostert and prop Ruan Dreyer, while another stalwart prop Jacques van Rooyen is also gone. Flank Jaco Kriel and centre Rohan Janse van Rensburg have also departed the scene, but they were injured for the majority of last year’s campaign. The Lions have retained the spine of their team, however, in the form of No 8 Warren Whiteley, hooker Malcolm Marx, scrumhalf Ross Cronje, flyhalf Elton Jantjies and exciting winger Aphiwe Dyantyi. The Lions start off with two tough away games against the Jaguares and the Stormers before they play a series of home matches starting with fixtures against the Bulls and the Jaguares. Coach Swys de Bruin, in his first year as head coach, and his inexperienced coaching staff defied all odds last season by reaching the final and they will once again be confident of putting up a fight. Their potential weaknesses lie at prop and lock, and if they can overcome these areas of concern they could again be among of the front-runners.

Player to watch: Warren Whiteley: They need their charismatic captain to stay injury-free, as it has been proven they are not the same team without his leadership and vision of the game. Injuries forced Whiteley to miss large parts of the last two campaigns which had an influence on their performances.

Predicted Finish: Fourth