LIONS YEAR WRAP: Unless there is change, Lions season seems set for mediocrity again

If you were a time traveller and had to stop at Ellis Park this Christmas and last, and had to look at the fortunes of the Lions Rugby team, it would be hard to notice a difference.

In fact if you had to do it for the last six seasons, it would hardly register too much of a thought as things would look, sound, and feel relatively the same.

It may sound like a harsh assessment but in professional sport where teams live and die by results and coaches are hired and fired based on this, Ellis Park is frozen in a time capsule that isn’t likely to change anytime soon.

You have the Lions - devoid of the previous seasons’ title sponsor for both their name and stadium - sitting mid table, full of promise, and full of disappointment.

For Lions fans who have followed their side religiously over the past 12 months they know the drill. There are flashes of brilliance, a marquee win or two and then ounces of disappointment.

And, nothing ever seems to change.

BOKS REWARDED

The personnel may alter, and a few may have been rewarded for their good play and become Springboks - Morne van den Berg and Asenathi Ntlabakanye in particular, but little else has changed.

On the coaching front the same coaching team that has taken them to a little over 40 per cent success in both the Vodacom United Rugby Championship and EPCR Challenge Cup is still there, plodding along and doing the same thing, hoping for different results.

Lions fans will know. It isn’t that their side can’t mix it up with the big teams in the competition - they came within seven points of log leaders, the DHL Stormers, this past weekend and could easily have won that game. It is rather their lack of killer instinct, the way they lose games they should win and the sheer inability to last the season when it comes to results that makes them difficult to watch.

Cash van Rooyen’s almost seven-year reign at the team hasn’t seen them make the top eight of the competition at any stage, and while they lie currently sixth on the log at the Christmas break, the reality of a similar season stares them in the face.

EPCR CAMPAIGN DISASTER

Two losses from two games in the EPCR Challenge Cup and their European season is as underwater as it can be. In both those games they led going into the final 10 minutes only to lose it at the death.

A similar trend has happened throughout the last six seasons and listening to any post match press conference after a Lions loss makes you wonder if you’re experiencing dejavu as it sounds eerily similar to every press conference before it.

The lack of ideas and innovation is one thing, but any Lions loss is greeted by “What ifs” and “if this happened” as excuses for their mediocre performance.

The most perplexing thing about it is the Lions have some real quality in their side. Quan Horn is an international quality 15 and wouldn’t look out of place in the Springbok side. Kelly Mpeku is one of the hottest rising talents in SA Rugby while Henco van Wyk and Bronson Mills are both quality players.

Van den Bergh is excellent behind the pack and they refuse to call on SA under-20 star and World Junior Player of the year Haashim Pead, who should have been given more game time a long time ago.

Their loose trio is class. Francke Horn is an excellent captain and Ruan Venter, Renzo du Plessis and Jarod Cairns are nightmares for opposition. Their front row is mobile and they can put together a decent starting 15.

STRATEGY NEEDS A RETHINK

But between all of this, they misfire. They are good on attack, sublime at times, only to allow opposition to come back at them. At some point the management need to rethink their strategy, as the definition of madness often is doing the same things over and over and looking for a different result.

The Lions are testament to this. Their potential is never reached. Last season they ended off 11th in the competition and Van Rooyen was retained. The lack of ambition for the squad is reflected in their management and it shows.

On Saturday after the Stormers loss the Lions were talking themselves up again despite another loss and while they did go toe to toe with the Stormers, celebrating the loss underlined the side’s main focus.

“One or two calls that could’ve gone either way, probably didn’t go our way and I think that was probably the difference,” Van Rooyen said, talking of his pride in the performance.

“We played against probably the most in-form team in world rugby. After a performance like that, I’d be surprised if we get into a slump. I’m really proud of the effort.”

But until that outlook changes and the Lions are less positive about a defeat and some changes are made, it is likely their season will be the same mid table mediocrity when the season ends.

Lions fans will be praying that this outlook is wrong, but on the current evidence, it is unlikely to be so.