They are not playing in front of the crowds that used to be a regular feature of the latter stages of the Super Rugby era when they made three successive finals, but the Fidelity SecureDrive Lions will change that if they continue with the dazzling rugby that buried Edinburgh 54-17 at Ellis Park on Saturday.
Of course it is a new competition now, the Vodacom URC, that the South African teams now participate in, and until this season, they’d failed to pick up any silverware and also failed to make the top eight position that secures playoff qualification and a place in the following season’s Investec Champions Cup.
But the first part of that was changed as the Lions secured the SA Shield for the first time in their fifth season in the competition when they beat the DHL Stormers a few weeks ago and the second part of their quest could well be satisfied if they continue the impressive momentum they have built up since they blipped with a blow out against the Vodacom Bulls at the end of January.
THREE IN A ROW
The Hollywoodbets Sharks, Stormers and now Edinburgh have all been comprehensively shrugged aside as the Lions have set about rebuilding their fortress and consigning the humiliation at the hands of the Bulls to a distant memory.
And on the evidence of this eight-try rout at their home ground in Johannesburg, they are improving week on week.
𝗙𝗨𝗟𝗟 𝗧𝗜𝗠𝗘 | Fidelity SecureDrive Lions 54 – 17 Edinburgh
— Lions (@LionsRugbyCo) March 21, 2026
@Vodacom #URC | #LIOvEDI | #ForOurCity | #LionsPride pic.twitter.com/iOFUbwhpC2
This game saw the hosts produce a masterclass on the art of attacking from deep and from transition and it would not be at all surprising if at the end of this season several of the Lions scores in this game feature among those lined up to be considered as the try of the season.
In the third quarter they did fall away a bit and allowed Edinburgh to dominate the gainline for a while, but by then the job had been done when the Lions scored five converted first-half tries to lead 35-0 at the break.
Skipper Franke Horn did spend 10 minutes in the sinbin for a deliberate knock-down on the stroke of halftime but otherwise again led the side with superb example from No8, and there were several of the usual suspects showing up with performances that were integral to the big win, not least of those Morne van den Bergh, with the Springbok scrumhalf celebrating his landmark 100th game for his team by rounding off his team’s fourth try for the try scoring bonus point in the 26th minute.
That try was typical of the type the Lions scored on the day, with lock Ruan Venter, the scorer of the first Lions try and man of the match, in the thick of it as the Lions attacked from deep before flyhalf Chris Smith produced a little flick pass out the back of his hand to send his halfback partner over untouched near the posts.
The Venter try came in the fifth minute and got the show on the road as, after Edinburgh had enjoyed almost all the possession until then, a breakdown deep in the Lions half saw the Lions transition with precision and after several players handled it was eventually the lock who found himself in the clear.
IMPRESSIVE WORK RATE FROM LIONS' BIG MEN
It was maybe apt that Lions forwards featured among the try scorers and Venter won the man of the match award as the work rate of the Lions pack is one of the keys to their recent successes.
So too is their defensive work, something that was writ large when they beat the Stormers a few weeks ago in a game where they had almost no ball to play with in the second half.
Well, in this game Edinburgh forced the Lions to make three times as many tackles as they had to make, and yet conceded seven tries.
Perhaps their 28 missed tackles by the 70 minute mark had something to do with that, but so too did the quality of the Lions’ offloading and spotting of space as well as positioning when they did have ball to attack with.
Former Bok centre Jaque Fourie will certainly be proud of the the work done by the team in his discipline as assistant coach, defence, and you know what they say about commitment on defence summing up a team’s attitude.
The Lions certainly have attitude, and also aptitude to attack from anywhere at the slightest indication there is an opportunity.
That attitude and aptitude was demonstrated a few minutes beyond the first half hooter. Edinburgh had been awarded a penalty near the Lions’ posts from the misdemeanour that saw Horn sent from the field and they elected to scrum and then scrum again when they got another penalty.
The Lions could easily have conceded the try and gone to the break knowing they were comfortably ahead, but the impressive centre Bronson Mills got stuck in to win a turnover penalty.
Instead of kicking to touch, the Lions took it quickly and ran the length of the field before Mills rounded off what he had started 95 metres away.
That would have been a particularly demoralising try for Edinburgh to concede at a point when they were so close to scoring themselves, but it was the story of the half, with the Lions’ third try being the one that will most likely come close to qualifying as the try of the season.
It was started by the little offload that put loosehead prop SJ Kotze in for a superb run down the left flank after the restart from the Lions’ second try, with ever impressive flanker Siba Mahashe prominent as a carrier, and lock Darrien Langsberg rounded off.
Langsberg had made the good take that created the space, aided by some poor defending from Edinburgh, for skipper Horn to score what on the day was a rare forward try for the hosts.
In the second half there was a good cross kick from Smith that put in wing Angelo Davids and Davids did it again later in the game running onto another kick, and replacement scrumhalf Haashim Pead added a further try to his tally at senior level to take the Lions beyond the half century mark.
Mills attempted the conversion for that try and missed thus leaving Smith with a 100 per cent success rate from the tee.
SCORERS
Fidelity SureDrive Lions 54 - Tries: Ruan Venter, Franke Horn, Darrien Landsberg, Morne van den Bergh, Bronson Mills, Angelo Davids 2 and Haashim Pead; Conversions: Chris Smith 7.
Edinburgh 17 - Tries: Ewan Ashman, Freddie Douglas and Matt Currie; Conversion: Cammy Scott