The ‘golden’ era of Lions rugby has truly come and gone

On Monday afternoon the Lions announced they were excited to welcome four players to the “Pride” for the United Rugby Championship.

Whether these four loan players from the Pumas actually strengthen the Lions will be seen over time; more likely they have just swelled the squad size and given coach Ivan van Rooyen a few more options – and a bigger selection headache.

In fact, many fans might have been left asking, just who these new acquisitions are?

While flyhalf Eddie Fouche has shown he could add value at a higher level and much is expected of young centre Matt More, not too many rugby watchers would be familiar with them, or with lock Pieter Jansen van Vuren or prop Morgan Naude.

These same fans might also be asking themselves why it is that in the last year the team just up the road have managed to lure several big-name stars to Loftus Versfeld, among them former Lions players like Madosh Tambwe, Jacques van Rooyen, Ruan Combrinck, Harold Vorster and Lionel Mapoe.

Also now on the Bulls books are Johan Goosen, Marcell Coetzee, Arno Botha and Jacques du Plessis, as well as Bismarck du Plessis – the latest to sign on for the Pretoria-based side. 

At the same time the above men were joining Jake White’s team, at the Lions Marvin Orie left for Cape Town, while Elton Jantjies, Kwagga Smith, Malcolm Marx, Dylan Smith, Cyle Brink, Andries Coetzee and Courtnall Skosan left for Europe and Japan. 

Add to that Akker van der Merwe, Faf de Klerk, Franco Mostert, Rohan Janse van Rensburg, Ruan Ackermann (and Jaco Kriel and Ruan Dreyer, who have since returned though) who left around or after the 2018 Super Rugby final.

How things have changed since that golden period for the Lions.

Also gone are coaches Johan Ackermann, Swys de Bruin, JP Ferreira, Neil de Bruin, Joey Mongalo (to the Bulls), and most recently former captain Warren Whiteley, to the Sharks. 

Heck, the Bulls even have a former senior manager at Ellis Park, Edgar Rathbone, now employed as their CEO.

Some of the men the Lions have brought in recently to plug gaping holes, including Kriel and Dreyer, include Jannie du Plessis, Roelof Smit, Dan Kriel, EW Viljoen, Burger Odendaal, Rabz Maxwane, Jaco Visagie and Fred Zeilinga, who have performed at varying degrees of success.

But sadly it has done little, if nothing, to reflect in the results column. In the recent (Covid-disrupted) Currie Cup the Lions won two out of 12 matches.

Wandisile Simelane, the young Lions centre, remains the closest to featuring at international level.

The heady days of 2016, 2017 and 2018 are long-gone. The Lions again have plenty to do to catch up to the best outfit in the country – the Bulls.

It’s only fair to give coach Ivan van Rooyen and his new-look coaching team, including former Boks Jaque Fourie, Albert van den Berg and Ricardo Loubscher (and long-serving Julian Redelinghuys) a chance in the upcoming United Rugby Championship; but they’re going to need a lot of things to go their way if the Lions are to be a force any time soon.

The burning question that needs to be answered is how did it come to this for a team that was riding the crest of the wave and was the envy of many just three to four years ago?