How the Lions will handle burden of two Super Rugby near-misses

There are legitimate concerns that the Lions’ third (and possibly final, realistic) assault on the Super Rugby title might fizzle out.

It’s been two mentally draining years for Swys de Bruin’s side, who lost both the finals they’ve played in.

In fact, in some circles, losing last year’s showpiece at home was close to unforgivable.

However, except for splashing out money for a world-class star somewhere, the Lions have done everything by the book before Saturday afternoon’s opener against the Sharks at Ellis Park.

They’ve essentially kept all their senior players, which is no mean feat in the current economic climate.

They’ve promoted younger stars from last season’s Currie Cup for a taste at this level.

And they’ve minimised the disruption of Johan Ackermann’s departure to England by appointing his assistant, De Bruin, as head coach.

Yet here the Lions still stand with nothing in their hands.

It’s either a depressing thought or one that makes the mental burden easier.

For captain Warren Whiteley, it’s definitely the latter.

“It’s quite natural to dwell on how close we’ve come in the last two seasons but we have spoken about that and addressed it,” said the current Springbok skipper.

“The way we see 2018 is that it’s a new season, new challenges and a new format. We feel as a group that we haven’t actually achieved anything. It starts again.”

To assist in that process, the Lions won’t merely focus on the bigger picture of trying to win the tournament.

“You’re obviously going to look at the whole picture but you’re also going to break down your campaign into weeks. I know it’s a cliche and people hate it but that’s really how you approach things,” said Whiteley.

“As player, you feel like you get into a rhythm. You focus on gradual improvement in performance than the results.”

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