OPINION: Is the Lions resurgence a false revival or a new dawn?

The Lions have produced a stunning turnaround in fortunes over the past two weekends, recovering from a dreadful run in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and some off field drama.

In mid-December the Lions were flying high in the URC in fifth place on the log. They had won and drawn their opening two Challenge Cup games and seemed to be in a really good space.

But barely two months later things had dramatically changed as they went on a five-match losing streak in the URC, tumbling to 14^th place on the log, and they lost their next Challenge Cup game, but managed to bounce back with a win to secure their spot in the knockouts.

Reports had also emerged about a disastrous MyPlayers survey in which Lions players had given poor scores to a number of their coaching and support staff.

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This was followed by more reports of general player unhappiness with how things were being conducted at the union and very poor planning from a high-ranking Lions support staff member on their European tour in January.

Things were thus looking decidedly grim when they were comfortably beaten at home by local rivals the Sharks (with none of the coastal outfit’s Bok stars) in mid-February, which was their fifth URC defeat in a row and 10^th straight loss in the competition against South African teams.

Stunning turnaround

But in the space of two weekends the Lions seem to have turned things around in stunning fashion.

An impressive fighting 35-24 win over the high-flying Glasgow Warriors at Ellis Park was then followed up by a superb upset 29-25 win over rivals the Bulls at Loftus over the past weekend.

Although the Glasgow win was good, the visitors were missing all their internationals who were on Six Nations duty, so it was the surprise victory over the Bulls, missing just two Bok stars, in the Jukskei derby away from home that was the more impressive performance.

With their two big losing streaks in the URC now snapped, the question must be asked: Is this a revival for the Lions, or a false dawn that will mask the problems and failings at the union?