Why the Lions have lost their roar

The Lions’ steady and then sharp decline is indeed a bitter pill to swallow for the South African rugby community.

Whether one supports them or not, there’s much admiration for a franchise that, by reaching three consecutive Super Rugby finals between 2016 and 2018, did it utmost best to maintain the dignity of the local professional game during a period of gloom before Rassie Erasmus’ Springbok revolution.

Before any investigation into their downward spiral can commence, it’s only fair to note that such sudden declines aren’t unprecedented for South African Super Rugby franchises, especially given the unabated exodus of local players to foreign markets.

In 2002, the then Cats went from semifinalists in 2000 and 2001 to wooden spoonists; the Sharks from runners-up in 2001 to tenth in 2002 (out of 12); the Bulls from champions in 2007 to tenth in 2008.

The Lions were on the back foot already last season, finishing ninth from the highs of the previous campaign.

But they’re plumbing new depths in 2020, languishing third-from-bottom on the overall log and are last in the South African conference.

The 21 tries they’ve conceded is their most in the first five matches of a season for the past decade.

How did it come to this point?

We explore a few reasons.

CASHING IN ON CASH WAS ALWAYS HIGH RISK

Cash van Rooyen. (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

Not many people were particularly perturbed when Johan Ackermann, the man who hauled the Lions out of the Super Rugby wilderness and then took them to a Currie Cup title and two Super Rugby finals, was replaced by his right-hand man Swys de Bruin following his departure to Gloucester.

And why would one be? De Bruin was highly experienced and considered such a keen thinker that Erasmus even employed him as a Bok consultant.

Yet when De Bruin controversially exited in October last year, the Lions seemingly blindly chose to promote internally again.

The problem was there was no experienced candidate to do so.

Almost by default, the job was handed to Currie Cup coach Ivan ‘Cash’ van Rooyen, a man who established himself as one of the most astute fitness and conditioning gurus in the country.

His record in the increasingly beleaguered domestic tournament isn’t bad – the team reached the semifinals in 2018 and 2019 – but those results are skewed by doubts over the true competitiveness of the competition and the fact that last season, the Lions plainly could’ve lost all six of their round robin matches.

Van Rooyen has done little to illustrate that he’s the man in charge.

Instead, he and his vastly inexperienced support staff seem to function independently of each other – there’s simply no evidence of those ideas being strung together into a coherent game-plan.

Julian Redelinghuys. (Photo by Wessel Oosthuizen/Gallo Images)

In the case of Julian Redelinghuys (scrum coach), Warren Whiteley (lineout coach) and Sean Erasmus (defence coach), their inexperience has that the whole platform for their continued traditional running game has, in a word, collapsed.

To date, the Lions have statistically the worst scrum in the tournament, rank ninth in terms of lineout ball won and are the third worst at completing tackles.

There’s a longer-term problem to this dynamic…

INEXPERIENCED COACHING STAFF UNDERMINES THE PLAYER MODEL

Tyrone Green. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)

In the heyday of former high performance manager Bart Schoeman, the Lions made the prudent decision to ensure continuity by contracting some of the best schoolboy talent in South Africa, verse them in the franchise’s playing style at youth level and then unleash them at senior level.

You can’t complain when your group of upcoming rookies are the likes of Tyrone Green, Gianni Lombard, Manny Rass, Louritz van der Schyff, Hacjivah Dayimani, Francke Horn, Nathan McBeth, Mark Snyman and James Mollentze.

However, to nurture them, a team needs to expose them to top-class coaching at senior level – after all, there are tons of examples of how accomplished coaches made even the most mediocre of playing resources steely.

Given that only Green and to a lesser extent Dayimani have kicked on at this level, the Lions risk wasting the immense talent at their disposal due to their coaching stocks.

By the time Van Rooyen and co are more experienced, it will most likely be too late.

QUESTIONABLE SENIOR SIGNINGS AND RETENTION

Jannie du Plessis. (Photo by Gordon Arons/Gallo Images)

You don’t need to tell any discerning rugby follower that youth needs to complemented by some experience, a situation the Lions have been acutely aware of judging by the “veterans” they still possess in their ranks.

Yet unlike the Bulls with Duane Vermeulen, Schalk Brits and Josh Strauss or the Stormers with Jamie Roberts, the men from Ellis Park’s recruitment and retention has been distinctly hit-and-miss.

There’s currently no reason why former Bok prop Jannie du Plessis should be in the squad as he’s essentially made no impact and is featuring increasingly more sparsely.

It’s difficult to judge whether the fault lies with him or the system he has to operate in.

Willem Alberts’ return makes sense in theory as the Lions lack bulk among their loose forwards, but the jury is still out on whether a 35-year-old with a sketchy injury history has the inherent athleticism to function in the team’s pattern.

There will also be reservations about Jaco Kriel’s impending return, not just over his fitness, but whether he’s walking into a playing structure that will mean even his efforts become generally fruitless.

Why there wasn’t an attempt to properly fill Malcolm Marx’s void at hooker is a mystery.

Meanwhile, 26-year-old Cyle Brink – a bit out-of-favour yet highly rated by Springbok management – was summarily released from his contract to join Leicester.

A wretched run of injuries played a part, though it was revealing that he told Netwerk24 how he needed to “break away fully” from the union to re-start his career and also mentioned how various senior players’ careers have “stagnated”.

That’s a very good point.

Andries Coetzee, Marvin Orie, Ross Cronje and to lesser extents Courtnall Skosan and Elton Jantjies are seemingly going through the motions instead of looking revitalised.

LACK OF LEADERSHIP

Elton Jantjies has his detractors, but he relishes a senior role.

That has become apparent over a number of years.

Yet this is the first year he’s been handed a full-time captaincy role and already commentators, notably former Bok coach Nick Mallett, criticised the team for lacking energy and a visible culture.

It’s probably not just Jantjies’ fault, though hindsight provides an interesting insight on this matter.

When De Bruin last year had to pick a candidate to replace Whiteley as captain, he didn’t pick Jantjies – the official vice-captain – and went with Marx.

Did that mean something more concrete than thought the time?

Is Jantjies maybe better just as a tactical mastermind on the field, the role De Bruin continually used him in, and doesn’t quite like the added burden of being the politician and motivator on the field too?

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