Johannesburg – Can the Lions emulate the Bulls teams of 2007, 2009 and 2010 and go on to win the Super Rugby title this year?
It is a question that weighs heavily on the broad shoulders of Lions coach Johan Ackermann and his team and is the expectation of their fans who have had to endure over two decades of heartache in the southern hemisphere’s premier rugby competition.
However, there is a growing chorus of opinions within the rugby fraternity that the time has come for the Lions to roar and become kings of the southern hemisphere and join the Bulls as the only South African winners of the competition since the turn of professional rugby.
And rightfully so as there are similarities between the Lions’ path in dominating the South African rugby landscape and that traversed by the Bulls on their road to glory, leading to their first title in 2007.
After enduring a torrid 2000 and 2001 Super Rugby season under the guidance of Heyneke Meyer, the then Bulls board of directors fired Meyer and let go of many of his players before re-appointing him three years later.
They gave him carte blanche to build a team that would go on to dominate Super Rugby.
It was Meyer, who, upon his return to the Bulls top job, began putting together the building blocks to one of the greatest teams in the competition’s history with a group of little-known players.
It began with an unlikely Currie Cup win against the Lions in 2002 that saw the Bulls dominate the domestic scene for four more years before burgling an unlikely victory in the 2007 Super Rugby final against the Sharks.
That memorable win in Durban led to an unprecedented number of Bulls players making the Springbok team that won the World Cup and that same Bulls team went on to win two more Super Rugby trophies in 2009 and 2010 and also achieved the double in 2009 when they won the Currie Cup.
While the Lions’ road may not be paved with as many golden moments of dominating the local game, they have risen from the ashes after being relegated from Super Rugby three years ago by winning a Currie Cup title in an unbeaten streak last year to being crowned South African conference winners on Friday night.
The powers-that-be at Ellis Park also hedged their bets on Ackermann and his group of unknown players, many of whom were deemed surplus to requirement at other franchises.
In just a matter of three years Ackermann has managed to build a formidable team that won the Currie Cup twice and contributed a plethora of players to Allister Coetzee’s Springboks.
The big crown still awaits them but many believe their coronation could come as early as this year.
“I think the Lions can win this competition, especially with the brand of rugby they are playing at the moment,” said former Springbok assistant coach and now Sharks director of rugby Gary Gold, pictured left.
“They are a well-coached outfit and many of their players have hit form and there is real cohesion in the side. I see a lot of comparisons between this Lions team and the Bulls team coached by Heyneke Meyer.
“But this doesn’t come by chance, it helps being allowed to get the players you want as a coach. Patience is also needed as teams will have their ups and downs but in the end things come good like they seem to be happening for the Lions at the moment. “I believe they can go all the way in this competition.”
Gold’s sentiments were echoed by former Springbok and Bulls eighthman Anton Leonard, pictured right, who was the cornerstone and at the heart of Meyer’s Bulls side that gored all and sundry during their golden generation.
“I think they can win the competition,” Leonard said.
“They are doing a lot of things we did. They started about four years ago with a bunch of no-name players and now we can see the results of continuity and self-belief in the players. I think the Lions are building something special and they can qualify for a home semi-final and final which will make things much easier if they are to go all the way.”
Leonard, though, has warned the Lions not to be overly cautious going into the play-offs and continue playing the brand of rugby that has worked for them all season long.
“What often happens with teams when they approach the play-offs is that they start playing a more structured and conservative style of rugby and get too scared to play their normal game. They must stick to what works for them and I think they are the best team with ball in hand in the competition.
“They mustn’t try to do anything differently for the play-offs. They will miss the leadership of Warren Whiteley but this is the time for the other leaders in the team to step up,” he said.
Leonard believes the current Bulls team could follow in the trail of their predecessors and the Lions.
But for now, Loftus Versfeld is in anguish as the Bulls go through the growing pains of building a championship-winning team.
It is the roar of the Lions that can be heard loud and clear throughout the southern hemisphere and it is only a matter of time before they are crowned kings of the Super Rugby jungle.
– THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT