JOHANNESBURG - There was a time not too long ago that the Sharks supporters out-numbered the Lions fans at Ellis Park. I mean, heck, every second car in Joburg has a Sharks sticker on the back of it.
Going to Ellis Park, or Emirates Airline Park as it is now called, to support the Lions against the Sharks was a pretty daunting task invariably the home team would get thumped and the black and white flags with that irritating shark on it would be waved around, from before kick-off until long after the final whistle had blown.
But that doesn’t happen anymore. Thankfully. Under Johan Ackermann, the Lions have turned things around quite drastically in the last few years and it is again the red and white of the Lions that dominates the colour scenes at the stadium. And that will again be the case on Saturday when those hard-core fans will come out in their numbers and they’ll over-power the pesky Joburgers who simply cannot get their Sharks blood out of them.
Mufasa, the Lions mascot, will rev them up by dragging ol’ little sharkie by his tail around the stadium and he may even use ol’ sharkie for a ride but there will only be one winner - the mighty roaring lion.
After all, Ackermann’s men have not lost at home in almost a year, and 12 matches, including four in the Currie Cup. A win against the Sharks this weekend will make it nine on the trot in Super Rugby.
Now if that’s not a record to scare the sharkies then I don’t know what is. Against this free-running Lions team, who have scored on average 6.6 tries per game in their eight-game unbeaten run at home, the sharkies will run out of breath on the highveld and head back to Durban wondering what happened.