Ken Borland

Swys de Bruin endured some teething problems early on in his career as Lions head honcho, but hats off to the well-travelled coach for keeping the faith and his nerve and maintaining the high standards of excellence that have characterised Ellis Park as the team head into their third successive SuperRugby final on Saturday.

Change – especially when it involves losing someone as integral as Johan Ackermann – is often difficult but it is a credit to the smooth systems in place at Ellis Park and De Bruin’s own wisdom and level-headedness that the performance of the Lions in the long run has barely suffered.

It was not as smooth a road to the final this year, which has forced them to make the daunting trip to Christchurch, but reports of the Lions’ demise were greatly exaggerated. Sure, they have had their problems this season, but in a way that makes their achievement all the more impressive because they had to overcome greater challenges to reach the final.

Without their inspirational captain, Warren Whiteley, for most of the season, the Lions also lost their most influential player in Malcolm Marx at a crucial stage of the tournament while Jaco Kriel, a matchwinner, has been ruled out of the entire campaign due to injury. They also had to cope with the departure of integral players like Ruan Ackermann, Faf de Klerk and Akker van der Merwe, while also dealing with the rumours swirling around contracted players wanting to leave and those that did depart mid-season like Rohan Janse van Rensburg.

Apart from still churning out the results against the odds, with so many things mounted against them, the Lions have also still played with flair, which is unsurprising considering how obsessed coach De Bruin is with scoring tries; in a sport which is marred by plenty of cynicism, it is refreshing to have a head coach state so openly, with almost childish naivety, that all he cares about are tries. But that is why most people started playing rugby.

Whatever the result of Saturday’s final, and it would be an upset for the ages if the Lions were to beat the Crusaders in Christchurch, they have done the nation proud. And I don’t agree with the prophets of doom who say it’s now or never for the Lions to win SuperRugby; these are probably the same naysayers who predicted the team would fall off the rails this year already.

The wonderful thing that the culture of success at Ellis Park – and here we must also give the credit to the superb leadership trio of Rudolf Straeuli, Kevin de Klerk and Altmann Allers – has done is to ensure that the Lions are now the team everyone wants to play for. It is the first port of call for the SA Schools star looking to start his professional career.

And the pipeline is working well. Players such as Madosh Tambwe, Marco Jansen van Vuuren, Len Massyn, Hacjivah Dayimani, Gianni Lombard, Jeanluc Cilliers, Wandisile Simelane, Reinhard Nothnagel, Keagan Glade, Asenathi Ntlabakanye, Cristen van Niekerk, Mark Snyman and Yanga Hlalu will be at the vanguard of the Lions’ efforts to remain the undisputed champion franchise in South Africa.

It was not always thus and, as Allers said in his address at the post-match function after the semi-final win over the Waratahs, the last home game of the season, so many of the current Lions stars came to Ellis Park with the reject tags around the neck.

The irony is that so many of those players were shown the door just up the road at Loftus Versfeld, the former SuperRugby champions who used to be the place of choice for young players. The new Bulls coach, John Mitchell, is currently negotiating with the board to fix the mess that has been created there by years of terrible talent identification.

The beneficiaries have been the Lions and so many of the franchise’s stars now carry a new label, the precious tag of being a Springbok.

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Kwagga Smith on the charge again. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

An excellent second half by the Lions saw them seal an enthralling 44-26 win over the Waratahs in their SuperRugby semifinal at Ellis Park on Saturday.

The Lions had to overturn a 14-0 deficit inside the first eight minutes, which they did in thrilling fashion through brilliant tries by Kwagga Smith and Aphiwe Dyantyi.

But the Lions conceded a soft try from a simple front-of-the-lineout move by the Waratahs right on halftime, to set up an exciting second half with the scores locked at 19-19.

Having over-complicated matters by trying to do the miraculous before they had nailed down the basics, and by wasting penalties inside opposition territory, the message finally seemed to get through to the Lions that they were playing knockout rugby when flyhalf Elton Jantjies kicked a 55th-minute penalty from in front of the posts to give them a 22-19 lead.

From then on there was only one team in it as the dominant Lions forwards, led by the heroic Kwagga Smith, nailed down the victory and a trip to Christchurch for the final against the Crusaders, the reigning champions.

The Lions will get an icy welcome to the South Island and, given how invincible the Crusaders have been in playoff games at home – Saturday’s comfortable win over the Hurricanes was their 20th in a row – Swys de Bruin’s team will have to focus far better on defence, where they suffered some costly lapses at Ellis Park, and also fix a lineout that did not operate as smoothly as it should have.

The Waratahs held sway in the early exchanges and, although Lourens Erasmus, playing at flank, snaffled a couple of turnovers to end promising attacks, the Lions just could not contain the early width of the New South Wales game. They will also wish errors such as a missed lineout and a slipped tackle in midfield had been cut out of their game.

The opening try came from the sort of move they probably watched on video numerous times this week in their analysis of the Waratahs, flyhalf Bernard Foley launching a bomb into their 22, which Israel Folau won. The ball was immediately sent out wide right before going wide left almost as quickly, flank Ned Hanigan cantering over for the try.

Four minutes later, the Waratahs attack had the Lions at sixes and sevens down the left wing as Taqele Naiyaravoro stormed through tackles to get the visitors into the 22; lock Rob Simmons was stopped just short of the line, but fullback Folau was at hand to get the recycled ball and charge over for the second try.

The Lions finally got on the board in the 21st minute. An incredible piece of individual skill by wing Dyantyi saw him take a pass at the same time as he was swiveling out of a tackle; once in the Waratahs’ 22, flank Smith then showed just how explosive and strong he is with the ball as he powered over for an impressive try.

Dyantyi would go one better just five minutes later with a try that will go into Lions’ folklore. The new Springbok gathered the ball inside his own 22 as the Waratahs went the aerial route and immediately decided to counter. He went to the boot to get over the initial line of defence, regathered his own deft chip and then simply switched to another gear, showing amazing pace to pull away from the remaining defenders for a scintillating try.

Aphiwe Dyantyi dives over for his magnificent solo try. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

The Lions grabbed a 19-14 lead just before halftime with a thunderous rolling maul, hooker Malcolm Marx dotting down, but the Waratahs snuck over for an equalising try in the 40th minute. It felt like a sucker punch as a simple, but clever short lineout allowed prop Tom Robertson to go charging over.

Dyantyi unfortunately did not come out for the second half due to what coach De Bruin later described as a hamstring twinge, and firebrand loose forward Marnus Schoeman would prove a telling substitution for Erasmus.

It was his ferocious carry that led to Jantjies’ first penalty and Schoeman then produced another storming run two minutes later to carry the Lions into the Waratahs’ 22. The attack ended due to a lazy runner, with replacement hooker Damien Fitzpatrick yellow-carded for the offence in the red zone, the Lions setting another excellent lineout drive which resulted in Marx scoring again.

THE BIG HIT … Malcolm Marx puts down Israel Folau. Photo by Marcel Sigg, runridedive.com

At 19-27 down, the Waratahs were chasing the game thereafter; but Smith showed good toe after breaking loose on the 22 for another rousing try and, as the deficit reached critical mass at 34-19, the Australians desperately tried to get the ball wide as quickly as possible.

It all became a mess though as passes went behind the receiver, the move broke down and the Lions flooded the breakdown to win a penalty which Jantjies kicked from 52 metres out.

The Waratahs did manage to put together a decent attack with just four minutes remaining, Foley finding eighthman Michael Wells with a lovely pass, and once through the gap the former Brumbie linked up with replacement scrumhalf Jake Gordon for a consolation try (26-37).

Pegged back in their 22 from the restart, the Waratahs were then faced with an impregnable Lions defence, replacement scrumhalf Dillon Smit putting in a bone-rattling hit on Foley, the ball was turned over and Jantjies found Courtnall Skosan, Dyantyi’s replacement on the wing, with a pinpoint crosskick for the Lions’ sixth try.

The Crusaders scored four tries in beating the Hurricanes and these two great sides will enjoin in battle in a repeat of last year’s final, although this time it will be in Christchurch rather than Johannesburg.

It was extremely encouraging to see a really transformed Springbok team play some superb rugby in beating England in the first Test at Ellis Park at the weekend, and you have to give the head coach, Rassie Erasmus, a lot of credit for how his team were able to come through in the end.

England were superfired-up and it’s never easy to win a Test against them, and one can see how the amazing comeback win has uplifted everyone in the country.

At the start, there were some setting issues for the Springbok defence, they were too tight. The wings generally set the width of the defensive line and you’re looking for field coverage from them to the ruck. Depending on the speed of the ball out of the breakdown, you can get 70 to 85% coverage or even 90-95% of the field covered if it’s very slow ball.

They also were trying to come in on England’s second-last player, but the tourists were very clever and they used skip passes, which enabled them to easily get through, as they did when they engineered a two-on-one on Willie le Roux for Owen Farrell’s try. The Springboks also had a disconnected defensive line for the late outside runner from 10 which the English were able to exploit.

So the home side found themselves in a heck of a position – 24-3 down after 17 minutes. The biggest change after that was that England did not see the ball in the middle of the game. For the Springboks to turn ahead of England at halftime echoed so many of the Lions’ games at altitude at Ellis Park – the opposition would go ahead early, but the Lions would always come back in that death-zone period at altitude 15 minutes before halftime.

You could see England were struggling to fold and the key issue was the number of turnovers that Duane Vermeulen got at the breakdown. They were all around halfway and the Springboks were able to kick the penalties for great field position and get their lineout drive going.

South Africa’s third try was a perfect example of that: the maul with poor defence from England in the 22 and an easy walk-in for the open wing, and you have to give Sbu Nkosi credit for working his way all the way around off his wing and getting the inside ball from Aphiwe Dyantyi, the other wing.They both showed a willingness to support off their wings.

At altitude, the game is always so fast and it was perfect conditions for rugby, which is why 56 points could be scored in the first half. There was some calmness though at the start of the second half and it was almost like a huge sigh for the crowd of more than 55 000 as both teams hit each other hard on the gain-line.

I do believe England missed a trick though by taking lock Nick Isiekwe off after just 36 minutes. Sure, Brad Shields, normally a loose forward, made an impact and gave them more mobility, but I felt the England scrum had been quite dominant until that point. You could see the energy South Africa got from the set-pieces after that and rugby is obviously still confrontational at set-piece at Test level. It also left England with only one real jumper in Maro Itoje and that key lineout at the end of the game was lost.

In the first quarter, England cut the Boks’ line so much, and exerted set-piece pressure, but once they made the change at lock it changed. They obviously wanted to play a ball-in-hand type of game, to not have lots of set-pieces. They wanted to keep the ball alive and have a broken-play type of game.

These were the tactical errors made by Eddie Jones, only having loose forwards on the bench instead of another lock. You still need a set-piece or else you will concede penalties.

After the first 20 minutes, the Springboks rarely allowed England into their own half by forcing turnovers and dominating territory. They were totally dominant and rampant in the middle period and it’s been a long time since we’ve seen that – the last time was probably against France last June, so the Ellis Park factor carried on.

When England tried to exit with box-kicks, Vermeulen was there to field them and take the pressure off the debutant wings.

But there were only three points between the sides at the end, which makes one think back to the Elliot Daly howler when he just needed to dot the ball down to prevent Nkosi scoring.

South Africa also didn’t finish all their chances and it’s fair to say England controlled the first 15 minutes and the last 15 minutes, and the Springboks were in charge for the middle 50. If England had won that last lineout, who knows what would have happened with the way the game ebbed and flowed.

The match was a fantastic spectacle and hopefully the next two Tests are sold out because we can definitely see the fact that the crowds are enjoying watching the Springboks win again. It will be a great Test on the weekend in Bloemfontein and I remember all the way back to 2000 when Jonny Wilkinson kicked eight penalties and a drop goal there to give England a 27-22 victory.

It was the penalty count that destroyed England too at Ellis Park last weekend and they came mostly from the scrum or breakdown. England need to carry the ball better and get their cleaners there quicker and more effectively and pick another lock!

The Springboks’ set-piece became stronger and can be a real weapon, it was really encouraging to see RG Snyman really come through. He clearly has a lot of athleticism and is so good in space.

The Boks need the same attitude and attacking mindset this weekend.

Maybe the most important positive so far for the Springboks though is that they have taken a lot of players out of overseas eligibility with 16 new caps in the first two weeks of Rassie Erasmus’s reign!

John McFarland won three SuperRugby titles (2007, 09, 10) with the Bulls and five Currie Cup crowns with the Blue Bulls as their defence coach. In all, he won 28 trophies during his 12 years at Loftus Versfeld.

He is currently the assistant coach of the Kubota Spears in Japan and was the Springbok defence coach from 2012 through to the 2015 World Cup, where they conceded the least line-breaks in the tournament and an average of just one try per game.

Saturday’s SuperRugby final that the Lions will host at Ellis Park against the Crusaders is going to benefit not just the rugby franchise but the entire city of Johannesburg, according to CEO Rudolf Straeuli.

A sell-out crowd of more than 60 000 has already been confirmed for the showdown as the Lions look to complete their fairytale resurgence by beating the most successful team in SuperRugby history and becoming only the second South African side to win the southern hemisphere franchise competition.

“Hosting the final is going to be a huge benefit for everyone who finds value at Ellis Park. It’s not just the union that benefits, it obviously also helps the Ellis Park Stadium Pty and it’s a huge marketing opportunity for the Lions company and a great honour to host the final. There’s the money from the tickets and hospitality and some extra reward in the form of the prizemoney. None of that was budgeted for, so it’s a bonus.

“But it’s also a big positive for Johannesburg, the whole city, and especially the Ellis Park precinct, all our neighbours. We are really blessed to be able to host such great events, we’ve had the All Blacks here before and the Test against France this year was also a big success,” Straeuli told The Citizen on Tuesday.

The Lions have not only established themselves at the pinnacle of South African rugby, but have also had to manoeuvre themselves out of troubled financial waters in the last five years.

“You can’t take anything away from the team because they are our flagship, and our juniors have done very well too with our Craven Week side being the best and our U21s and U19s winning their competitions last year. But a few years ago we were a business that was having retrenchments. But some staff took pay-cuts and simplicity has been key to our operations.

“We don’t have a big staff for the big area we have to manage and we have had to cut our cloth according to our needs. But there’s a really positive mood and success breeds further success. Plus people like Kevin de Klerk (president) and Altmann Allers (vice-president) are serious businessmen. If we didn’t have them behind us and their business acumen and that of the board, never mind their own money they have put in, then we wouldn’t be here,” Straeuli said.

http://citizen.co.za/sport/sport-rugby/1595200/super-rugby-final-will-be-a-boost-for-joburg/