Ken Borland

The Golden Lions Rugby Union (GLRU) have announced a schedule of 16 matches for their top players between next weekend and July 20 in what will be called the Lions Challenge.

Following their controversial relegation from SuperRugby last year, the Johannesburg-based franchise have organised matches against international teams like Russia and Samoa, a three-week tour of North America, five games against top French opposition and fixtures against all five South African SuperRugby teams.

Lions supporters will have 12 matches, including a promotion/relegation game on August 3, to look forward to at Ellis Park.

“We took major umbrage to the decision made in Cape Town last year to relegate us and the easy route would have been to play the blame game and look for scapegoats. But we have decided to get on with the rugby and ensure we continue to serve our stakeholders. It will be important to do well in the Lions Challenge, but everyone must focus on taking on the team that finishes last in SuperRugby at the end of it,” GLRU president Kevin de Klerk said at the launch of the series at Ellis Park on Thursday.

While the Lions have been forced to loan out star players like Elton Jantjies, Franco van der Merwe, Jaco Taute and Lionel Mapoe, they are confident the Lions Challenge will provide enough of an incentive for the rest of their squad to remain with them this year.

“To try and fit in a new competition when rugby is played somewhere in the world from January 1 to December 31 was very challenging, but if we had just set up a series of friendlies then half our players would not be here by the time the promotion/relegation game comes along. The players want to test themselves against the best and commercially it is very important so we can retain our players,” acting CEO Ruben Moggee said.

The Russian national squad, with 49 players and management, are currently in Gauteng and will be the Lions’ first opponents, at 7pm on January 19.

Coach Johan Ackermann’s other international opposition will be on June 1 against Samoa, who will be in the country preparing for their quadrangular tournament against the Springboks, Scotland and Italy.

French powerhouses Montpellier and Grenoble, who are in contention for the Top 14 semi-finals, will visit in July.

The Lions will also play the Cheetahs, Bulls and Kings in the build-up to this year’s SuperRugby competition, and the Stormers and Sharks during the June break.

“There’s no doubt that we won’t be treating these as friendlies, the team know that already. We’re going to be in competition mode, it is about earning back the respect we deserve and we will prepare for it as for any other SuperRugby season, the conditioning and tactics will be done in that same way.

“I hope the attitudes, heart and passion are at that same level because our one common goal is to win back promotion into SuperRugby,” Ackermann said.

Fixtures: January 19 – v Russia (Ellis Park); January 26 – v Cheetahs (Ellis Park); February 2 – v Bulls (Orlando Stadium); February 9 – v Kings (Ellis Park); February 23 – v Namibia (Windhoek); March 16 – v Mont de Marsan (Ellis Park); April 13 – v U.S. Invitational (Irvine); April 20 – v North American Barbarians (Vancouver); April 27 – v Chicago Lions (Chicago); May 11 – v Agen (Ellis Park); June 1 – v Samoa (Ellis Park); June 8 – v French Barbarians (Ellis Park); June 15 – v Stormers (Ellis Park); June 21 – v Sharks (Ellis Park); July 12 – v Montpellier (Ellis Park); July 20 – v Grenoble (Ellis Park); July 27 – SuperRugby promotion/relegation (away); August 3 – SuperRugby promotion/relegation (Ellis Park).

There were plenty of Lions players with a heavy weight on their shoulders after Saturday night’s heartbreaking Currie Cup semi-final loss to Western Province.

The Lions, defending the title they had won in fairytale fashion last year, had dominated most of the match and seemed to have finally secured victory when flyhalf Elton Jantjies kicked an angled penalty to give them a 16-14 lead with less than two minutes remaining.

But then the ball was carried back into their own 22 from the kickoff and Jaco Taute put too much on his clearing kick, the ball sailing directly into touch to give Western Province a vital lineout inside the Lions’ 22. The visitors’ rolling maul once again carried too much momentum to be stopped and the Capetonians had the match-winning try with a dozen seconds left in the game.

While the loss will weigh most heavily on Taute and Jantjies, who missed three first-half kicks that denied the Lions vital reward for their dominance, it was also a sad end to an era. This Lions team that showed the courage to win the Currie Cup last year after they had been humiliated in SuperRugby, who stood up as a unit to get rid of their bullying coach, John Mitchell, and who shrugged off the awful news that they would not be playing in the Sanzar tournament in 2013, will now break up.

Already, Jantjies, Taute, lock Michael Rhodes and prop Pat Cilliers have been confirmed as heading to the Stormers, while two unsung heroes of the tight five, Franco van der Merwe (Sharks) and Jacobie Adriaanse (Scarlets), are also departing.

The loss of these players, and probably more in the near future, means the Lions will have to rebuild yet again.

“We’ve lost guys who we’ve worked on for two or three years to get to this level, and now we’ll have to get new guys to that level as quickly as possible,” coach Johan Ackermann admitted.

“This group has become so close, they really play for each other. For the first time in years, we have a number of players in every position and we would have gone into SuperRugby with some depth and with players going into their second or third year in that competition.

“But now this whole group breaks up and we have to start building up a new team again … I know those are words Lions supporters don’t want to hear, but we have to do it.”

The mere fact that the Lions finished the year as strong Currie Cup contenders, hosting a semi-final, and not as the clowns some haters like to portray them as, is amazing considering all the obstacles they faced.

“We could of fallen apart and finished sixth and gone into a promotion/relegation playoff, but instead our goal was to win the Currie Cup. I’m still very positive, even though we’re just disappointed now because that was a game we should of won. But I’d rather be losing in a semi-final than playing promotion/relegation,” Ackermann said.

The Sharks, having seen off the Bulls 20-3 in difficult conditions in Durban, will now go into the Currie Cup final as firm favourites.

Thus far in the competition, they have undoubtedly been the most cohesive unit, they have the best all-round players and they will have home ground advantage.

Ackermann predictably backed his former Sharks side to beat the Streeptruie next weekend, saying “they can’t get that lucky twice, Christmas only comes once a year”, but even Western Province coach Allister Coetzee was saying the Natalians would be favourites.

“We’ll be up against the best side in South Africa, the Sharks are unbelievably strong, to hold the Bulls to just three points is very telling. They are a real quality side, they are good on attack and defence and they have good kickers. Maybe we’ll need all 22 players on the field to beat them … ” Coetzee said.

If you believe their detractors, Western Province tend to “choke” in the big games, but their victory over the Lions showed there is immense character and patience in their side. Nothing seemed to be going for them for three-quarters of the match, but then, as the game entered the crucial final stages, they were able to up the tempo and be clinical on attack.

“It’s one of the best wins I’ve experienced with Western Province, the character of the team really stood out and they never gave up. In the latter stages of the second half, we found space and width and the bench gave us great impetus on attack.

“The team showed a great will to win and the side that capitalises on their opportunities normally wins playoffs. People like to throw out that ‘chokers’ term at us, but the connection in this team is incredible, both to each other and to the game plan,” Coetzee said.

To upstage the Sharks, however, Western Province are going to have to improve markedly up front. The Lions bossed them at scrum time and the Sharks front row, spearheaded by Springboks Jannie du Plessis and Tendai Mtawarira, will be looking to do the same.

The Sharks forwards were magnificent in stopping the big Bulls’ ball-carriers’ efforts to get over the gain line and they certainly have the backline to make better use of possession than the Lions did.

A sopping wet day in Durban was an equaliser, helping the Bulls’ strengths, but to win so convincingly just shows that the Sharks have the quality to rise to any occasion or conditions.

The defending champion Lions will be hoping it will be a case of history repeating itself in Johannesburg next weekend as they once again host Western Province in a Currie Cup semi-final.

Western Province produced a commanding display to dispatch the Free State Cheetahs 36-15 at Newlands on Saturday, giving them third place on the log and a semi-final against the second-placed Lions.

While the Capetonians will bring a squad full of top-class players now that the Springboks have returned to Currie Cup action, Lions fans will remember well that the same thing happened last year, with the Gautengers beating a star-studded Western Province team 29-20 at Ellis Park en route to hammering the Sharks in the final.

The Sharks are once again in contention, having finished at the top of the round-robin standings and they will host the Bulls in the other semi-final in Durban.

The Bulls, who began the final weekend at the bottom of the log and in serious danger of having to play promotion/relegation against the EP Kings, made the top four as Morne Steyn supervised a classy 50-29 victory over the Lions at Ellis Park.

Once the weight of avoiding the relegation playoffs was off their shoulders, the Bulls played with impressive freedom and they certainly have the ammunition now to avenge their 13-12 loss to the Sharks in a sodden Durban two weeks ago.

“We’ve had to fight our way out of a hole, and the last three games we’ve played really well, even when we lost to the Sharks. Conditions were very difficult that day, but we know the Sharks are a tough challenge; they’ve lost just once in Durban the whole year, but we’re just happy we’ve given ourselves the opportunity. A semi-final is a funny sort of game, it depends on who is more accurate on the day,” Bulls coach Pine Pienaar said.

The Lions, meanwhile, were not overly concerned by the big loss, having rested several key players and having the home semi-final already in the bag before the match against the Bulls even started.

“We started to go through the motions a bit, we lacked a bit of experience in the side this weekend and some of the guys started thinking about next week.

“Last year, we played against the Sharks the week before the semi-finals and lost 53-9, so we definitely didn’t have any momentum going into the knockout rounds, but we played our best rugby of the year after that. I felt that when we wanted to play tonight, we could do it and we’re definitely ready for the semi-finals,” Lions stand-in captain Butch James said.

With both Lions’ outside centres – Lionel Mapoe and Deon van Rensburg – suffering injuries at the weekend, Alwyn Hollenbach could well have to slide across into the number 13 jersey, opening up a place inside him for James, with Elton Jantjies coming back at flyhalf. That will set up a fascinating contest next weekend between James and another senior pro in Jean de Villiers in Western Province’s number 12 jersey.

De Villiers was one of the players to shine as the Capetonians, who began the match with an outside chance of being sucked into the relegation battle, produced a clinical display that left the Cheetahs with barely a gram of hope.

Western Province were allowed to run by the lethargic Cheetahs, a wonderful platform being laid by the forwards, led by returning Springbok lock Eben Etzebeth, and the Free Staters were out of the contest by the end of the first quarter.

In the veterinary world, the Cheetahs may have been put down, so lacklustre were they. Naka Drotske’s men could probably do with some defence clinics before their promotion/relegation meeting with the Kings.

The Sharks were another team to hit their straps at the weekend, giving Griquas the run-around in an overwhelming 42-3 victory in Durban. And coach John Plumtree still has some Springbok talent lying around that he can add to the side in the form of Tendai Mtawarira, Willem Alberts and Lwazi Mvovo.

The big question this year is once again whether it is better to have a settled side with continuity – i.e. the Lions – or will the introduction of the Springboks provide the necessary boost for the Bulls or Western Province to overcome the disadvantage of playing away from home?

The Sharks, having learnt the harsh lessons of last year when their seven Springboks returning from the World Cup failed to gel with the rest of the team and they were thumped 42-16 by the Lions in the final, are perhaps in the pound seats because they have experience of these problems and they will be playing both the semi-finals and the final, if they qualify, at King’s Park.

http://dailymaverick.co.za/article/2012-10-16-in-like-lions-but-will-they-go-out-like-lambs

The MTN Golden Lions regained first place on the Absa Currie Cup Premier Division log as they put away the Toyota Free State Cheetahs 38-23 (half-time 20-16) in Bloemfontein on Saturday.

The Cheetahs weathered an early storm from the Lions to actually lead 16-13 after half-an-hour, but the Lions scored two tries in three minutes either side of half time to give the Gautengers a 27-16 lead and thereafter there was nothing that could rescue the Free Staters from a fourth defeat in six matches.

Flyhalf Elton Jantjies instituted some early control for the Lions as his short kick-off caught the Cheetahs napping, was claimed by flank Willie Britz and led to a penalty which Jantjies kicked, followed by another penalty in the sixth minute.

The one area where the Lions did struggle was at the breakdown and referee Sindile Mayende set the tone with an early call against fetcher Cobus Grobbelaar, allowing Cheetahs wing Nico Scheepers to kick a penalty (3-6).

The Cheetahs had a much bigger problem, however, and that was their insistence on trying to run their surfeit of possession in their own territory and the mistakes that came as they tried to run under pressure was what eventually brought them to their knees.

It was the cause of the Lions’ first try as flyhalf Tewis de Bruyn swung the ball from inside his own 22, but his intentions were beautifully read by Lions lock Franco van der Merwe, who put himself between the pivot and the midfield receivers and claimed an easy intercept try.

De Bruyn will probably claim he did not see Van der Merwe lurking because both teams were playing in predominantly white jerseys, with the Cheetahs changing to orange four minutes later, but the pass should never have been given in the first place.

http://www.supersport.com/rugby/article.aspx?id=1583351