In every aspect the Fidelity Securedrive Lions had their best season to date, but that still doesn’t excuse their performance in the Vodacom United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against Leinster in Dublin on Saturday night where they were walloped 59-10 in a very one-sided encounter.
After all,the Lions achieved their best result ever in the URC - they finished seventh on the log, the first time they had finished in the top eight and have the luxury of qualifying for next season’s Investec Champions Cup with that finish.
In all aspects that is a massive improvement in their outlook, but that is only when you realise that their base was the lowest expectation of all the South African teams to begin with. To be fair the Lions have a smaller budget than the other three franchises, and despite
that, they won the South African Shield for the first time as well - winning four of their six derby games in the season.
Going intothe final two rounds they were placed third on the log, and have a number of players that will have impressed Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus.
SHOULD LIONS
FANS BE SATISFIED?
So shouldLions’ fans then be satisfied with the performance? Well, in short yes, especially as if the goal was to reach the playoffs, they went beyond that by winning the SA Shield.But the Johannesburg team made those playoffs by creating a home base, and competing with their South African rivals.If you look at their record outside South Africa, it is dismal.
It also underlines just how good they were on their home track and how much home form is rewarded in the URC. In the next few weeks we will see this playing an even bigger part in the run-in to the trophy, but the Lions primarily got into the playoffs by running teams off their feet at Ellis Park and winning a few key derbies.
Take a look at their away record - which started in Round one of the competition. Their opening game was away at Cardiff, and the Welsh team were one of the surprises of the season - but the Lions lost 33-20, followed by a poor 22-20 loss in Parma to Zebre - the team that finished bottom of the log for the regular season.
That was followed up by a thrashing in their third game against Benetton, where the Italian side thumped them 41-15. A poor start to the season, tour one, played three, lost three.They returned home to beat Scarlets and Ulster in two morale-boosting games, and then got their first big scalp of the season, beating their neighbours, the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld.
DERBY SEASON
WAS KEY TO SUCCESS
The derby season treated them well, even though they lost against the Stormers in Cape Town, they picked up a win against the Sharks in Durban just after New Year, when substitute Haashim Pead scored a try at the death to give them a one point win.
Their best result outside South Africa came late in January, when they fought to a 24-all draw against the Ospreys with a brace of tries by captain Francke Horn. Ospreys missed a penalty and a drop goal at the death to win the game.
The Bulls got their revenge with a big 52-17 win at Ellis Park and by the Lions own admission, they went back to the drawing board and did some soul-searching, emerging more confident at home than ever before.
That led to home wins over the Sharks and Stormers to give themselves the SA Shield, and led to their big home run of four wins in a row against Edinburgh, Dragons, Glasgow Warriors and Connacht to surge them into the top four.
But then they needed to travel and a 31-7 loss to Leinster, followed by a loss in Limerick to Munster meant they dropped down to seventh.
RECORD OUTSIDE
SA IS DISMAL
In all the Lions played six games outside South Africa, they drew one, and lost the other five. If you add the Leinster thumping on Saturday and their EPCR Challenge Cup results, where they didn’t make it out of the pool their overall record outside South Africa is dismal.It reads:played nine, won zero, drew two, lost seven.
Which is probably why all the hope ahead of their quarterfinal of a surprise may have been misplaced and the inevitable backlash from Leinster after their Champions’ Cup loss to Bordeaux was so heavy.
But be that as it may, the Lions certainly have made their Ellis Park home a fortress this season, and they have provided a lot of entertainment on the hard, fast surface in Doornfontein.And yet,if they are to be honest with themselves, unless they learn to win away from home, this will be as good as it gets.
They were hit hard in the past few weeks with the loss of key players like Ruan Venter, Morne van den Berg and Asenathi Ntlabakanye. And their depth isn’t what others have in reserve.
But the honest assessment must take into account their poor form away from home when looking at the season, and give them something to aim for when the 2026/7 season comes around.