Lions flyhalf Chris Smith has emerged as their on-field general this season, driving them toi the URC play-offs for the first time.
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The Lions’ United Rugby Championship (URC) campaign did not end with the bang they anticipated after a 59-10 humbling in Dublin at the hands of Leinster, but as the dust settles, we see a team heading in the right direction.
We look at five positives that stood out after a season in which the Lions made the URC playoffs for the first time.
Winning the SA Shield is a good omen.
In the three years that the Lions contested the Super Rugby final, they were also the SA Shield winners, so there is a positive pattern developing. For the South African teams in the URC, the local derbies are the most fiercely contested matches of the season.
For the Lions to beat the Sharks home and away, the Bulls at Loftus, and the Stormers at Ellis Park was no mean feat and showed that their resurgence is not a fluke.
Lions land best signing in South Africa in years
The Bulls did not know what they had in Chris Smith, and I’m taking nothing away from Handre Pollard. A man who knows a thing or two about flyhalf play, Morne Steyn, recently described Smith as “the best flyhalf in South Africa.”
This was vindicated with Smith winning the URC Golden Boot Award for his 149 points, comprising 49 conversions and 17 penalties. And those conversions were of tries in which Smith often had a hand. He has been an exceptional playmaker for the Lions, and the flyhalf the Sharks wish they had.
Scoop of the Year Award goes to the Lions
Speaking of the Sharks, they were livid that their recruitment office was asleep on the job when Batho Hlekani’s contract came up for renewal. Rudolf Straeuli was wide awake and snapped up one of the best emerging loose forwards in the country.
It is known that Sharks boss Marco Masotti was — and still is — furious because Hlkekani is the type of player you build your future around. Add in youngsters like Siba Mahashe, Sebastian Lombard, and Haashim Pead, and the future looks bright.
Van Rooyen investment pays off
At the end of the previous season, Straeuli was under immense pressure to sack Cash van Rooyen after yet another failure to make the URC playoffs. But the wily Straeuli has been around the block a few times and saw something in the coach that the public did not.
The CEO told the media recently, “It is easy to fire a coach. Then you have to pay him out, you have to pay the new coach, and he will bring in new players, at a cost. But I could see the work ethic of Cash and his staff. I knew the effort would pay off.”
Chemistry in coaching staff spot on
During the week of the Lions’ final match of the season, in Dublin, the coaching staff held a press conference en masse. With Van Rooyen were Jaque Fourie, Julian Redelinghuys, Ricardo Loubscher, Morne Steyn, and Wessel Roux.
They looked like a bunch of mates that happen to know a thing or two about rugby. A happy environment is a big part of the reason why the Lions were rewarded with eight players called up to the recent Springbok alignment camp.