The Lions did a bit of a smash and grab job on Zebre, but in some ways that should have told us more about their credentials to mount a credible challenge for the coveted top four spot in the United Rugby Championship (URC) than their more convincing wins over Ulster and Edinburgh.
The conditions in Parma were far removed from those that favoured them when they won their opening two games on SA soil. There was no altitude in Parma, just a wet field and at times driving rain. The Lions were more challenged than they would have been on a dry day, which would have allowed them to execute their tempo game. They had to dig deep defensively and rely on a tactical game.
The commitment they showed defensively was unbelievable and it underlined the culture that has been embedded at the Lions. The Sharks have raided their stocks, with Ruan Dreyer also now playing for the Durban franchise in addition to the two Tshituka brothers and Jordan Hendrikse, but it doesn’t appear to have deterred the Lions’ progress.
The commitment shown in Parma wasn’t new either. The Sharks dominated the recent Currie Cup final in enough key areas to win that game comfortably. Yet the Lions hung in and could well have stolen the game were it not for some abysmal game management in the final seconds.
Jordan Hendrikse kicked a huge pressure penalty to win the game for the Sharks and the standard line afterwards was that the Sharks had again found a way to win. The Lions are doing that in the URC, and while the Dragons and Zebre are not exactly the top teams in the competition, they have been competitive at home so far this season.
The ability to win ugly is sometimes what defines champion teams. The Lions are not a champion team yet but they are moving in the right direction now and four wins in four games is the best start they’ve had in the URC by a country mile. After the unexpected referee affected Bulls defeat in Llanelli, the Lions now stand alone with Leinster as the only unbeaten teams in the competition.
There is some distortion to the URC log because of the postponement of the scheduled opening round of SA derbies. The local teams all have a game in hand on the other sides, which puts the 12th and 13th positions held by the Stormers and Sharks, who both beat big opponents this past weekend, into context.
But that the Lions and Bulls are both in the top four even though they’ve played fewer games augurs well for the SA challenge. The Sharks showed just how strong they will be with all their Boks in tow when they beat Glasgow Warriors, and that despite the inevitable rust that comes when a team hasn’t played together recently.
There were some very impressive passages from the Sharks and the only blemish was the way they relaxed towards the end to allow Glasgow in for two late tries that turned a 16 point deficit into a four point one and grabbed them two bonus points that could come back and hurt them at the end of the season.
I’d add another blemish to the day as a whole — I was at Kings Park, and while it was a good game, fast and physical, the occasion lacked the atmosphere fizz that should be expected when the Durban faithful are watching their Bok laden team playing the URC champions.
That such a small crowd turned out for such a big game creates a disturbing picture of the sell the URC still needs to do in this country. The poor turnout also suggests the KZN rugby public saw the recent Currie Cup triumph in the context it needed to be seen in. The Currie Cup is now a development competition.
Watching the Stormers beat Munster later in the evening had me thinking I chose the wrong game to attend. There were upwards of 28,000 people and the mood seemed vibrant and feisty. It didn’t feel like that at the Durban game.
The Stormers bounced back well from their disappointment against Edinburgh and showed they will be contenders for a top four spot too. All four local teams look capable of a top four finish, which is exciting, but in this week when the equity spat dominated rugby’s headlines, it is clear the next level down from the Boks needs to be sold better than it is.
Either that or I am right in my suspicion that the 12-month season in this country means there is just too much rugby and it is having a negative effect on interest and willingness to go to games. It may not be a coincidence that the biggest crowd by far for a URC game was in the region where the off-season Currie Cup was a nonentity.
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