Ivan van Rooyen Coach Ivan van Rooyen is a personable fellow and the Lions players seem to enjoy him, but is he getting the best out of them? Photo: BackpagePix
Image: Backpagepix
Comment by Mike Greenaway
The Lions’ dismal performance in losing at home to Benetton at the weekend has had their long-suffering fans scratching their heads as their team sink to new depths.
It was the Lions’ fifth consecutive defeat, and while three of those were overseas, their homecoming to Ellis Park was supposed to have heralded a turnaround in their United Rugby Championship fortunes.
When the Lions were well beaten by Edinburgh in Scotland the previous week, coach Ivan ‘Cash’ van Rooyen said that it was “non-negotiable” that his team win their four remaining URC games – all in Johannesburg.
Van Rooyen added: “We know exactly what is required. We have to cut out the (self-inflicted) errors that are holding us back, and go up a level.”
But the Lions did the opposite in a ham-fisted performance that was worse than anything they delivered on their three defeats overseas.
Van Rooyen’s words after the Edinburgh game were hollow because we have heard them before – a number of times.
It can’t be easy for him to sit in a press conference every week and say the same things, but then why is nothing changing?
Why is it Groundhog Day for the Lions week in, week out?
The last game they won was an impressive demolition of a complacent Sharks team at Ellis Park.
The refrain after that big win was that the Lions had once and for all turned the corner, and were going to go deep into the URC.
Instead, they have been incrementally worse over the last five matches, and went down 42-31 to Benetton last Saturday.
Barring a miracle, the Lions will not make the URC top eight (and playoffs) for the fourth year in a row, as they may find the going tough once more in this Saturday’s clash against Connacht, who nearly knocked over the Stormers in Cape Town in a 34-29 defeat.
In other words, they are going nowhere fast, and surely changes have to be seriously considered in the Ellis Park boardroom.
Is it the players or the coaching staff at fault, or a bit of both?
Van Rooyen is a personable fellow and the players seem to enjoy him, but is he getting the best out of them? Why do they make the same mistakes every week?
Why are they perpetually the “nearly men” of South African rugby in that they nearly win games, but most of the time, do not?
We understand that the Lions don’t have the financial resources of the other South African franchises, which means they can’t always hang on to their better players.
That said, is it only because of money that Edwill van der Merwe is leaving for the Sharks? As have Vincent and Manu Tshituka, and Ruan Dreyer?
Or do these players know something we don’t, and want to leave for a better environment?
As I have said, I don’t know if Van Rooyen is the reason the Lions are losing, but the buck has to stop somewhere.
Sometimes there simply has to be a shake-up to get a team back on track. We see it all the time in professional football in Europe.
A team has a bad losing run and the manager gets sacked. The same manager goes to another team, and they start winning.
It is about changing the status quo and having a fresh start. The Lions need something like this because if nothing changes, nothing is going to change.
The Lions host Connacht on Saturday in a URC fixture at Ellis Park (4pm kick-off).