Lions fans are seeing red

SPOTLIGHT: After only their second United Rugby Championship outing, Lions fans are outraged and calling for heads to roll.

The Lions have lost their first two URC games, including a defeat to Zebre this past Saturday, a team that finished second last in the competition last season.

Last weekend, the Lions kicked off their new campaign with a loss to Cardiff. The Welsh outfit also failed to make the Top Eight last season, ending ninth in the standings on 47 points.

In four seasons in the URC, the Lions have failed to reach the play-offs – finishing 12th, ninth (twice) and 11th.

In an open letter on a Lions Facebook supporters group, one reader made a plea for things to change, highlighting repeated failures in leadership, coaching, standards, and preparation as some of the key shortcomings.

What more can be said about the Lions that hasn’t already been said and written about, at length?

Calls from concerned rugby folk about the steady decline of the once-powerful Lions rugby brand have been swirling publicly for the last couple of years.

Also, bear in mind this is a team that lost its title sponsor and even took to social media in their search for a new one.

This writer has gone to great lengths in the past to highlight the deep, ingrained issues lurking in the hallways of King House [the Lions Rugby Co. head office] and Ellis Park Stadium.

On Monday morning, another two-minute audio landed in the Lions Media WhatsApp group from Lions head coach Ivan van Rooyen.

Listening to it, it could be any reaction audio from any match in the last four seasons.

It is the same monotone generic rhetoric of missed opportunities, inconsistencies, finger-pointing at the referee, and a tale of could’ve and should’ve.

So we are not even going to analyse their last match against Zebre and their current position in the URC, nor are we going to make excuses on their behalf.

We will let them do that themselves.

Here are the post-match comments following the games against Cardiff and Zebre: