Lions’ Leinster win lays foundation for historic season

OPINION: The way the Lions backed up their Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry stunner against the All Blacks with another fine performance to beat the Vodacom United Rugby Championship reigning champions Leinster 27-26 at Ellis Park should be a massive confidence boost for their 2026/27 season.

The Lions exited the URC knockouts after suffering a 59-10 quarterfinal defeat to the Irish giants last season after reaching the playoffs and winning the South African Shield for the first time.

They delivered the best performance of all four South African franchises during the Rugby’s Greatest Rivalry mid-week games against the All Blacks, and while they lost 35-41, that outing was so entertaining that one couldn’t help but think ahead to their season with anticipation.

Given the superb performance they had to match, or exceed rather, given that they were still in their pre-season and lacked match fitness, their opening game against Leinster was always going to be a big one – not only because of what they put on show a little over a month ago, but also considering what went down at the Aviva Stadium during the quarters.

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Narrow victory to the Lions as Leinster made them work hard for every pointhttps://t.co/iK2gOMLLbS

— Rugby365 (@rugby365com) September 26, 2026

It does not matter who Leinster were missing from their squad, Leinster – regardless of whether it’s “Leinster A” or “Leinster B” – are always one of the biggest challenges in the competition.

Fintan Gunne’s first-half hat-trick fired Leo Cullen’s team into a two-point half-time lead, but they were held scoreless until a try while the Lions were one man down while the clock was in the red saw them leave Ellis Park with two losing points.

It wasn’t perfect from the Lions, but this was a performance and a win to draw confidence from.

While their characteristic attacking vigour and side-to-side play was entertaining as always, what the Lions strung together despite having much less possession and territory than the opposition was also noteworthy.

They had just 41 percent possession and 40 percent territory in the game, with 98 percent of possession in the last 10 minutes belonging to Leinster.

The Lions wingers were on a mission, with Erich Cronje the undisputed star of the show as he scored their opening try and later made it a brace while constantly threatening with his runs, work under the high ball, and overall relentless work rate.

He also won a crucial turnover and handed Chris Smith, who pulled the strings expertly again, the opportunity to regain the lead with a penalty kick to take the score to 20-19 early in the final quarter. Kelly Mpeku was also ever-busy on the opposite wing and scored their last try after neatly gathering a kick-pass from Smith to score the try that took the game away from Leinster.

Ivan van Rooyen’s team’s defence was sharp as they constantly applied pressure on Leinster and cut down their options and decision-making time, although the visitors also deserve credit for their defensive effort, with the Lions forced into errors a handful of times.

The Lions’ scrum worked well and grew in strength as the game progressed, and another highlight was their ability to turn the ball over. They won nine turnovers compared to Leinster’s four.

Having spilt a number of opportunities in prime areas, the biggest negative from their performance will be their conversion rate, like the golden opportunity they had after Cronje’s turnover, when outstanding work by Ruan Delport was nullified when they lost the ball forward in the red zone.

It may not have been flawless, but the Lions got their season off to a great start and can only build on that as they aim to make a step-up from their historic 2025/26 season.