'Fremdscham' in Johannesburg: The Lions’ season unravels in slow motion

Every so often, you get to watch a disaster unfold in slow motion right in front of you. Inevitably, you think to yourself, there must be a German word or phrase to encapsulate the experience.

Like Treppenwitz – that moment when you think of the perfect comeback just a little too late – or Backpfeifengesicht, which describes the urge you feel to look down on someone with a punchable face.

Perhaps the German word that best describes the Lions over the past two months, however, is Fremdscham – which literally translates to “strangely ashamed” and in English aligns most closely with second-hand embarrassment.

Now, it is well established in newsprint that I am a massive Lions fan, so we won’t rehash those details. Needless to say, though, the last few weeks have been tough. It’s been a period of wild oscillations in form and performance – a run that has seen the Lions’ season crumble into mediocrity.

Why, it was only at the beginning of March when we all marvelled at the viciousness of the Johannesburg-based team, as they eviscerated a Springbok-laden Sharks XV in a first-half blitz at Ellis Park. That outing had many turning towards the non-believers with a smug smile, a raised eyebrow, and a chuffed expression.

Since then, it has all gone horribly pear-shaped – to the dogs, grim-dark, and rack and ruin – and just about any other idiom you can think of to describe the debacle that has unfolded since.

Five disastrous losses in a row have seen the Lions’ season collapse, and there has been plenty of embarrassment to go with it – of both the prime and second-hand variety. Defeats to the Sharks, Cardiff, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Benetton – the latter the most egregious – have left a palpable sense of frustration.

Fremdscham, I mutter, resigned to yet another season of having to defend the team from the self-satisfaction that oozes out of my fellow Bulls, Sharks and Stormers supporters.

Three games remain in the season for the Lions, but the reality is that they are out of the EPCR Challenge Cup after a limp attempt and will not make the play-offs of the United Rugby Championship either. It’ll be the fourth miss in a row.

A top 4 finish was promised this season, which will not be achieved. A top 8 finish was expected, and that will (probably) not be achieved either.

At the beginning of that particular journey – in 2021 – we were told to be patient, to understand that the players were young and inexperienced, and that it would take time to build a squad. Now, four seasons later, the squad still commits the same mistakes, similar errors, and self-sabotages.

I’ll agree that there have been disruptions – the continued loss of top-quality players hasn’t helped the cause. Neither has a coaching-room shake-up a few seasons ago, which initially promised so much. At the end of this season, once again, there will be departures of major names – foremost among them, Springbok Edwill van der Merwe.

It immediately puts the Lions on the back foot for the season ahead.

It would be unfair to lay the blame solely at the feet of head coach Ivan van Rooyen and his coaching staff, which includes Ricardo Loubscher, Jaque Fourie, Barend Pieterse and Julian Redelinghuys. The players must also accept substantial responsibility for the team’s failures.

In recent weeks, their performances have veered between the lacklustre and the desperate – perhaps indicative of larger structural issues at the union. In that regard, the corporate management must also shoulder responsibility, even though they have done a stellar job post-Covid of keeping the union financially stable where others have not.

For a fan, unfortunately, that is not enough. Silverware is the only currency, and in that regard, the Lions are firmly in the red.

I like Van Rooyen. I think he is a stand-up, forthright coach, who has a good rapport with his players. I have only ever had positive interactions with him.

However, despite all of that, the buck stops with him – and perhaps it is time for the Lions to reconsider their coaching structures again. Perhaps it is time to explore new options and find someone who can build on the platform he has laid. Perhaps that is the crucial next step forward.