Durban - There was an abiding moment from the Lions’ shock win over Edinburgh that sums up both the health of South African rugby, and also the resilience of a Johannesburg-based team that is punching above its weight despite having zero big-name players.
Actually, maybe that is what is so good about the Lions at the moment — they are the journeymen of SA rugby, the everyman team that is drawing strength from being perpetually written off.
But back to that moment ... Or rather moments because it was a series of body blows from an unknown youngster called Ruan Venter that removed British & Irish Lions flank Hamish Watson from the field in Edinburgh.
Ruan who?
Precisely!
He is a 19-year-old product of Paarl Boys High and is making his way into first-class rugby. He was in the No 7 jersey vacated at the Lions by Vincent Tshituka, who was arguably the Lions’ best player in the United Rugby Championship last season.
Tshituka will make his debut for the Sharks this weekend against Glasgow Warriors and he is surely on a one-way trajectory to the Springboks, but have the Lions missed him? Not really … and which other country has a conveyor belt of loose-forward talent quite like that of SA?
Watson will be asking the same question when he comes out of his daze after Venter barged into him on three occasions before the 30-yearold Scot called it quits and trudged off to the medical room.
Venter is a beast at 1.98m and 118kg, and the rugby world is going to hear a lot more about him. The same goes for the 21-year-old outside centre Henco van Wyk, another newcomer to top-flight rugby, who is in blistering form.
Remember, the Lions lost their brilliant centre and captain Burger Odendaal earlier this year to Wasps in England but instead of being mortally wounded, the Lions have shaken off that loss thanks to the emergence of Van Wyk and the addition of Marius Louw from the Sharks.
The latter was very good for the Sharks but before we criticise the Durbanites for letting him go, look how well Rohan Janse van Rensbug is playing for the Sharks at No 12 after joining from Sale.
The result is good for the South African game — Van Rensburg is back playing in SA and Louw has become a key part of the Lions.
Similarly, the Lions lost powerhouse prop Carlu Sadie to the Sharks but in has stepped Ruan Dreyer and the former Bok tighthead is enjoying a new lease on life because of the increased game time.
Another positive from the Lions’ win against Edinburgh was the sharpness of Sanele Nohamba. He was behind Jaden Hendrikse and Grant Williams at the Sharks, and understandably so, so the move to the Lions made perfect sense.
Again, the spreading of resources around SA teams is good for the game.
This weekend, the Lions host Ulster full of confidence, and I reckon the Lions can go far in this URC because their “ordinariness” is their biggest asset. They have no Bok superstars coming and going, and they are bonded by their humility.
And key to that is the work on defence by Springbok legend Jaque Fourie. He is a hugely likeable character, is massively respected and knows exactly which buttons to push to have the players defending for their lives.
Teams struggle to score against the Lions and that allows the Joburgers to stay in the game while the opposition gets increasingly frustrated and then vulnerable to an upset defeat.
@MIke_Greenaway67