Lions likely to preserve status quo in coaching corps

The Lions are unlikely to make radical changes to their coaching group, though negotiations are continuing.

The recent departure of forwards coach Albert van den Berg and the team’s less-than-convincing performances in the United Rugby Championship (URC) and Currie Cup have set the rumour mill aflutter, but the Lions are unlikely to deviate from their incumbents.

Clearly they will have to find a forwards coach to fill the boots vacated by Van den Berg, who departed in less than amicable circumstances.

Weekend reports suggested former Springbok scrum coach and current Maties boss Matt Proudfoot is a leading candidate for the position, but that seems unlikely.

A Lions insider, who did not want to be named, said the franchise would go for a like-for-like replacement who specialises in the line-out. Proudfoot's expertise is more rooted in the scrum and the Lions already have a more than capable scrum guru in former tighthead prop Julian Redelinghuys.

Former No 8 Warren Whiteley’s name has also been bandied about, but he is now with the Sharks.

The main reason things will largely stay the same has more to do with the Lions’ budget-conscious business model than the coaching group having wildly exceeded expectations.

While the Lions produced pockets of excellence in the URC and Challenge Cup, they lacked the consistency to stay the course in either competition. In the URC they finished ninth, again outside qualification for the quarterfinal.

Encouragingly though, that ninth-place finish represents an improvement on their 12th place on last year’s URC points table. In fact, only Connacht improved four places to seventh, Glasgow Warriors went from eighth to fourth, and the Scarlets, who jumped to 10th from 14th, made the biggest leap this season.

While the status quo is expected to be preserved in the coaching corps, there is a strong sentiment among the rank and file at Ellis Park that player acquisitions need to be made to make the franchise more competitive.

The Lions do not dabble in the transfer market with the same industry as their URC countrymen, and there is a striking correlation between player acquisitions and ultimate log position.

Those who control the Lions’ purse strings can with some conviction, however, draw attention to their team winning as many matches in this season’s URC as the high-spending Sharks.

In professional sport, some of their fans might argue, if you don’t break the bank, you do not get to break hearts.