Lions coach Nkosi’s shot at redemption

Mziwakhe Nkosi started a journey from a dark place that has now brought him a step away from the golden glow that comes with Currie Cup glory.

Nkosi was on a dimly lit road after the Lions lost nine straight Currie Cup matches two years ago, but he has a proper shot at redemption when his players square up to the Sharks in the final at Ellis Park on Saturday.

Nkosi admits he wouldn’t have been surprised had he been given the boot two years ago.

“As a franchise we weren’t aligned in how we were going to do the URC [United Rugby Championship] and the Currie Cup. That alongside a whole host of other things made it an incredibly difficult season.”

Despite questions about their choice of coach, the Lions held firm and Nkosi seized the moment.

“I had to pick myself up from that. I’m not afraid to say I’m proud in the way I’ve done it. To go to three junior finals consecutively and last year’s Currie Cup was decent considering the changes that had to be made,” he said about a campaign that left them just two points outside the play-offs.

“We were still working out how to play URC one week and Currie Cup on the Wednesday. We have taken those lessons into this year. With a bit of grace I survived and was able to hang in there.”

Nkosi explained it wasn’t blind faith that saw him keep his job. “Without blowing my own horn there was a body of work that I produced. The work I put in and the trophies I’d won from a junior perspective.

“Sometimes the top brass incur some criticism. I think they’d be the first to admit that was not the most ideal environment for a young coach to function in. To their credit they stuck to their word. Not to say there wasn’t robust and vigorous conversations, [but] they stuck to their word. Thankfully I stayed in the job and hopefully this is just reward for them backing me.”

The Lions excelled this season. They lost just once so far but they will go into the final with the nagging feeling that their only blemish occurred against the Sharks in the league stages at Ellis Park.

“We beat them two weeks before in Durban and felt we could have won by a bigger margin,” Nkosi recalled. “And this is the thing about having a youthful squad, maybe there was an element of taking things for granted. Or not being as sharp and on it as we should have been and to be fair to them they created the bounce of the ball.”

He admitted they were far from their best. “It was more than a wake-up call. It strengthened our convictions about the way we want to play. We got suckered into a kicking game with Lionel Cronjé. We just never threw any punches, we just waited. There was no catalyst to get us going.”

Nkosi said the Lions would have to set the agenda from the start. They allowed the Sharks to get away in the first half and almost did the same in last weekend’s semifinal when the Cheetahs scored two early tries.

He is undaunted by the prospect of the Sharks deploying more experienced players in the final. “You have to play who is in front of you. You are either going with continuity with the guys who got you to the final, or build combinations for the URC in preseason.”