The 'Escaped Lions XV' that populate clubs around the world
When the Lions returned to Super Rugby in 2014, they introduced a new group of ‘no-name brand’ players to the game in South Africa – write Jan de Koning for Rugby 365.
Not only did they reach three successive finals (2016, 2017 & 2018), but a whole host of previously unheralded players – mostly unwanted by other South African franchises – became Springboks while playing for the Ellis Park-based outfit.
Those ‘rejects’ include Andries Coetzee, Marnitz Boshoff, Franco Mostert, Ruan Dreyer, Jacques van Rooyen, Jaco Kriel, Julian Redelinghuys, Warren Whiteley, Ross Cronje and Ruan Combrinck.
The few home-grown products included Malcolm Marx and Elton Jantjies.
Add in other famous recruits from the pre- and post-2013 era – like Francois de Klerk, Willie Britz, Armand van der Merwe and Lionel Mapoe – then you truly get an idea of how the team rose from the ashes, like a proverbial Phoenix.
However, this article is NOT about these success stories.
We want to take you back to those Lions that escaped the Den – who were involved before and during their politically-motivated demotion at the end of 2012 and moved on.
We will select a team of those who featured for the Rooibontes before their axing from Super Rugby.
15 – Jaco Taute
He played in 60-odd games for the Lions between 2009 and 2012, before moving to the Stormers in 2013. The 29-year-old, capped three-times for the Springboks, moved abroad and played for Munster (40-odd games) and Leicester Tigers (where he has made a handful of appearances).
Back-up: Michael Killian, Louis Ludik
14 – James Kamana
The 34-year-old New Zealander represented the Lions in almost 30 games in 2011 and 2012, before he moved to Japan in 2013. He previously played for Waikato and Tasman in New Zealand’s NPC, while he was also part of Gordon Tietjens’ NZ sevens team in 2008, playing world circuit rounds in Dubai and George.
Back-up: Deon van Rensburg, Shandre Frolick
13 – Dylan des Fountain
An exceptionally creative midfield player, he featured for the Bulls, Stormers and even had a couple of games for Aironi in Italy before arriving in Johannesburg. Became a household name ate Ellis Park, before injury cut short his career.
Back-up: Jannie Boshoff, Justin St Jerry
12 – Gideon la Grange
Affectionately known as Doppies, he spent the majority of his career at the Johannesburg-based side. The solid centre was known for his great upper-body strength, developed during his days as a South African schoolboy wrestling champion. He made over 150 appearances between 2003 and 2012. He moved Benetton Treviso in 2013.
Back-up: Waylon Murray, Walter Venter.
11 – Dusty Noble
First made his mark at the Sharks, before a lack of game time saw him move to Johannesburg in 2008. The former Sevens flyer played 50-odd games in Currie Cup and Super Rugby, before he moved to Griquas and eventually played a game for the Cheetahs. Eventually return to Durban, where he played for the club side College Rovers.
Back-up: Henno Mentz, Johan Jackson.
10 – Andrew James
Affectionately known as Butch, the 2007 World Cup winner was a stalwart with the Sharks (2000 to 2007), before he moved to Bath in the English Premiership, where he played 68 games. Upon his return to South Africa in 2011, he joined the Lions for two seasons – returning to his home town Durban in 2013.
Back-up: Herkie Kruger, Ruan Boshoff, Burton Francis, Jody Rose & Earl Rose.
9 – Michael Bondesio
Played more than 50 games for the Leopards, before he moved to Johannesburg from Potchefstroom in 2011. He made almost 50 appearances in Super Rugby and the Currie Cup in two seasons, but never featured again after 2013. He was named in the 2014 squad, but was surpassed by Ross Cronjé and Francois de Klerk – who both became Springboks.
Back-up: Alex Kock & Chris Jonck.
8 – Josh Strauss
The energetic Scottish international, with his trademark bushy beard, joined the Lions after helping the University of Stellenbosch win the Varsity Cup. After just three games for Boland in 2008 and 2009, he moved to Johannesburg in 2011 and ended up captaining the side – before he moved to Glasgow Warriors when the Lions lost their Super Rugby spot.
Back-up: Jonathan Mokuena, Willem Alberts (although he has returned this year).
7 – Michael Rhodes
In 2011 he joined the Lions from the Sharks (where he played 40-odd matches) and featured in 22 outings for the Johannesburg-based franchise. In 2013 he moved to the Stormers, played almost 50 games, before he moved to Saracens in the English Premiership in 2015. He has accumulated almost 100 caps for the now relegated outfit – with won the European Cup and Premiership multiple times before their controversial axing this year.
Back-up: Robert Kruger, Justin Wheeler
6 – Wikus van Heerden
The 2007 World Cup winner, who played 14 Tests for his country, moved back to the Lions in 2010 – after stints with the Bulls (50-odd games between 2003 and 2008) and Saracens (21 games in 2009). His first stint with the Lions was 2001 to 2006. He retired at the end of the 2012 season.
Back-up: Cobus Grobbelaar, Grant Hattingh
5 – Paul Willemse
The product of Monument High School, Krugersdorp, has come a long way since his debut for the Lions in 2012. He moved to the Bulls in 2013 (40-odd games), then Grenoble and eventually Montpellier. The 27-year-old bruiser is now a mainstay in the French national team.
Back-up: Nico Luus and Etienne Oosthuizen.
4 – Ruan Botha
Another Gauteng product, Jeugland Hoërskool, that came through the youth systems and made his Lions debut in 2012. Like his second row ‘partner’, Willemse, he moved on in 2013 – first the Stormers (40 games for Stormers and Western Province), then Sharks (40-odd games), Japan and London Irish.
Back-up: Hendrick Roodt and Stefan Greef.
3 – Ross Geldenhuys
The ultimate journeyman. He played for the Border Bulldogs, Western Province and Pumas before he joined the Lions in 2008. Fifty-odd games later his wandering ways continued – Boland Cavaliers, Free State Cheetahs, Griffons, Eastern Province Kings, Stormers, Tasman, Highlanders, Southern Kings, Sharks, Bay of Plenty, Hurricanes and now – at the ripe old age of 36 – the Chiefs.
Back-up: Pat Cilliers and Jacobie Adriaanse (left in 2013 and returned in 2017)
2 – Bandise Maku
The one-cap Springbok played 80-odd games for the Bulls between 2006 and 2010, before he joined the Lions in 2011. He made 40-odd appearances before he joined the mass exodus in 2013 and played for the Southern Kings, before he rejoined the Bulls – making another 40-odd appearances.
Back-up: Edgar Marutlulle and Martin Bezuidenhout.
1 – Jacobus Janse van Rensburg
After his school days at Oakdale Agricultural College in Riversdale, he moved to Johannesburg in 2006 and made well over 100 appearances for the Lions in Super Rugby and the Currie Cup. In 2013 he signed with French team Bayonne, but not before he captained the Lions to victory in a two-match promotion-relegation series over the Kings. In July 2015 Janse van Rensburg returned to South Africa to link up with Cape Town-based Stormers prior to the 2016 Super Rugby season and to France after the 2018 Super Rugby season, joining Grenoble.
Back-up: Caylib Oosthuizen and Lawrence Sephaka.
Comments on RugbyPass
We’re building a bridge but can't agree where the river is.
2 Go to commentsfirst no arms shoulder or helmet tackle into his rib cage is going to be so very painful even to watch. go back to RU mate.
1 Go to commentsBulls by 5. Plus another 50.
3 Go to commentsJohan Goosen avatar. Cute. Surely someone at RP knows how to do a google image search?
3 Go to commentsCan’t these games play a little earlier? Asking for a friend.
3 Go to commentsIt’s impressive that we can see huge stadiums with attendance in the 40 000 to 50 000 region. It shows how popular this competition is becoming. What is even more impressive is the massive growth in broadcast viewership. The URC is one of the two best leagues in the World, the other being the Top14.
7 Go to commentsChristie is not Sottish, like the majority of the Scotland team.
2 Go to commentsHold the phone, decline over-rated. Is it a one game, dead cat bounce or the real thing? Has the Penney dropped? Stay tuned.
45 Go to commentsTotally deserved win for the Crusaders Far smarter than the Chiefs who seem to be avoiding the basics when it matters Hotham showed them what was missing and Hannah seems a real find - a tad light but that can be fixed over time
8 Go to commentsGreat insight into the performance culture with Sarries and I predict Christie will be a fixture in the Scotland team now for some time to come. However, he is slightly missing his own point around Scotland “being soft” when he cites physicality examples in defence of that slight. The issue is much closer to the example he referenced around feeling off before a game but being told “it doesn’t matter, you can still play well” by Farrell. Until Scotland can get their psyche in that square, they will carry on folding under extreme pressure…
2 Go to comments> We are having to adapt, evolve and innovate more than when we were in Super Rugby where there was only really one style that everybody had to play to gain the most success. Have = able to? Interesting what that one style might be? I thought SA sides still had bad tours now, or at least bad schedule, months away? Those extra few hours flights have to be a killer though, no surprise to see their sides doing so badly at the start of the season each year. I wouldn’t enjoy that unfairness as a supporter.
7 Go to commentsThe problem for NZ, and Aus, is they ripped up the SR model and lost a massive chunk of revenue that hasn’t been replaced. Don’t forget SA clubs went North because they were left with no choice, Argy unceremoniously binned and Japan cast adrift. Now SR wasn’t perfect, far from it, but they’ve jumped into something without an effective plan, so far, to replace what they’ve lost. The biggest revenue potential now lies in Japan but it won’t be easy or quick to unlock, they are incredibly insular in culture as a nation. In the meantime, there is a serious time bomb sitting under SH rugby and if it happens then the current financial challenges will look like a picnic. IF the Boks follow their provincial teams and head north then it’s revenue meltdown. Not guaranteed to happen but the status quo is a very odd hybrid, with the Boks pointing one way and the clubs pointing the other way. And for as long as that remains then the threat is real.
45 Go to commentsI think Etene has had some good tuition, likely while at the Warriors to be a professional that helped his rugby jump, but he was certainly thrown in the deep end way too early. Should have arguably 20 less SR caps, and therefor a way better record that he does at his age, but his development would have been fast tracked by the need to satiate his signing away from league. Again, credit to him and others that he has done it so well. Easy to fall over under that pressure in the big leagues like that but he kept at it when I myself wasn’t sure he was good enough.
1 Go to commentsAwesome story. I wonder what a bigger American (SA) scene might have mean for Brex.
1 Go to comments“Johnny McNicholl and the Crusaders” save a Penney. Who has been in camp this week and showed them how to play?
8 Go to commentsSo, reports of the Crusaders’ demise / terminal decline are perhaps just - slightly - premature/exaggerated…? 🤔 Will we see a deep-dive into that by the estimable Rugbypass scribes, and maybe one or two mea culpas? Thought not.
8 Go to comments1. The Chiefs are rudderless without DMac, which enhances his AB chances 2. Chiefs pack are powderpuffs. The hard men arent there anymore 3. They had their golden title chance last yr and wont threaten this yr. Gone in second round of playoffs.
8 Go to commentsHonestly, why did you have to publish such a foolish article the day they play us? 😂
45 Go to comments> They are not standalone entities. They are linked to an amateur association which holds the FFR licence that allows the professional side to compete in the league. That’s a great rule. This looks like the chicken or egg professional scenario. How long is it going to be before the club can break even (if that is even a thing in French rugby)? If the locals aren’t into well it would be good to se them drop to amateur level (is it that far?). Hope they can reset from this level and be more practical, there will be a time when they can rebuild (if France has there setup right).
1 Go to commentsWhat about changing the ball? To something heavier and more pointed that bounces unpredictably. Not this almost round football used these days.
35 Go to comments