THE 2021 VERSION will have to be some series if it’s to match up to the last time the Lions took on the Springboks in South Africa.
Happily, it looks as if the circumstances are ideal.
Just like in 2009, the Lions will be travelling to take on the world champions and a team who are intelligent, experienced, and brutally physical.
As ever, Warren Gatland’s Lions will face a major challenge in building cohesion in a short space of time but next year’s series – presuming it goes ahead as planned – promises to be epic.
Over in South Africa, the excitement is already building and Bryan Habana – who played in 2009, scoring a crucial try in the second Test – has a feeling the 2021 series will be special.
“It’s massive, I wouldn’t say it’s the pinnacle of your career but there are some Test centurions that never got the opportunity to play against the Lions,” said Habana yesterday as he launched MatchKit.co.
“I’m really hoping things pan out that everything is cleared to go. I’m hoping Cheslin Kolbe decides not to go to the Olympics in Tokyo to stick around for the Boks.
“It’s massive, I think the opportunity to go up against the Lions is such a unique, special experience.
“In 2009, yes we won it but the physicality of that second Test at Loftus was one of, if not the toughest game I played in. That collision between Danie Roussouw and Brian O’Driscoll is something that’s vivid in everyone’s memory.
“The added spice of not only the Springboks being world champions, but also Warren Gatland aiming to be the first Lions coach not to lose a series… there’s that added bit of spice.
“We’re all hoping it comes to the fore so we see an incredible series in the way it did in New Zealand in 2017.
“It’s exciting, for each and every player the opportunity to get involved is so exclusive they will be chomping at the bit to be involved. It’s nice to know we’re going in there as world champions.”
Indeed, the Boks haven’t been in as confident a place for many years.
The Lions will be bringing a squad of world-class players on tour but the South Africans have built something brilliantly effective under Rassie Erasmus and Jacques Nienaber since their return from Munster to take over the Springboks at the end of 2017.
Nienaber is now the Boks’ head coach, with Erasmus still heavily involved despite also focusing on his role as South Africa Rugby’s director of rugby.
Habana credits the pair of ex-Munster coaches with turning the Boks around, leading to last year’s World Cup glory.
“Without a doubt, going from where we were at the end 2017 to winning a World Cup 18 months later was pretty spectacular to say the least,” said Habana.
“Rassie is one of, if not the most technical thinkers on the game I’ve ever met and I was fortunate enough to have worked with him throughout my career.
“I was unfortunate to play against him a few times when he got the better of us, but in 2007 we did a bit of work with him pre-World Cup. 2011, he was involved with us as well in New Zealand.
“I worked with him at the Stormers as well, so from a technical ability and way he approaches the game he’s incredible.
“Jacques, I worked with at the Stormers and we had the best defensive record in Super Rugby for a number of years.
“Two coaches whose synergies work really well together, they both come from Bloemfontein and they have a great relationship. Rassie brought Jacques down to Cape Town in 2009, then they took over the Springboks after going to Munster together.
“So, yeah, it’s been incredible to watch and long may it continue. Jacques has been appointed as head coach and I think it’s the first time in South African rugby history where we’ve actually had a bit of succession planning going forward.
“Rassie has moved up the ranks, but he’s still in very close contact with Jacques in terms of understanding where they want to go. Hopefully, when Jacques takes over, the teething problems are few and far between.”
The afterglow of the World Cup victory in Japan remains strong and Habana explains that its legacy will continue to be powerful.
“I think 2019 had a much bigger impact than 1995 and the reason I say that is because you had Siya Kolisi becoming the first black African to captain the country to a World Cup victory and that resonated with 60 to 65% of our population,” said Habana, who helped the Boks to their 2007 World Cup crown.
“The story of Makazole Mapimpi, who had to walk 10 kilometres to and from school every day and went on to become the first Springbok to score a try in a World Cup final, which potentially doesn’t say much about Bryan Habana! But stories like that resonate with our people.
“If England had won it, I’m not quite sure that message of hope and inspiration would have had the longevity it does in South Africa and for the next four years.
“Siya Kolisi has shot into an absolutely different stratosphere to any other player in South Africa. He has become a global icon, he has signed with Roc Nation, will probably get a documentary written about him or something huge like that. Those stories are inspirational for a big part of our nation and have that longevity.
“I took my five-year-old to the welcoming of the trophy in Cape Town. I was there as a 12-year-old in 1995 and was inspired to pick up the game of rugby, but I never had an underprivileged upbringing. All of a sudden, Siya Kolisi, who was watching in a tin shack in a township because his grandmother couldn’t afford a TV in her own home, he is doing something that allows a lot of disadvantaged communities to be inspired and understand that hope.
“As Nelson Mandela said at the opening of the Laureus Academy back in 2000: ‘Sport has the power to change the world.’
“Siya and his story got me emotional in that week of the final and it’s because there is that tangible, emotional narrative that so many can resonate with.”
Bryan Habana was speaking at the launch of MatchKit.co – a mobile web app developed to help athletes maximise the commercialisation of their careers. It automatically integrates into existing social media channels to show potential sponsors the scope and quality of an athlete’s influence.
