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Lions edge out Sharks
 June
30, 2007 - The Lions beat the Sharks 14-7 at Ellis Park
on Saturday, this after leading just 3-0 at the break.
Cobus Grobbelaar was deservedly named man of the match,
this in his 50th game for the Lions. He also scored the
only try of the match for the Lions, while Gcobani Bobo
scored a try for the Sharks. With the victory the Lions
moved into 3rd place on the Currie Cup log in a day of
surprises where the Bulls lost to Griquas and WP lost to
Boland.
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Lions change four for Sharks
 June
27, 2007 - Coach Eugene Eloff made four changes to the
side that will play the Sharks home at Ellis Park on
Saturday. Brian Mujati replaces Kenny MacKenzie at
tighthead, Willem Alberts replaces Jacques Cronje, who
was called up for Bok duty, at number eight, Jaco Van
Schalkwyk replaces Louis Strydom at Flyhalf, and Jannie
Boshoff replaces Jaco Pretorius, also called up for the
Boks, at outside centre.
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Lions go down to WP
 June
23, 2007 - WP beat the Lions 18-13 at Newlands on
Saturday. WP sealed the match with three tries in
the space of about ten minutes, just before and just
after the break. The Lions certainly had scoring
opportunities that they didn't use, and the last was a
breakout from their own 22 where Jaco Pretorius passed
to Benjamin on his outside with 2 other Lions in support
on his inside, only to see Benjamin tackled into touch
inside the WP 22.
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New Zealand edge out
Boks
 June
23, 2007 - New Zealand edged out the Boks 26-21 in a
thrilling game of rugby in Durban on Saturday. The Boks
had the upper hand in about the first hour of the game,
but New Zealand hung in there and managed to pull a win
out of the fire in what looked like might have been a
loss for them.
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One change for Boks against New Zealand
June
20, 2007 - Coach Jake White was forced to make one
change to the Springbok side to play New Zealand this
Saturday. John Smit was injured in the first ten minutes
of the test against Australia, and will miss the next
few tests. This means that Gary Botha moves into the
starting XV, with Bismarck du Plessis on the bench. The
rest of the team is unchanged. Click
here for the full team.
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Boks use get-out-of-jail card against Australia
 June
16, 2007 - Only the brilliance of Francois Steyn saved
the Boks from what would have been an embarrasing defeat
at Newlands on Saturday. The Boks were clear favourites
to win the test after their good wins over England, but
found themselves trailing by 3 points with just 10
minutes to go. Luckily Francois Steyn was on the field
in the place of Ashwin Willemse at this stage, and the
youngster slotted two drop goals in this period to
snatch a win for South Africa. The final score was a
close 22-19 win for the Boks.
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Easy win for Boks over Samoa
June
9, 2007 - Even though it was more like a second string
Bok team that faced Samoa, they still recorded a
comfortable 35-8 win at Ellis Park on Saturday. The Boks
scored 5 tries to the single try from Samoa. Next
Saturday the Boks play Australia at Newlands, and that
will be a much closer test for the Boks.
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Thirteen changes for Samoa
June
6, 2007 - Coach Jake White made thirteen changes to the
team that will play Samoa at Ellis Park on Saturday. Two
players, Waylon Murray from the Sharks, and Luke Watson
from Western Province, will make their test debut. The
match kicks off at 15:00 on Saturday. Click
here for the full team.
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Another big Bok win over England
June
2, 2007 - The Springboks recorded another big win over
England on Saturday, beating them 55-22 in Pretoria.
England did well in the 1st half, and lead 19-17 at the
break, but in the second half the Boks were unstoppable,
and scored 38 points to the 3 from England. Pierre Spies
had a huge game at number eight, and possibly managed to
make the position his own for the rest of the season. He
scored two great tries, and so did Bryan Habana, with
Bakkies, Burger, Januarie and Percy also adding to the
eight tries by the Boks.
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Three changes to Boks for 2nd England test
May
30, 2007 - Coach Jake White made three changes to the
Bok side to play England in the 2nd test at Loftus this
Saturday. Akona Ndungane replaces Ashwin Willemse on the
wing, while Gurthro Steenkamp and CJ van der Linde will
start in the front row in the place of Deon Carstens and
BJ Botha. The match kicks off at 15:00 and will be
refereed by Joel Jutge from France. Click
here for the full team.
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Win tickets for Ellis Park test
May
30, 2007 - The Golden Lions Rugby Union once again
agreed to sponsor a ticket giveaway for loyal visitors
to my site, so I'm giving away tickets for the Test
match against Samoa which takes place on Saturday 9 June
at Ellis Park.
Go to the competition page for details. (Click
here to go to the
competition page)
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Boks give dismal England a hiding
 May
26, 2007 - The Springboks rewrote a few records on
Saturday when they beat England 58-10 in Bloemfontein.
It's the first time in history between the two teams
that the Boks reached the 50 mark, and it is also the
Springbok's biggest winning margin over England of 48.
The Springboks scored 7 tries to 1, also the most tries
by a Bok team against England. The halftime score was
30-3 in favour of the home side.
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Two Lions included in Bok team to play England
 May
24, 2007 - Two Lions, Ashwin Willemse and Enrico
Januarie, were included in the Springbok team that plays
England in Bloemfontein this Saturday.
The full team is:
Percy Montgomery, Ashwin Willemse, Wynand Olivier, Jean de Villiers, Bryan Habana, Butch James, Ricky Januarie, Danie Rossouw, Juan Smith, Schalk Burger, Victor Matfield, Bakkies Botha, BJ Botha, John Smit (captain) , Deon Carstens.
Substitutes: Gurthro Steenkamp, Gary Botha, CJ van der Linde, Johann Muller, Pierre Spies, Ruan Pienaar, Francois Steyn.
I will also be giving away
some tickets for the test match against Samoa that takes
place on 9 June 2007 at Ellis Park, so make sure that
you visit often so as not to miss the competition.
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Lions go down to Cheetahs
 May
5, 2007 - The Lions went down 16-10 to the Cheetahs at
Ellis Park on Saturday, making it their 5th loss in a
row in the 2007 Super 14, and spoiling their season by
finishing last of the South African sides in the Super
14. The match report is
here.
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Willemse on bench for Cheetahs
May
5, 2007 - Eugene Eloff raised a few eyebrows when he
included Ashwin Willemse on the bench to play the
Cheetahs at Ellis Park on Saturday. Willemse has only
played 25 minutes of rugby this season, in a Vodacom Cup
match for the Young Lions against Griquas, where he
limped off after just 25 minutes. The match kicks off at
15:00 on Saturday, and the full team and match report is
here.
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Win tickets for the Lions vs Cheetahs match
May
2, 2007 - The Golden Lions Rugby Union once again agreed
to sponsor a ticket giveaway for loyal visitors to my
site, so I'm giving away tickets for the Super 14 match
against the Cheetahs which takes place this Saturday (5
May).
Go to the competition page for details. (Click
here to go to the
competition page)
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Limp Lions lashed by Sharks
Apr
29, 2007 - The Lions lost their fourth game in a row
when they were beaten 33-3 by the Sharks in Durban on
Saturday. It was close to, if not the worst performance
of the Lions in the Super 14 this year. Next weekend we
play at home against the Cheetahs, and the loser will
end last of the South African sides on the Super 14 log.
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Lions humbled at home
Apr
21, 2007 - The Bulls beat the Lions 31-7 at Ellis Park
on Saturday, moving up into fourth place on the Super 14
log in the process. The halftime score was 10-7 in the
favour of the visitors, but at the start of the second
half Andre Pretorius made an awfull hash when he tried
to catch the kickoff from the Bulls, and it was as if
the Lions couldn't get back in the game after that. The
Bulls scored 5 tries to the one from the Lions.
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Six changes for Bulls match
 Apr
18, 2007 - Eugene Eloff made six changes to the side
that will face the Bulls at Ellis Park on Saturday. The
biggest surprise is the inclusion of Geo Cronje at Lock,
this after turning out for the Vodacom Cup side last
weekend. The other changes are Jaco Pretorius back at
inside Centre, Enrico Januarie at Scrumhalf, Willem
Alberts at openside Flank, Bertus Smit at Tighthead and
Willie Wepener at Hooker. The match kicks off at 15:00
on Saturday. The full team is
here.
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Win tickets for the Lions vs Bulls match
Apr
16, 2007 - The Golden Lions Rugby Union once again
agreed to sponsor a ticket giveaway for loyal visitors
to my site, so I'm giving away tickets for the Super 14
match against the Bulls which takes place this Saturday
(21 April).
Go to the competition page for details. (Click
here to go to the
competition page)
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Geo included in Vodacom Cup side
Apr
12, 2007 - Geo Cronje was included in the Young Lions
side that will play Griquas in a Vodacom Cup match this
weekend. The 26-year old has played in three test
matches for the Springboks in 2003 and 2004. It will be
very interesting to see how he does, as Lock seems to be
one of the positions where the Lions squad is a bit
thin. If he does well, he might even make his first
Super 14 appearance for the Lions against the Bulls on
21 April.
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Lions blown away by Stormers
Apr
7, 2007 - The Lions came crashing back to earth on
Saturday when the Stormers hammered them 30-8 at
Newlands. The Lions had chances early on in the game,
but unfortunately made far too many errors, and
gradually saw the game slip away from them. This was
one of the Lions poorer showings this season, for some
reason they didn't play with the passion that we have
seen from them earlier in their campaign. For the 1st
time this season, there is also the possibility that we
might finish last of the South African teams in the
Super 14.
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Four changes for Stormers match
 Apr
5, 2007 - Coach Eugene Eloff made four changes to the
side that will play the Stormers in Cape Town on
Saturday. Jaco Pretorius was concussed in the Brumbies
match, and therefore Jaque Fourie moves from the left
wing to outside centre, while Jaco van Schalkwyk moves
from Fullback to left wing, and Earl Rose will be at
Fullback. Jano Vermaak gets a start at Scrumhalf ahead
of Enrico Januarie. The Lions will feel that they have a
good chance to win this match, and this would make them
serious semi-final contenders.
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Brumbies sneak past Lions
Mar
31, 2007 - The Brumbies beat the Lions 14-9 in a close
match at Ellis Park on Saturday. With less than 10
minutes to go, the score was still tied at 9-9, but the
Brumbies managed to steal a Lions ball that they tried
to run from deep in their own 22 meter area, and with a
huge overlap on the right, managed to score the winning
try in the right hand corner. The full match report is
here.
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Three changes for the Brumbies match
Mar
28, 2007 - Coach Eugene Eloff made three changes to the
side that will face the Brumbies on Saturday. Brian
Mujati replaces Bertus Smit at tighthead prop, Doppies la
Grange replaces Jaco Pretorius at inside centre, who
moves to outside centre in the place of Jaque Fourie,
who drops to the bench. The full team is
here.
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I'm giving away tickets for the Brumbies match!
Mar
26, 2007 - The Golden Lions Rugby Union once again
agreed to sponsor a ticket giveaway for loyal visitors
to my site, so I'm giving away tickets for the Super 14
match against the Brumbies which takes place this
Saturday (31 March).
Go to the competition page for details. (Click
here to go to the
competition page)
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Lions crush Hurricanes
 Mar
24, 2007 - The Lions took full advantage of playing at
home on Saturday, crushing the Hurricanes 30-7 at Ellis
Park. The Hurricanes used all six their returning All
Blacks, but not even that could stop the Lions from
achieving their 5th victory of the season, and moving up
into 6th place on the log. Ethienne Reynecke and Jaque
Fourie scored tries for the Lions, while Andre Pretorius
kicked 5 penalties, a conversion and a drop goal for 20
points in the match.
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Five changes for Hurricanes match
 Mar
22, 2007 - Coach Eugene Eloff made five changes to the
team that will play the Hurricanes at Ellis Park this
Saturday. Jannie Pretorius replaces the out of form
Wylie Human on the left Wing, Enrico Januarie replaces
Jano Vermaak at Scrumhalf, Cobus Grobler has recovered
from his injury and is back at Lock, Bertus Smit starts
at Tighthead in the place of Brian Mujati, and Ethienne
Reynecke will start at Hooker, replacing Willie Wepener,
who's had a great Super 14 so far. The full team is
here.
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I'm giving tickets away for Hurricanes match!
Mar
19, 2007 - The Golden Lions Rugby Union once again
agreed to sponsor a ticket giveaway for loyal visitors
to my site, so I'm giving away tickets for the Super 14
match against the Hurricanes this Saturday (24 March).
Go to the competition page for details. (Click
here to go to the
competition page)
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Chiefs also too good for Lions
Mar
17, 2007 - The Lions went down to the Chiefs in Hamilton
on Friday, losing 34-7. They will now be heading home,
where they will play another 4 matches, as well as two
away games against South African competition, and
hopefully they will pick up some points from these 6
matches.
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Lions song available for download
Mar
14, 2007 - Lions fans that have been to the Super 14
matches at Ellis Park this year will be aware that there
is a catchy new Lions fan song called "Die Leeus", by
Juan & Drikus. Juan performed the song live before the
Waratahs game on the 2nd of February, as well as during
the halftime break, and the song was also played at all
the Ellis Park games since then. The song will be
available on CD soon as part of an Ellis Park
compilation, but for a preview, there is a 30 second
clip available for download here.
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Loffie changes 5 for Chiefs match
Mar
14, 2007 - Coach Eugene Eloff made five changes to the
team to play the Chiefs on Friday. Two of the changes
are forced by injury, Jaco van Schalkwyk replaces the
injured Earl Rose at Fullback, while Willem Alberts,
normally a number eight, comes in for the injured Cobus
Grobler at Lock. In other changes, Jaco Pretorius moves
to inside centre, Jano Vermaak to Scrumhalf, and Wylie
Human to left wing.
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Blues too good for Lions
Mar
10, 2007 - The Blues beat the Lions 41-14 in Auckland on
Saturday, ending the Lions run of four victories and
perhaps a bit of a reality check for the Lions and their
fans. The Blues were leading 15-0 after just 8 minutes,
and after that, the Lions were never in the game again,
although both teams only scored 7 points each in the
second half. A number of the Lions looked a bit like
they were having a bit of an off day, particularly Jaque
Fourie, normally a solid player for the Lions, who
missed a number of tackles, and also far too many knocks
and turnovers by the Lions.
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Andre Pretorius to start against Blues
 Mar
7, 2007 - Lions fans will be over the moon to see that
Andre Pretorius was included in the starting line-up for
the Lions match against the Blues for Saturday's match.
He is one of three changes to the team that beat the
Reds last Saturday, replacing Jaco van Schalkwyk at
Flyhalf. The other two changes see Louis Ludik replacing
Wylie Human at right wing, and Brian Mujati replacing
Bertus Smit at tighthead prop. Interestingly though,
Ernst Joubert, who has stood in as captain in the
absence of the injured Pretorius, keeps the captaincy
for this match.
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Lions beat Reds for second Aussie victory
 Mar
3, 2007 - The Lions beat the Reds 26-10 in Brisbane on
Saturday, recording their 4th win in this year's Super
14 and moving up to third place on the log. The Reds
dominated the game in the first half, but kept the Lions
in the game by conceding penalties in kickable
positions. In the 2nd half the Lions played much better,
and managed to steal the game away from the Reds in the
last 10 minutes when Captain Ernst Joubert scored a
brilliant try under the posts. It's clear now that the
Lions won't be push-overs in this competition like the
Cats used to be.
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Lions succeed where the Cats failed
Feb
25, 2007 - The Lions did what the Cats never could, win
a rugby game in Australia. It's hard to believe, but the
Cats could not even win once in Australia from 1998 to
2006, and then the Lions achieve a victory in Australia
in their first game over there.
For the record, the Lions beat the Force 25-24 in Perth
on Saturday. A lot of the credit must go to new coach
Eugene Eloff, who boasts a win ratio of 75% after his
first four Super 14 games.
It's very clear that Loffie made the difference for the
Lions in the Currie Cup last year, when the team won
their last eight games in the competition, and it looks
like Loffie and the team are set to continue that form
in the Super 14, and this with a team that was given no
chance whatsoever by anyone in South Africa before the
Super 14 started.
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Loffie makes eight changes for Force game
Feb
22, 2007 - Coach Eugene Eloff made eight changes to the
team to play the Force this Saturday. Three of the
changes are positional, while five players return to the
starting XV. They are Wylie Human at wing, Doppies la
Grange at inside centre back from injury, Gordon
Gilfillan at lock for the injured Cobus Grobler, Bertus
Smit at tighthead, and Ethienne Reynecke at hooker.
The big news is that Andre Pretorius is on the bench,
and will hopefully see his first Super 14 action this
season.
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Lions beat Crusaders at Ellis Park in low scoring match
 Feb
17, 2007 - The Lions recorded their second victory of
the 2007 season, beating the Crusaders 9-3 at Ellis Park
on Saturday. The game was try-less, with all the points
coming from penalties, three from Louis Strydom and one
from Stephen Brett of the Crusaders.
The full match report is
here.
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Enter competition to win tickets for Crusaders match
Feb
13, 2007 - I've got tickets to give away for the Super
14 match between the Lions and the Crusaders, sponsored
by the Golden Lions Rugby Union. Visit the competition
page to get the details. This is the last match at Ellis
Park before the Lions depart for Australia and New
Zealand for the next four matches, and they only return
to Ellis Park on the 24th of March, so make sure you
enter to be able to see the exciting running rugby the
guys are playing!
The competition page is
here.
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Lions get first Super 14 victory against Highlanders
 Feb
10, 2007 - The Lions beat the Highlanders 11-6 at Ellis
Park on Saturday for their first Super 14 victory since
dumping the Cats tag. The match was played in rainy
conditions, but it didn't look like it made much of an
impact on the handling of the players. Both teams
defended well, and in the end it was just a Wylie Human
try that separated the two teams. Heinke van der Merwe,
the loosehead prop, was named as man of the match.
You can find the full match report
here.
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Lions change four for Highlanders
 Feb
7, 2007 - The Lions named four changes, one positional,
to the team that will face the Highlanders at Ellis Park
on Saturday. The Ellis Park faithful will be glad to see
the return of 2006 player of the year, Jaco Pretorius,
who will do duty on the left wing. Wylie Human,
originally not named in the Lions S14 squad of 30, will
be on the right wing, while Jano Vermaak will start at
Scrumhalf, and Louis Ludik moves from left Wing to
Fullback. Ethienne Reynecke and Bertus Smit also return
to the bench.
You can find the full team and match report
here.
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Injury-hit Lions stumble at first hurdle
 Feb
2, 2007 - The Lions went down 25-16 to the Waratahs at
Ellis Park on Friday, after trailing 15-6 at the break.
They were hit by injuries though, Andre Pretorius and
Kenny McKenzie had to withdraw from the team today.
Louis Strydom replaced Pretorius at Flyhalf, and really
didn't do much wrong, except missing a few penalties. He
managed to do well with his tactical kicking, and also
defended his channel well.
In the end it came down to two things that cost the
Lions the game, just before the break they lost
concentration at a scrum in the opponents half, which
lead to Elsom's try in the corner, and in the middle of
the 2nd half Jaque Fourie spear-tackled Tuqiri, and was
yellow carded, and the Waratahs scored a try from the
line-out they took from the penalty.
Louis Ludik scored a spectacular try, while Cobus
Grobler and Cobus Grobbelaar also played well.
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Jaco Pretorius is the 2006 player of the year
Jan
30, 2007 -
Jaco Pretorius was named as the 2006 player of the year
at a function on Tuesday. As his prize he gets to drive
a Hyundai Tibyron, sponsored by Bryanston Hyundai, for
the rest of 2007.
Runners up on equal votes were Louis Ludik and Ernst
Joubert, while the players player of the year, as voted
for by the players themselves, was Louis Ludik.
Lions CEO Andy Turner said, "Jaco is a prime example of
dedication, proven by the fact that he joined the Lions
in 2006 without a contract, and with his dedication and
determination and focus on the field, ended by achieving
Springbok colours, a remarkable achievement in just four
months."
Also today, the team to face the Waratahs was announced,
you can find it here.
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Super 14 squad named
Jan
22, 2007 - The Lions named a 30-man squad to represent
us in the Super 14 in 2007. The first match is on the
2nd of February, less than 2 weeks from today. The squad
is: Willem Alberts, Jannie Boshoff, Ashton Constant,
Jacques Cronje, Jaque Fourie, Gordon Gilfillan, Cobus
Grobbelaar, Cobus Grobler, Enrico Januarie, Ernst
Joubert (v/c), Doppies la Grange, Colin Lloyd, Louis
Ludik, Kenny McKenzie, Brian Mujati, Andre Pretorius,
Jaco Pretorius, Ethienne Reynecke, Earl Rose, Lawrence
Sephaka, Bertus Smit, Louis Strydom, Solly Tiybilika,
Franco van der Merwe, Heinke van der Merwe, Jaco van
Schalkwyk, Anton van Zyl, Jano Vermaak, Willie Wepener,
Ashwin Willemse.
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Andy Turner resigns as CEO
 Jan
15, 2007 - Andy Turner
resigned as Lions CEO on Monday. He will leave his post
at the end of February.
President of the Union, Professor Jannie Ferreira says "It has been a
privilege to have had Andy on board and to have
worked with him over the last two years where we
have put many structures in place. His services
will certainly be missed."
The exco meeting of 5 February will discuss the
procedures to be followed with regards to a replacement
CEO.
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Lions fail to impress on
Friday, better on Saturday
Jan
15, 2007 - The Lions played
in two warm-up matches this weekend, against a Puma side
in Secunda on Friday, and against the Leopards in Potch
on Saturday.
The Friday team looked more like the team that will
start for the Lions in the proper Super 14, and it must
be worrying that they failed to impress against a side
that might not even be good enough for the Currie Cup
this year. With just 20 minutes left in the game, the
Lions were trailing 14-17, but then managed to score
four tries and save themselves from what could have been
a major embarrassment. In the end they won 35-17, but
obviously some questions remain. Players that deserved a
mention: Jaco van Schalkwyk, Thobela Mdaka, Ernst
Joubert and Jannie Boshoff.
In the second match they fared better, but it must be
said that it was against a weaker team. They won 41-10,
but the match was marred by unforced errors, and in this
match Colin Lloyd and Franco van der Merwe stood out for
the Lions.
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Andre Pretorius confirmed as captain of Lions for Super 14
Jan
11, 2007 - Andre Pretorius
was named as captain of the Lions Super 14 team, with
Ernst Joubert as the vice-captain, after a Lions board
meeting on Wednesday. Lions
coach, Eugene Eloff, has worked with Pretorius
since 1998 and said of the new captain "he has filled
the team leadership role superbly and is well respected
by the team".
Pretorius played his first game for the Lions in 1999,
and has since then added another 43 caps, scoring 7
tries and 528 points. He has only captained the Lions
once, against Griquas in 2005. He has also played in 24
test matches, scoring two tries and 163 points for the
Springboks.
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3 double season tickets
up for grabs!
Jan
4, 2007 - Three lucky
visitors to my website will each win a double season
ticket to Ellis Park for the 2007 rugby season. For
information on how to enter the competition, click on
the Competition link on the navigation bar on the left,
or to go straight to the page, click
here.
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Lions season ticket
information
Jan
3, 2007 - Lions season tickets for 2007 are now
available and for the first time a variety of packages
are available to cater for everyone.
Rugby fans will be spoilt for choice as they are able to
buy tickets for adults, pensioners, students, scholars,
a family of two (one parent and one child) or a family
of four (two adults and two children).
Season ticket holders will have access to each of the
seven Super 14 and all seven Currie Cup matches, as well
as to the Test between the Springboks and Samoa.
Season tickets are the ideal gift for loved ones,
friends, colleague or business associates, and are
expected to sell very quickly.
Tickets are available online at www.epsteamstore.co.za
and the tickets will be delivered to your doorstep.
Alternatively they can be purchased from the Ellis Park
Ticket Office. Prices start at R170. For more
information on the ticket prices visit
www.lionsrugby.co.za.
Season parking tickets, offering you safe and secure
parking close to the stadium, are also be available from
the Ellis Park Ticket Office.
For more information on purchasing your passport to
support the Lions contact (011) 402 2960 or (011) 402
9999 or email info@ellispark.co.za.
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