Warren Whitely was a very good 8 th man, that linked well with the Backline .
The lions are a very attack minded team and you can see the footprint of a Whitely and then Swys.
So maybe Swys is a consultant. I see Morne Steyn is a kicking consultant at the lions.
They are doing very well for a team that hasn’t got any super stars. Like the Lions of old, turning nobodies into Superstars. Sous, Marx and Faf etc.
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Whitely has been at the Lions for a while now. And I have a feeling that him and Swys speak often...in fact I'm almost certain that Swys in consulting for the Lions.
Since Whitely has been there, what first started as a glimmer, is now projected on the wall for all to see...The new Lions are trying to be like the old Lions.
Watching the Lions these days, I'm noticing a lot of the Swys' fingerprint on what they're doing. Most notably probably the pace they play at in order to gas the opposition. Which was Swys' secret "not-so-secret" weapon too.
To that end, they're committing to rucks early but not in numbers, turning opposition around and making them run the length of the filed, and distributing quickly and often.
A lot of their attacking decisions are very much reminiscent of the 2016 Lions too. Mostert's try against Wales being a prime example of such. Whitely did that sort of thing almost weekly. I'm seeing a lot of those sorts of signature plays at the current Lions. The bonus being that this group of players isn't necessarily inferior to the 2016 group...in many positions they actually have better players. Perhaps not better than Marx, Faf, Mostert...but there are some beasts in the current Lions.
I'm interested to see what happens there in the second half of this season...and next season.
So the dream is still alive...
Swys might win some silverware yet.