Hangover from 2014

Lions coach Johan Ackermann believes his team have been victims of their own success during the early stages of Super rugby.

After a 2014 season in which they won seven of their Super rugby games - the most as a separate entity from the old Cats structures - and lost the Currie Cup final to Western Province, the Lions have scraped just one win from their five outings thus far in the competition.

It's a situation which has prompted keen whodunnit sessions in pubs the East Rand over, but Ackermann says his team is grappling - without much luck - with the burden of expectation created by last season's feats.

"First of all, I think we were unlucky in two of those games [lost] having won those tight games in our first six matches last season," Ackermann explained.

"So many people areexpecting us to do better this year that we've put so much pressure on ourselves, to the point where we've become individualistic.

"We seem to think we must work instead of the team must work, and then we throw that extra pass or don't pass.

"It's something we addressed after the Crusaders game and hopefully we'll sort it out before Friday's game against the Melbourne Rebels."

While Ackermann claimed last weekend's 34-6 pasting by the Crusaders "looked worse" than it was, the game against the seven-time champions appears to have been a watershed moment in the Lions' season nonetheless.

This is to the extent that the former Springbok lock has made a whopping 12 changes to the team that played last week in a move he said was aimed at giving everyone game time, resting others and freshening up the starting 15 in one fell swoop.

Most intriguing among the changes was the decision to play all three of his flyhalves, Elton Jantjies, Marnitz Boshoff and Jaco van der Walt, in the same starting lineup.

Jantjies shifts to inside centre, while Boshoff takes over at No 10, with the promising Van der Walt slotting in at fullback.

"We're trying a new combination with Elton at 12 and Bossie at 10 and 12," he explained. "Elton with his attacking ability and his kicking can add different dimensions to the game.

"Hopefully, having three flyhalves in the team means an exciting backline."

Looking at the Rebels, who beat the Crusaders first up, Ackermann said they were a different team to that which lost at Ellis Park last year.

"They are a more unified team, a more Australian team and not the team of many nationalities when they started," he said.