Fit for purpose: Lions reap rewards of promoting fitness coach

Eyebrows were raised when the Lions appointed their fitness and conditioning coach Ivan van Rooyen to replace the much-respected and liked head coach Swys de Bruin in 2018.

The decision was swift and not in line with a long-forged succession plan, though Van Rooyen had been with the franchise for nine years previously. The taciturn and unheralded conditioning coach appeared to have large boots to fill.

The team was also undergoing transition from the time erstwhile coach Johan Ackermann left for England.

The Lions team struggled to assert itself in Super Rugby last year but came within a whisker of winning the Currie Cup — losing in the final against the Free State Cheetahs.

They have largely struggled this year but in patches the Lions looked a potent team on attack, displaying the enterprise and precision in their passing game that were such hallmarks under Ackermann's tutelage.

They were unable to sustain their efforts, however, but things took a turn for the better when they quelled the considerable challenge of the Western Province pack in a come-from-behind victory at the start of the month. They followed that up last weekend delivering their performance of the season away to the Cheetahs.

High on energy and vitality they delivered the much-promised but elusive “80-minute performance”. The team's youth and experience operated in marvellous unison, a development that partly has its roots in Van Rooyen's background as a conditioning coach.

Celebrated Springboks Jannie du Plessis, Willem Alberts and Jaco Kriel all returned from stints abroad and all have spent lengthy periods on the sidelines while contracted to the Lions. Last weekend, however, they made their experience count and crucially they were able to keep up with the Lions' intense lung-busting playing style. It was no mean feat for Du Plessis, 38, Alberts, 36, and to a lesser degree Kriel, 31.

The fact that they were able to keep up is rooted in Van Rooyen's revised Covid-19 enforced training regimen.

“A couple of weeks ago we changed our weekly plan,” Van Rooyen explained. “The players will know I'm the biggest traditionalist when it comes to that.”

He said they changed their off-day from Wednesdays to Tuesdays to allow players and coaching staff to be Covid tested.

“That changed our week quite a bit. Now we train Mondays and Wednesdays with specific outcomes.

“That put a lot of onus on the coaches to be spot on, on Wednesdays and Thursdays. If we get the balance wrong we could be quite flat on a Saturday. That could influence the result. We are very specific about what we want to achieve on a Wednesday and a Thursday.

“We are averaging between a 15 and an 18-minute session on a Thursday. It is nice and short and sharp.”

Shortened sessions will find favour with most players. It isn't the only new development that resonated with them. Van Rooyen explained the players basically run the Thursday session.

“In the morning we talk about what we want to achieve from it. Wednesday has become our big, contact session. It is a change for us and we challenged the guys from the beginning of Covid that we need to do things differently. The coaches and the players have responded well to the challenges we threw at them.”

Van Rooyen has empowered the players which is a departure from the top-down management style that had long been part of rugby's coaching doctrine.

Elder statesman and captain Elton Jantjies has given it the thumbs up.

“It is player-driven, 60-70%. The boys have responded well to shortened training sessions and taking responsibility and making sure we perform on Saturdays. It is a mindset thing. Sometimes you know you only get one chance and you have to use it. Those are the scenarios we create,” said Jantjies.

Van Rooyen may not have come to the job as a much-decorated former player or as a coach with a long CV. He has used the area of expertise in which he was grounded and tapped into the human condition to help restore a spring in the Lions' step.