Lions star captain and Springbok flyhalf Elton Jantjies believes being recognized as some of the most influential players in Super Rugby over the last 10 years will not only boost some of his teammates’ confidence, but will also help to improve the overall team’s performances in this year’s competition, should the season resume. The inter-continental southern hemisphere competition has been suspended since mid-March due to the coronavirus pandemic that has brought all rugby competitions to a halt, all over the world, with the Johannesburg-based side having not had the best of starts this season after their first six matches.
Having only managed one win and lost the other five, the Lions were sitting precariously at the bottom of the South African Conference, an entire 12 points from the playoff spots. Jantjies, who was last week named the best South African player in the competition of the last decade by Sanzaar, the competition’s organizers, is one of six players from the Lions who also made the ‘Dream Team of the Decade’ – the 15 best South African players in the competition in that period – with the others being Malcolm Marx, Franco Mostert, former captain Warren Whiteley, Courtnall Skosan and Andries Coetzee. Of the five, only two still play for the Lions – Skosan and Coetzee – while Whiteley is also still at the franchise, albeit in a coaching capacity, as one of the forwards coaches.
Jantjies says being recognized in this way will give the team the much-needed confidence going forward.
“Ja, massively. Especially the players that are still playing - myself, Courtnall, Andries - they are still around in the team, it’s a special place for us and we just want to leave the team in a better place. To see the Lions featuring in Super Rugby, at the highest level, playing quality rugby and also inspire the nation and play the brand we play. This is the type of brand we’ve been playing for the last 10 years, to be honest, and it’s inspiring, and we just wanna make sure that we keep on doing that.”
The 29-year-old also says he believes that the team’s younger players also stand to benefit a lot from this achievement.
“I think from a group perspective, we’ll take confidence out of that. There are a lot of young individuals (in the team) who will represent the Lions for many years if they work hard, stay disciplined and stay consistent. If they keep on listening and keep on feeding off the others that’s been here for a while. I mean, we’ve got coach Julian (Redelinghuys), we’ve got Wazza (Whiteley); there’s a lot of guys with experience, that knows how to do things, that knows how to maintain your form, [even when] going through a tough time, or maintain your success.
“Younger players like Tyrone Green, Wandi (Simelane), Vincent (Tshituka), all those boys should take confidence out of this because it just shows that if you really fit to the organization and make rugby your purpose, you can really achieve bigger things,” adds Jantjies.
* Cover image: Elton Jantjies' Twitter page (@jantjies_elton).
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