The Johannesburg Lions were founded in 1996 but have only made two Super Rugby finals in their history, which were in 2000 and 2001. The Lions have often been clouded by an uncertain future, which has seen the club struggle to break free from the root of the Super Rugby ladder. The Lions have finished last on three occasions (1998, 2003 and 2004) and nearly folded to proposed South African team the Southern Spears in the Super 14. The Lions approached the Super Rugby competition in 2011 with renewed vigour after a new owner bought a stake and injected new funds into the team. Unfortunately results remained largely the same, managing only three wins and a draw from the 16 matches and finishing second last in the overall competition.
Johannesburg Lions
Lions Articles
1989 series made Lions: Lawton
by Laine Clark, 8 Jun 2013
What has become world rugby’s showpiece – the British and Irish Lions tour – came very close to being relegated to sideshow status, ex-Wallabies hooker Tom Lawton says. The Lions’ 1989 tour may be remembered for all the wrong reasons by Australians after a David Campese brain explosion capped the Wallabies’ 2-1 series loss. However, [...]
Lions skipper to start against Reds
by Jim Morton, 7 Jun 2013
Tour captain Sam Warburton is jumping out of his skin to make his British and Irish Lions debut on Saturday night in their toughest pre-Test challenge against Queensland at Suncorp Stadium. Warburton will start at openside flanker after overcoming a knee injury which forced him to miss the opening two lop-sided wins over the Barbarians [...]
SPIRO’s Lions Tour diary: Losing Hartley strengthens Lions
by Spiro Zavos, 28 May 2013
On the face of it, referee Wayne Barnes had no alternative but to red card Northampton captain, Dylan Hartley, for his ‘f…… cheat’ comment to him during the Aviva Premiership final over the weekend. The lead-up to the comment involved Barnes ordering a scrum on the Northampton 22 with time up in the first half, [...]
Combination is the key in the Lions series
by Nick Turnbull, 28 May 2013
There has been much speculation, conjecture, disappointment and controversy over the initial squad selected by Wallaby coach Robbie Deans for the much anticipated series against the formidable British and Irish Lions series that gets underway on 5 June 2013 in Perth. Much of that speculation and conjecture has been on the non selection thus far [...]
Mitchell clear to return to Super Lions
by AAP, 9 Nov 2012
John Mitchell will meet with management at South Africa’s Lions rugby team on Friday in a bid to return as coach of the relegated Super Rugby outfit after his representatives said he had been cleared of misconduct. Mitchell’s Australia-based agents, Fordham Management, said on Thursday the uncompromising former New Zealand coach wanted to return to [...]
SARU boot Lions out of Super Rugby
by AFP, 17 Aug 2012
The South African Rugby Union (SARU) has relegated the Johannesburg-based Lions from the Super Rugby competition to make way for new side the Southern Kings. SARU officials voted 26-3 in Cape Town to promote the Eastern Cape-based Kings and relegate the Lions, who finished last in this year’s tournament. The Sharks, who finished runners-up this [...]
Rebels eye first overseas Super Rugby win
by Adrian Warren, 7 Jul 2012
Melbourne Rebels are wary of the hapless Lions as they chase their first Super Rugby win outside Australia. The Rebels have lost all six of their offshore games and, in the process, have failed to concede less than 38 points a match. Their average losing margin outside Australia is just under 30 points. “As a [...]
Chris F’Sautia outshines Cooper’s return
by David Lord, 20 May 2012 
The majority of the 30,118 Suncorp crowd at the Reds-Lions clash last night turned up too see the long-awaited comeback of Wallaby fly-half Quade Cooper for his first appearance since the Rugby World Cup seven months ago. But debutant Chris F’Sautia stole Cooper’s thunder. The 18-year-old centre-winger hasn’t even played one senior club game. Yet [...]
Reds vs Lions: Super Rugby live scores, blog
by Max Kenney-Herbert, 19 May 2012
Week 13 of the Super Rugby sees the newly firing Queensland Reds take on the bottom-placed Lions of Johannesburg at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane. We’ll have live commentary from 7.40pm AEST. The Reds are coming off a thrilling 42-27 demolition of the Waikato Chiefs in Brisbane last weekend, which saw Wallabies star halfback Will Genia [...]
Blues beat Lions to get off bottom of Super Rugby ladder
by AFP, 12 May 2012
The Blues lifted themselves off the bottom of the Super Rugby table when they beat the Lions 25-3 in the battle of the cellar dwellers at Eden Park on Friday night. In a week when the Blues franchise advertised coach Pat Lam’s job, the side chalked up their second win of the season to end [...]
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