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Cape Town - Former Springbok coach Nick Mallett says the skills level of the Lions players is a cut above the rest of the South African franchises.
The Lions impressed in their 36-32 defeat of two-time Super Rugby champions, the Chiefs, in Hamilton at the weekend.
It was their second away win on the trot following their 26-3 win over the Sunwolves in Tokyo in Round 1.
Speaking in the SuperSport studio, Mallett said the performance of the men from Johannesburg “gave South African rugby a huge lift”.
“For two years, the Lions have been my favourite team in South Africa. They have the ability not only to play with width, but play at pace. They have a flyhalf in Elton Jantjies who controls the rhythm of the game and the scrumhalf Faf de Klerk is absolutely brilliant,” said Mallett.
“The skills levels of this Lions team are well above our other franchise players and the reasons for it is consistency of selection, the same two coaches (Johan Ackermann and Swys de Bruin), a captain in Warren Whiteley who everyone supports and a very good squad in which they apply the rotation policy well.”
In their next outing, the Lions face the Highlanders in Dunedin this Saturday (08:35 SA time).
