Lions

Elton Jantjies and Warren Whiteley captained the side through a different kind of run, the three straight seasons the franchise reached the Super Rugby final without ever lifting the trophy — beaten by the Hurricanes in 2016, then twice by the Crusaders, in 2017 and 2018.

The union behind the jersey goes back to 1889, when it was formed as the Transvaal Rugby Football Union, and the name has moved more than the club itself has: Transvaal until 1993, Lions, then Gauteng Lions, then Cats and Golden Cats through the turn of the century, before Lions again from 2006. Domestically the record reads better. The Currie Cup has been won five times, most recently in 2015 against Western Province, and Transvaal took the old Super 10 in 1993, beating Auckland in the final.

Ellis Park has stayed the constant through all the renaming, a ground built for crowds far larger than most matches now draw, holding a little over 62,000. The colours earned the players the old nickname Rooibontes, red and white, worn against black.

Pretoria sits close enough for the Jukskei Derby against the Bulls to carry its own weight independent of the league table, and that fixture, along with matches against the Pumas and Western Province, has mattered more to supporters over the years than most of what happens elsewhere on the calendar. What has eluded the Lions, through Jantjies' points and Whiteley's captaincy alike, is the one trophy those Super Rugby finals were meant to deliver.