Eight From Nine Was Your Record Too

Some of the numbers in this book belong to the players. This one belongs to you.

Eight home wins from nine at 10bet Ellis Park. 336 points scored in Johannesburg. Glasgow Warriors, who finished top of the United Rugby Championship log, beaten by 42 points. Edinburgh by 37. Five consecutive home wins to close the league campaign, and 216 points in them.

And on 28 February, the Stormers beaten 24-10 with the South African Shield on the line — the first URC silverware in this club's history, won in front of you.

WHY IT MATTERS MORE HERE. Johannesburg is a city of arrivals. Most people here came from somewhere else and chose to stay, and the Lions support base reflects that. It is not an inherited crowd handed down through generations. It is a chosen one. Chosen support is louder, and visiting sides notice it in the last twenty minutes when the altitude starts to tell.

TO OUR SUPPORTERS. You commit before you know what kind of season it will be. In September 2025, after three defeats in nine days, that commitment was worth more than it was in February.

TO OUR SUITE HOLDERS AND HOSPITALITY CLIENTS. Your investment in this club funds things that are invisible on a match day and essential to it. Thank you.

WHAT YOU GET NEXT. Nine URC fixtures at 10bet Ellis Park, and two Investec Champions Cup matches — Stade Toulousain on 12 December 2026 and Exeter Chiefs on 16 January 2027, both at three o'clock on a Saturday afternoon.

You have waited a long time for a fixture list like that one. A home advantage is built by the relationship between a team and the people who come to watch it, and last season that relationship was worth points on the log.