South African rugby has always been built on three pillars: defence, physicality and a solid kicking game.
But there have always been some trimmings on those pillars; players who brought flair and a natural instinct to the generally rigid gameplan. The great decision-makers who saw a hole before it actually opened up. Or players who had the vision to intercept a pass or had the pace to score a 50-metre try.
Players such as Frans Steyn, Fourie du Preez, Jean de Villiers and Bryan Habana were special for the Springboks. They added that little bit of extra magic in an arm-wrestle to win a match. Those players formed part of a golden generation, which served SA Rugby with distinction for more than a decade.
Some even played more Test matches than they should have, as the last three Springbok coaches have tried to squeeze the last bit of magic out of their bones.
But looking at the performances of the Southern African Super Rugby teams in round 11, it becomes clear why even the current Bok boss Allister Coetzee can't let go of the past.
The talent drain to Europe -- mainly because of the weak South African currency -- and a lack of a proper succession plan have hurt South African rugby badly. Last year the Boks already found themselves on the ropes, suffering defeats against Argentina and Italy. They also suffered a big defeat against the All Blacks at home, and didn't look like troubling either England or Wales in November.
If Coetzee had to pick a Bok team from the latest round of Super Rugby matches, that team would probably be made up mainly of players from the Lions -- the shining light in between a dark ocean of mediocrity.
The Lions are the only team who can compete with the New Zealand Super Rugby outfits, because they basically adopt a similar blue print as their Kiwi rivals.
The Lions don't have a lot of superstars in their ranks. There is a lot of potential, but there is no Steyn, Habana, De Villiers or Du Preez in their ranks -- at least not yet.
But as a team they are debunking the myth that there are no match-winners in South Africa anymore. As a team they are playing with some freedom and passion, and showing the value of healthy camaraderie.
The Lions play the game at breakneck speed, with or without the ball. When they don't have the ball they defend with good line speed and compete hard to get the turnover. When they don't have the ball, they look to attack the space with ball in hand or an underrated kicking game.
Just like their New Zealand counterparts, they are also deadly from turnover ball, as their players think on their feet before taking the right options.
This is in stark contrast to the Bulls and the Stormers, who looked absolutely clueless on the weekend. The Bulls were especially poor, and they didn't even pick up a few pointers from the Crusaders who gave them a lesson at Loftus Versfeld on Saturday night.
The key difference between the Lions and the other South African teams is the speed at which the players get lined up when the ball gets turned over. There were a couple of instances where the Bulls flyhalf Tian Schoeman shovelled the ball on, but there was nobody running onto the ball.
But the same thing happens on attack as well. The Lions and the New Zealand teams tend to create space because of their players' work-rate off the ball. There will always be an extra man, because somebody is working twice as hard to get off the floor after cleaning a ruck.
The Lions are offering South Africans some semblance of hope in this dark time. And on the evidence of their performances over the last two seasons, they should make up the core of the next Bok team, who take on France in June.
But Coetzee can't let these players go back to playing in a rigid gameplan. They need to play the game they have been executing so well over this season and the last. It's not like they are going to neglect the three pillars Bok rugby is based on. They are just going to give it a lovely red finish with the paint brush.