- The Lions and MyPlayers have responded to reports of a leaked survey over player unhappiness.
- Lions CEO Rudolf Straeuli said the contents were "maliciously leaked" but acknowledged they will "delve deeper into feedback received".
- MyPlayers CEO Eugene Henning added that they were "concerned" but stressed the information was "inaccurate and out of context".
The Lions and MyPlayers have issued a joint statement after a player survey done by the Johannesburg franchise was leaked.
Reports surfaced earlier in the week of discontent between Lions players and management.
A leaked MyPlayers survey revealed that Lions players had apparently given "very low" ratings of the coaches and administrative staff. Coach Ivan van Rooyen reportedly only received 4 out of 10 from the players.
This prompted the Lions, along with the players' organisation, to release a statement late on Saturday night.
The statement read: "MyPlayers - The Rugby Players' Organisation and the Lions Rugby Company recently met to discuss the roll-out and subsequent feedback process of their provincial Sport Psychological Fitness (SPF) assessment initiative conducted by MyPlayers at the Johannesburg-based franchise.
"These follows a series of media reports in the last week where certain aspects of the survey were made public."
Lions Rugby Company CEO Rudolf Straeuli and MyPlayers CEO Eugene Henning also commented in the statement.
Straeuli said: "First of all, I would like state that we trust in the work MyPlayers is doing for professional players in South Africa. They form an integral part of our ecosystem within our rugby landscape.
"I have had the opportunity to go through the results of the group survey presented to me by MyPlayers and I am comfortable with the process. We both agreed that perhaps the feedback process could have been more consultative, but those are learnings which MyPlayers will take note of for similar exercises of this nature.
"It is unfortunate however that contents of the survey were maliciously leaked and has somewhat discredited a process which was in fact credible and professionally facilitated.
"We will now dive deeper into the feedback received and determined how best to address some the issues raised by players."
Henning added: "We would like to thank the Lions for their openness during this process and most importantly their willingness to explore solutions not only for their players but the South African rugby environment as a whole.
"We would further like to express that the information which landed in the media space this week was inaccurate and out of context. In fact, all individual assessment results remain confidential.
"While we are concerned about what has played out in the media over the last week pertaining the Sport Psychological Fitness (SPF) assessment survey conducted at the Lions, we believe that the integrity of the assessment remains intact and serves as an important guideline to professional clubs pertaining to player welfare."
Despite the off-field drama, the Lions responded on the field with a 35-24 URC win over Glasgow Warriors at Ellis Park on Saturday.