The British and Irish Lions’ summer tour to South Africa, which Australia had offered to host, is now set to go ahead as originally planned.
The British and Irish Lions have said they are going to go ahead with their original plans of a summer tour to South Africa.
Contingency plans, including an offer from Australia to act as hosts for the three-match Test series, had been put forward due to ongoing uncertainty caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
But following a succession of meetings, the Lions board has confirmed to SA Rugby its preference to stick with the initial plan of matches being hosted by South Africa during July and August.
Lions chairman Jason Leonard said in a statement: “After reviewing information relating to the various contingency scenarios being considered, I can confirm that the board’s intended position is for the tour to go ahead as scheduled in South Africa in 2021.
“We acknowledge that there is a significant amount of work still to be undertaken to deliver a robust COVID-19 counter-measure plan to ensure a successful, safe and uninterrupted tour.
“SA Rugby will have our full support to help implement this plan.”
The Lions, coached by Warren Gatland, are due to play Test matches in Johannesburg on July 24 and August 7, either side of a game in Cape Town on July 31.
Earlier this month, the Lions board had turned down Australia’s offer to stage the tour in front of crowds but there is still uncertainty about whether the games in South Africa will end up behind closed doors.
President of SA Rugby Mark Alexander said: “There are serious financial implications for SA Rugby should the event take place without any supporters in attendance, and we cannot ignore that in our considerations.
“But we are determined that the eventual outcome will deliver the best occasion and experience for players, supporters and our commercial partners.”
Rugby Football Union chief executive Bill Sweeney made it clear that, if South Africa are unable to host, then it will be cancelled.
fiwiboy7042
Roar Rookie
Vaccinations are likely to prevent mutations but only if enough people get the jab. Same as for any other vaccination.
Does it? What if we are all vaccinated against the wrong strains? Then it all starts again???
Yeah I hope it all comes together Neil…lions tours are still highlights even tho I think the gloss is fading on them…from a kiwi perspective I look forward to them but sadly havnt got to a Lions test for years as the travelling fans get a lot of them, but I am happy to see the pubs etc alive with energy and thats what it means to the economy
Faith
Roar Rookie
I'm curious about the financial wellbeing of SA Rugby. No crowds for their Super Rugby. No games for Boks in 2020. It is unlikely there will be crowds by July. How? The plan by S.A gov is to go for herd immunity (67% of adult pop - 40 mill people) and that needs 150k daily vaccinations by the end of the year. At this stage they are only doing 6k. So, July? No rugby crowds.
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
.... and none of them booked the cruise on the back of it either Jacko. Well. None that lasted anyway ;) It's great they're still talking, but that's all it is right now. And the Lions committee don't take the final decision. Let's hope it's the right one.
fiwiboy7042
Roar Rookie
Strains keep popping up because of a lack of vaccinations. This shows the real need to get vaccinated ASAP. The bigger a country's population, the slower the rollout. And antivaxxers be damned!
The Ferret
Roar Rookie
Hope so. Not a lot of the saffa in SA will be though.
And on it goes...So you believe we are wasting our time getting vaccinated? I mean...what's the point if all these new strains keep popping up?
fiwiboy7042
Roar Rookie
Did you read about the double mutation cases in India? The California variant and an India variant have created a new strain! Scientists are not sure yet what this means to vaccinations.
Neil many many letters of intent lead to massive pay days for salesmen so a letter of intent is a positive at this point...
You could have gone with "i watch or record" the fta game on my foxtel unit as thats what I do lol...
What about survivors of Covid? They would also be immune wouldn't they?
It not just CVC taking over thats changing things tho...the whole LIONS concept is an old school concept built around a Home nations which is far less relevant than it once was
Vaccine!!!!!
Paulo
Roar Rookie
Ok, I misread your comment and tried to be a smartarse. I’ll own that :laughing:
DJ
Roar Rookie
Super rugby on Stan has been great. If you want the Lions tour you could get Kayo assuming they still show it. Got rid of Kayo as soon as I could when Stan came
Paulo
Roar Rookie
How have you found the Kayo coverage of the Super Rugby this year?
Honest Max
Roar Rookie
30 million people in the UK have been vaccinated. That’s half of everyone. You’d think by July it should be hard to find someone to get outraged on behalf of.
Harry Jones
Expert
Everybody vax and distance. It’ll be ok. But probably no Lions Brigade
Neil Back
Roar Rookie
All that has been 'decided' is the stated intention of the Lions committee to only now consider a tour in SA, to the exclusion of the various other options mooted. A decision with as yet no detail, commitment or green light. How that will look (fans) and how they will satisfy any virus safety concerns of the day to the acceptance of all related parties, both private and governmental, has quite some distance to travel yet. It's a letter of intent. No one in the history of sales has ever got paid on a letter of intent.