Elpenor
Dancing as fast as I can
So, after 4 years, the Lions tour rolls round again and this time it is South Africa who will be the opponent.
The tour is shortened to 8 matches + the Japan game due to the home unions interfering - so a match vs Japan in Edinburgh plus 5 warm up games in South Africa is all they have before facing the Bokke.
Whichever teams are in the English Premiership final will not have their players involved in the Japan game or the 2 week training camp beforehand which puts the England-based players from these clubs at a major disadvantage for Test selection. I think any tourists from the losing Premiership semi-finalists may also lose some training time.
Covid means that there will only be 2 match locations - Cape Town and Johannesburg and of course bubbles will be in place for the players. This means that sadly none of the usual community outreach work that normally takes place is going to be possible. It is unlikely that any Lions fans will be able to travel to South Africa, and I am not even sure if fans are currently attending domestic figures in South Africa anyway. Still at least the talk of the tour being moved to the British Isles or Australia or even Dubai was all tosh.
Regardless of where the matches take place, there will 2 Tests at altitude (the first and the third I believe). These will be very difficult to win - the victorious 1997 Lions may have won 2-1 but both wins were achieved at sea level, with the final dead rubber won by South Africa being at altitude. In fact out of 6 Test matches played in the professional era, the Lions have only won 1/3 at altitude - the final dead rubber in 2009. In effect it means the Lions must win the first Test at altitude to have a chance of winning the series.
Anyway, the squad is announced on Thursday 6th May, and it will be interesting to see how many deserving Scottish players are left out as usual, how many England players playing rugby in the Championship are undeservedly selected on past reputation, how many of Gatland’s Welsh favourites get in, and whether the 48 year old grandfather Jonathan Sexton gets to tour.
The European semi finals this weekend are the final chance to influence the selectors, although of course there may be some be tour-ending injuries before the end of the season. Already today we have heard that George North, who was in many people’s teams of the 6 Nations at 13, has done his ACL and is out of the tour. Hopefully there are not any other withdrawals.
The tour is shortened to 8 matches + the Japan game due to the home unions interfering - so a match vs Japan in Edinburgh plus 5 warm up games in South Africa is all they have before facing the Bokke.
Whichever teams are in the English Premiership final will not have their players involved in the Japan game or the 2 week training camp beforehand which puts the England-based players from these clubs at a major disadvantage for Test selection. I think any tourists from the losing Premiership semi-finalists may also lose some training time.
Covid means that there will only be 2 match locations - Cape Town and Johannesburg and of course bubbles will be in place for the players. This means that sadly none of the usual community outreach work that normally takes place is going to be possible. It is unlikely that any Lions fans will be able to travel to South Africa, and I am not even sure if fans are currently attending domestic figures in South Africa anyway. Still at least the talk of the tour being moved to the British Isles or Australia or even Dubai was all tosh.
Regardless of where the matches take place, there will 2 Tests at altitude (the first and the third I believe). These will be very difficult to win - the victorious 1997 Lions may have won 2-1 but both wins were achieved at sea level, with the final dead rubber won by South Africa being at altitude. In fact out of 6 Test matches played in the professional era, the Lions have only won 1/3 at altitude - the final dead rubber in 2009. In effect it means the Lions must win the first Test at altitude to have a chance of winning the series.
Anyway, the squad is announced on Thursday 6th May, and it will be interesting to see how many deserving Scottish players are left out as usual, how many England players playing rugby in the Championship are undeservedly selected on past reputation, how many of Gatland’s Welsh favourites get in, and whether the 48 year old grandfather Jonathan Sexton gets to tour.
The European semi finals this weekend are the final chance to influence the selectors, although of course there may be some be tour-ending injuries before the end of the season. Already today we have heard that George North, who was in many people’s teams of the 6 Nations at 13, has done his ACL and is out of the tour. Hopefully there are not any other withdrawals.
