The Grubber: Countdown begins for Lions tour to South Africa

THE once in every 12-year event that is the British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa is a little over a year away and preparations for the high-profile tour have been interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Whether or not this prolonged break from the game will have an effect on the tour when it comes around in July next year – is something we’ll have to wait and see.

For now, rugby fans should start counting down to the showpiece that’ll see Warren Gatland lead the Lions to his third tour and although he’s yet to lose a series in the hot seat, he’ll be coming up against the world champions, the Springboks.

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The last captain to tour South Africa was Irishman, Paul O’Connell who believes that the Lions need a leader who’s capable of beating the Springboks at their own game.

“When you go to South Africa, you probably need some confrontational play because that is their DNA. You have to have a tactic to beat South Africa, to trick them,” O’Connell said on the former England international, Will Greenwood’s podcast.

O’Connell added, “You certainly have to take them on confrontationally as well. If they begin to get on top of you in the collisions their belief begins to grow, as we saw in the World Cup final. You need to take them on and you need a captain that will drive that philosophy as well,” he said.

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The former Lions captain isn’t wrong in his comment. To beat the Boks, you have to win the physical battle first.

The Springbok forwards played a pivotal role in last year’s world cup and if the Lions manage to dominate that battle upfront, they will trouble the world champions.

The Boks have some rather intimidating, world beating forwards that the Lions should be afraid of – players such as Steven Kitshoff, Bongi Mbonambi, Malcolm Marx, Eben Etzebeth and World Player of the Year, Pieter Steph Du Toit will relish their first opportunity to take down the northern hemisphere’s finest.

Another aspect the Lions need to be wary of is the influential leadership of captain, Siya Kolisi.

The World Cup leading captain will be under pressure to lead his side to victory in winning this once-in-a-career test series. Kolisi could emulate John Smit’s CV by winning the Rugby Championship, The World Cup and the Lions series.

Whoever leads the Lions into the trenches will not only face the stern task of revenging their 2009 defeat, but will also come up against one of the sport’s most inspiring leaders. Being confrontational definitely won’t be enough to beat the World Champions.

Montpellier-based Handre Pollard revealed that he’s relishing the opportunity to play against the British and Irish Lions.

“It was probably the first thing we spoke about among each other after we won the Rugby World Cup.” We said to each other, “Listen the Lions are coming next year and it’s going to be awesome!’ It’s a childhood dream of mine to play for the Springboks in a Lions series,” said Pollard in a SA Rugby magazine podcast.

A lot of the World Cup winning Springboks should make up the core of next year’s squad to face the Lions and there’s no doubt they’ll be players who will look to be a part of that side to make up for missing out on the World Cup.

Players like Curwin Bosch, Arno Botha, Marcel Coetzee and Joseph Dweba are just some of the  team that could be in Jacque Nienaber’s plans for 2021 and who will fight for every inch to get an opportunity to represent the green and gold against the men in red.

Register for your ticket online at www.lionstour2021.co.za 

https://www.lionsrugby.com/2021-tour/british-irish-lions-tour-fixtures/

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