No half measures with Lions tour

The world’s greatest rugby tour. That’s how the four-yearly trip by the British & Irish Lions is sold to the fans.

Just on this occasion – in a time of Covid-19 – there’s not likely to be any “great” about the tour. In fact, it should be postponed right now.

While tickets have been sold and fixtures announced, to go with all the hype around the Lions, there’s just no point in South Africa hosting the Lions for eight matches from the start of July.

The sad reality is there’s not even really a decision that’s going to be needed to be made; the tour just can’t go ahead.

Covid-19 is rampant again in South Africa – let alone the United Kingdom – and with this country unlikely to roll out a vaccine any time soon, the risks for all involved are simply too high.

It’s one thing playing a mini-series or tournament in a biosecure bubble, quite another having a touring party flying all over a country to play in different locations.

That’s one aspect of it. The other is the fans.

Like the Barmy Army who tour with the England cricket team, the fans of the British & Irish Lions play just as big a role.

They fill large sections of the stands, sing until they’re hoarse and spend their money on bushveld trips, in bars and restaurants.

The fans make the Lions. And then there are the Bok fans. Right now, the World Cup winners from 2019 haven’t played a match
in 14 months and they don’t look like getting action any time soon.

Going straight into a Lions series, without any proper build-up and high-intensity rugby behind them, would not be right, or fair.

Millions of rands are at stake and, yes, while sport and rugby needs to go on, postponing the tour to 2022 must be the call that gets made.

The Lions tour is a big deal and it can’t be done at half-measure.