British and Irish Lions to tour SA next year

South Africans can look forward to the second biggest thing in rugby after the Rugby World Cup, the British and Irish Lions tour to these shores in the middle of winter next year.

The best of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales will arrive to do battle against the Springboks in the Castle Lager Lions Series which has also become known as the Titanic battle of the northern versus the southern hemisphere. The tour takes place every 12 years and this one will be special as the Lions take on the current 2019 Rugby World Cup champions.

The Lions kick off their tour on 3 July with a match against DHL Stormers in Cape Town and three weeks later they visit the ‘Calabash’ which is the FNB Stadium in Johannesburg for the first Test against the Boks.
The second Test will be on 31 July at the Cape Town Stadium before the tourists return to Johannesburg for the final Test on 7 August at the famous Emirates Airline Park (Ellis Park), where the Boks won their first of three Rugby World Cups in 1995.

The Lions have toured South Africa on 13 previous occasions, with the first tour taking place in 1891. The Lions have won four test series and the Boks have been victorious in eight, with one drawn. The Lions’ overall match record against the Springboks is played 46, won 17, lost 23 and drawn six.

Speaking at the launch of the tour at the Calabash, the president of the South African Rugby Union (Saru) Mark Alexander said he was hopeful the Boks could win this tour series ‘as we did 12 years ago and this will be the second time that the Boks go into the series as champions’.

South African Breweries’ Castle Lager brand director Kudzi Mathabire said they could not resist the opportunity to sponsor the series despite having not traded for several months under the national lockdown. “We hope to fill up the stadiums during the tour if fans will then be allowed,” she added.

Former Springbok captain John Smit, who was part of the winning Bok team in a previous Lions tour, said they hoped to do another double by winning the series.
Another legend of the Boks, Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira urged the current crop of Boks to grab this opportunity with both hands as not every player gets to play the Lions as it only comes around every 12 years.

Current Springboks Pieter-Steph du Toit accepted the challenge from ‘The Beast’.

The full itinerary of the 2021 British and Irish Lions tour:

26 June: British and Irish Lions versus Japan – BT Murrayfield Stadium, Edinburgh
3 July: British and Irish Lions versus DHL Stormers – Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
7 July: British and Irish Lions versus South Africa ‘Invitational’ – Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
10 July: British and Irish Lions versus Cell C Sharks – Jonsson Kings Park, Durban
14 July: British and Irish Lions versus South Africa ‘A’ Team – Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
17 July: British and Irish Lions versus Vodacom Bulls – Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
24 July (first Test): Springboks versus British and Irish Lions – FNB Stadium, Johannesburg
31 July (second Test): Springboks versus British and Irish Lions – Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
7 August (third Test): Springboks versus British and Irish Lions – Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg.