Fear not, Boks will pack plenty of punch for Lions Tests

“It is finally happening.”

Pardon for borrowing this line from one of the great lyrics by Freddy Mercury and Queen, but that is exactly how local teams will feel about the Rainbow Cup SA.

Kicking off this weekend in Cape Town and Pretoria, the normal hype was lacking in the build-up this week, but there are obvious reasons for that.

The denial to allow South African teams to travel overseas, due to the dreaded pandemic that just doesn’t seem to want to go away, has taken a lot of spark out of the competition.

However, it is still another local competition which we must be thankful for and more importantly we must see it as the last proper preparation before the visit by the British and Irish Lions in July.

It is just so sad that the Cheetahs can’t form part of this venture. They are still waiting to find out where and when they will be in action again.

But the Rainbow Cup SA competition will keep the top players on edge with full-strength squads being used, compared to the recent Preparation Series when the teams mostly exposed young talent.

It is a concern though that no international competition has been possible since the start of the first lockdown which means the Springboks will depend heavily on their overseas contingent in the Lions series.

No less than 11 overseas players are expected to be in the mix for the opening Lions Test on 24 July, most probably in Cape Town.

In the backline there is fullback Willie le Roux, wing Cheslin Kolbe, centre Damian de Allende, flyhalf Handre Pollard and scrumhalf Faf de Klerk who are all set to start for the Boks.

Up front there is hooker Malcolm Marx, locks RG Snyman, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager and Franco Mostert, while prop Vincent Koch will probably fill a spot on the bench.

The naysayers will point out that Pollard, Snyman, De Jager and Etzebeth are currently injured, but they should be fit and raring to go by the time the Lions series comes around.

These overseas players will form the backbone of the Boks’ challenge against the Lions, and having been exposed to regular competition in France, Europe and Japan, they will be in top shape.

De Allende in particular has been getting rave reviews from overseas after his performances for Munster in the Pro14, while De Klerk has shone for Sale Sharks in England and Kolbe for Toulouse in France.

Local names like centre Lukhanyo Am, props Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe, hooker Bongi Mbonambi, flankers Pieter-Steph du Toit and Siya Kolisi, and No 8 Duane Vermeulen could also be thrown into the mix.

Looks like one formidable Bok side to me.