British and Irish Lions: 2025 Australia tour must be special amid threat to future after South Africa series

The British and Irish Lions lost Saturday’s deciding Test against South Africa in Cape Town
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Will Macpherson9 August 2021

Ever British and Irish Lions tour is an existential event. That is the very nature of a quadrennial series that, in so many respects, swims against the tide of the professional game.

This was the seventh Lions tour since the game went professional 26 years ago and is the hardest to judge. It seems extremely harsh to draw too many conclusions on the validity of the concept of the Lions on the basis of an ugly tour undertaken against so many obstacles during a global pandemic.

It is an achievement to have completed the thing, even if few — players, administrators, and certainly fans — will truly say they are sad to see the back of it.

The pandemic robbed this tour of so much. The lack of fans, from South Africa, Britain and Ireland, left it sterile and stale. It brought a real distance between the people and the players, who were tucked away in their biosecure bubbles. Covid limited the venues, with the Tests all in Cape Town. Covid weakened the warm-up opposition, because all the Springboks were ­bubble-bound.

All this meant the ugly aspects of modern rugby — not just some of the play, but all the bickering — came right to the surface. One of the many grim arguments over the officiating related to the pandemic; the Lions fumed when World Rugby failed to provide another neutral TMO after New Zealander Brendon Pickerill could not travel due to logistical issues.

Most of all, Covid brought an uneasy backdrop, with South Africa suffering in so many ways. It provided day-to-day uncertainty that was hard to handle. When the Lions were forced into making eight late changes (including unleashing the innovative 7-1 bench split because so few backs were available) for the first of their two midweek matches against the Sharks, it felt like the tour was doomed and stumps could be called any minute. They battled on.

That it finished shows that the players really do cherish the Lions, because they sacrificed plenty — not least the fact their tour is not over as they have to quarantine once more. For a decent chunk of players, this will be their only tour; it is sad they will never experience the real deal.

Selection for the Lions is a career highlight, while selection to play against them can pass even great players by if timings are unkind. South Africa head coach Jacques Nienaber said before the decider that Saturday’s match and a World Cup Final were the pinnacle of a Springbok’s career.

Certainly, players on both sides seem to cherish the Lions more than the administrators, who continue to squeeze the tour.

In the wake of Saturday’s nail-biting 19-16 loss, courtesy of Morne Steyn’s penalty just two minutes from time that condemned the tourists to a 2-1 series defeat, Alun Wyn Jones hit the right notes when summing up the meaning of the Lions.

“It’s funny,” said the skipper. “Being involved in 2009, I remember the furore after that — The Lions is this, the Lions is that. Should it exist?

“I think the commercialisation has increased with the scope of what is going on globally at the minute. And in its most basic concept it is something that is very special and it ignites the imagination in children and adults and I think it is something that rugby has hung its hat on for a long, long time.

“If that were to go, it would be disappointment for the home nations, but also South Africa, Australia and New Zealand that have been part of it as well. It is a big element of rugby that gives a lot of people across the globe something to look forward to.

“It is up there with all of those international competitions and World Cups. It is very special and the excitement and the jeopardy it faced in the fallout and the opinion it created — whether it would go ahead — shows that before the tour had even started. It is very special and if rugby were to lose that, it would be a travesty.”

Amen to that. The threat to the future of the Lions may not be as extreme as it seems in the aftermath of this underwhelming tour but everything must be done to create a special tour of Australia in 2025. That starts with a long enough and strong enough warm-up schedule against quality opposition.

Get the Lions right, and the whole game will reap the benefits.

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