TESTING TIMES FOR LIONS AND SPRINGBOKS
THE LIONS settled into their biosecure coastal base outside Cape Town yesterday and began hastily preparing for what might become an unofficial first Test on Wednesday. Following their 71-31 rout of the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday night, the tourists escaped the Covid hotspot of Gauteng and flew south, minus five of their party who remain in isolation in Johannesburg. Attack coach Gregor Townsend — Warren Gatland’s assistant — has to stay behind for a further 72 hours, along with a player and three other staff members. Meanwhile, the Springboks emerged from their six-day lockdown to resume training yesterday, despite the outbreak spreading to captain Siya Kolisi and five of his teammates. There have now been more than 20 positive cases in the home camp, with Kolisi joining head coach Jacques Nienaber in being withdrawn from hands-on duties. But Sportsmail understands that 36 players were available for training yesterday, and, provided further tests come back negative, their fixture against the Lions on Wednesday will go ahead. Nominally, it will be South Africa A, but it is likely that many senior men will appear under that banner. After the second of their two warm-up Tests against Georgia was cancelled, the Springboks need game-time to establish some cohesion between combinations that have been mothballed since the World Cup triumph in 2019. Influential figures such as Sale scrum-half Faf de Klerk and Toulouse wing Cheslin Kolbe could feature. The A team will be drawn from the Springbok squad, so it could be a powerful, dangerous line-up. The Lions have been crying out for meaningful opposition to help them fine-tune for the Tests, so their wish is set to be granted. South Africa were keen for their A team — or shadow Bok XV — to play a second game against the tourists on Saturday, in place of the scheduled Stormers v Lions fixture, but the visitors were not willing to agree. So Nienaber is bound to see Wednesday’s match as a valuable hit-out, which raises the stakes considerably. Gatland must decide how to handle the possibility of a near Test-level contest.