South Africa organises extra game to prepare for Lions tests

South Africa organised an extra game for its squad to prepare for the British and Irish Lions test series, meaning there will be back-to-back matches at Cape Town Stadium on Saturday in yet another tweak to a tour that's been regularly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

A South Africa A lineup will play domestic team the Bulls before the British and Irish Lions face the Stormers in what's also their last warmup before the first test a week later.

Springboks captain Siya Kolisi won't play as he was one of a group of players forced to stay in Johannesburg and isolate after testing positive for the virus last weekend. At least a dozen South Africa players and coaching staff members have tested positive since the squad came together late last month.

Head coach Jacques Nienaber said Kolisi was beginning his return to play protocols after isolating, but the virus cases have been a major complication for the world champions with just over a week to the first test.

Even before the COVID-19 outbreak in their squad, the Springboks were in dire need of match practice and have played just one test in two years since winning the 2019 Rugby World Cup. They beat minnow Georgia two weeks ago but a second game against Georgia was canceled.

Some players did get a game in South Africa A's victory over the Lions in a scheduled tour match on Wednesday night but the coaching staff is clearly fretting over a lack of match fitness.

The Springboks had as many as 10 players in isolation in the past week, Nienaber said, while the whole squad was kept in their hotel rooms for long periods earlier in the tour.

British and Irish Lions head coach Warren Gatland this week turned down an offer from Erasmus for South Africa A and the Lions to play each other for a second time this weekend in the first signs of friction between the camps. South Africa A won the first game 17-13.

The Lions' tour to South Africa, which comes around once every 12 years, has coincided with a winter wave of cases in South Africa. Before the tour began, all the games were moved to the cities of Pretoria, Johannesburg and Cape Town to limit the Lions' possible exposure to the virus while traveling.

The Lions also had one early tour match against the Bulls canceled, with different opposition stepping in, because of positive virus tests in the Bulls squad. Both the South Africa and the Lions squads have had players and coaching staff put in isolation, either for positive virus tests or because of possible exposure.