DAVID SOLE

Speculation is mounting that, due to the pandemic, the 2021 British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa may take on a very different format in the summer.

With the crisis in South Africa still creating a very challenging environment – and fears of a second spike of infections as the southern hemisphere enters wintertime – a number of options have been mooted.

The first alternative would be to still travel to South Africa – but play games behind closed doors.

Fine for the television companies, but given the commercial impact on the host nation of thousands of Lions fans and supporters not being able to travel, that option seems to be losing favour.

A second consideration had been proposed by the Australian rugby authorities, who had offered to host the tour, but the Lions officially declined that offer on Friday night.

It would have seemed somewhat strange to have a Lions tour taking place on what would have to be considered a neutral ground at best.

It had been reported that Rugby Australia had even offered to underwrite the costs of the tour, ensuring it is profitable.

But the third choice – and one which seems to be gathering some degree of momentum – is to host the tour in the UK and to have the

‘ The honour of being a Lion is the ultimate accolade

Springboks travel to play a test series, possibly of four matches, at each of the home union grounds.

Assuming the UK’S vaccination rollout continues and case numbers continue to drop, it has to be hoped that crowds will be allowed back into sporting events during the summer, which could mean that a home Lions tour is not out of the question.

If it did take place in the UK, organisers have proposed a series of warm-up matches – with some presumably for the South Africans – against sides like the Barbarians, South Africa A and the USA – with a match against Japan already being in the fixture list at Murrayfield.

Lions tours are about immersing yourself in the country that you’re touring. They are about developing friendships from rivalries, as countries unify behind a common cause, and they are about acting as ambassadors for the sport in new communities.

Touring at home, or playing a series in a neutral country nullifies all of that.

But the greater risk is that the British & Irish Lions become an irrelevance, relative to other international rugby.

That cannot be allowed to happen from a commercial perspective, nor from a players point of view, for whom the honour of being a Lion is the ultimate accolade.

A tour should go ahead this year, in whatever form suits the pandemic and the international calendar best.