NEXT YEAR’S LIONS TOUR TO BE MOVED?
NEXT summer’s Lions tour to South Africa could be moved to the autumn to align with plans to implement a new global calendar in the game.
The shutdown of rugby through the coronavirus pandemic looks set to lead to a radical overhaul of rugby in the northern and southern hemispheres sooner than many had initially expected.
South Africa’s rugby chief Jurie Roux has now publicly admitted that the Lions tour may switch to a later date.
As things stand, the Lions are due to tour South Africa from July 3 2021, which includes three Tests against the Springboks.
But Roux said: “The tour is going on and the time is still fixed on where it is, but there might be a date change.
“There is a slight chance that, to align with a new global calendar, it might move to either a September/ October or October/November window and that is only because if that is the only hurdle of getting the global calendar across the line, we would not want to be the hindrance to that.
“Second only to the World Cup, it (Lions) is the biggest thing on the calendar. The commercial model we have put up as a joint venture between us and the Lions is actually pretty ‘out there’.”
Lions head coach Warren Gatland said the tourists would “deal” with any change to the agreed dates.
“I’m conscious of what’s best for the game,” he said. “I know South Africa are desperate for it to go ahead but if it means we have to move some dates then we have to be flexible on that.”
Roux also addressed reports of the Springboks joining the Six Nations Championship.
South Africa has, for a number of years, been linked with a move to
Europe and Roux said: “The very politically-correct answer is that we are committed to Sanzaar and we are negotiating in good faith.
“But the reality is that the current format of competition that we have is too tight commercially for everybody involved.
“And because of that we’re now looking at two to three different Sanzaar options, which we are currently discussing.
“The committee that looks after the structure of those competitions is hard at work. Once the rugby decision is made on what competition works best, we will look at the commercial side.”