The lure of the Lions

Ticket ballot boom as SA rugby fans go for the advantage line

My memories of that 2009 tour are just that second Test. I will never forget the bus going to the stadium in Pretoria. I’ve never seen passion from a crowd like I saw that day

Tommy Bowe British & Irish Lions wing

● World Cup-winning Springboks, given the opportunity to go to the summer Olympic Games in 2021 or play for SA against the British & Irish Lions, are insistent: it is the Lions in SA.

The most prominent of these Springboks is the World Cup-winning try-scoring hero Cheslin Kolbe, who would be a certainty in the Springboks starting XV and also in the Blitz Boks Olympic squad for the sevens.

Kolbe, who is based in Toulouse, France, recently told the French media: “I watched in 2009 [Lions tour to SA] and ever since I told myself that I definitely want to be a part of that. Seeing the atmosphere, the way the stadiums were packed, the amount of time that is invested when the British & Irish Lions do come over, it is incredible. It is a Springbok team I want to be part of and I want to [convince the selectors] that I am good enough to play in those three Tests.”

Incredible experience

Kolbe was just 14 years old when

Springboks [substitute] flyhalf Morne Steyn kicked an injury-time 50m penalty to win the second Test for SA in Pretoria. It was also the three points that sealed the series win for the Springboks after the 1997 Springboks had lost the three-Test series 2-1 to the

Lions.

“Being a part of the Olympics in 2016 and experiencing that was incredible,” said Kolbe. “Playing against athletes from all over the world and meeting athletes in the Olympic village are things you just want to be a part of. But the Springboks against the Lions in a Test series ... I don’t want to miss that.”

Of that Steyn magical moment, Kolbe said: “Morne Steyn, playing at his home ground Loftus, so he knew the stadium, getting that penalty past the halfway line. That moment. With all those green jerseys standing up and they went crazy for the winning points. That was one of the highlights.

“Playing against the Lions, because they are made up of different countries, makes it so much more special and playing against the best, that is, who you want to perform against and how you want to see where you are as a player.”

That second Test in Pretoria in 2009 has been described as one of the greatest Tests in the history of the game and Ireland’s

Lions winger Tommy Bowe recalled his experience of that magnificent match, won 28-25 by the Springboks.

Passionate fans

“It is going to be an incredible series and it will be incredibly difficult for the Lions,” said Bowe. “My memories of that 2009 Tour are just that second Test. I will never forget the bus going to the stadium in Pretoria. I’ve never seen passion from a crowd like I saw that day. People were shaking the bus and all sorts. The reverberation of the crowd in the changing room of the stadium was just outrageous. You could just feel the supporters right outside.”

The Springboks, in 2009, were the World Cup champions, having beaten England 15-6 in the final in Paris in 2007. In 2021 the Lions will again face the World Cup champions after the Springboks’ 32-12 win against England in the 2019 Rugby World Cup final in Japan.

“SA showed that they’re ruthless, physical and a match for anyone.

“The way they played against England in the World Cup final, they just showed how difficult they are to play against.

“I think [Springbok backrow forward] Pieter-Steph du Toit is an absolute machine, and of course they also have Cheslin Kolbe, who is at the opposite end of the spectrum size-wise but is just so gifted,” said Bowe.

“Kolbe is somebody who, the minute he gets the ball in his hands, can get the whole crowd on their feet to see what he can do.

“They have no shortage of talent in their team, so it is going to be an incredible series.”

Legendary Springbok and Bulls scrumhalf Fourie du Preez believes next year’s Lions visit has all the makings of an iconic series.

“They will be coming with revenge on their minds, especially as we felt that they believed they were the better team in 2009. Also, the 2019 World Cup final will spur on many English players in the team.”

The Springboks in recent months have spoken of the challenge of the Lions and how it is bigger than the Rugby World Cup, and Lions greats, like England’s Martin Johnson, rate winning a series in SA a bigger career highlight than winning the Rugby World Cup.

To quote Ian McGeechan, the Lions versus the Springboks in SA is three World Cup finals on successive Saturdays.

McGeechan toured SA as a player in the unbeaten 1974 tour, coached the Lions to a series victory against the Springboks in 1997 and was in the coach’s box when Steyn delivered the hammer blow at Loftus, Pretoria, in 2009.

McGeechan speaks with authority when he talks about being in SA with the Lions. It is a unique experience and it is exceptional. The SA sporting and rugby public this week agreed with McGeechan, as well as every Bok and Lions player when it came to the significance of the 2021 tour because the supply of tickets could never match the demand from within SA.

SA’s rugby public made the most compelling statement on how much support there is for the sport in this country on day one of the official opening of the Ticket sales ballot for next year’s eight-match British & Irish Lions tour.

The ticket ballot went live on Wednesday morning, September 2, and by the close of the day more than 200,000 South Africans had visited the official online tour site, www.lionstour2021.co.za, with 50,000 logged into the opening day of the ballot. The ballot will run until 23h59 on Wednesday September 16.

The SA rugby public has been starved of international and domestic rugby for the best part of 2020 because of Covid-19 and the Springboks have yet to play in SA since their glorious Rugby World Cup final triumph against England in Japan in 2019.

30,000 sea of red

The urgency with which SA rugby fans took to the registration and ballot opening day was indicative of the appetite there is for the visit of the Lions and also for those SA teams who play the Lions in non-Test matches.

The three-Test series has such a demand that it could sell out several times over because it pits the world champion Springboks against a squad that will include many of the English and Welsh players whom the Springboks beat in the Rugby World Cup play-offs in Japan.

It is the other five matches that demand a SA flavour at the stadiums to combat the expected 30,000 sea of red Lions travelling supporters.

The Stormers, on July 3 will make history in playing the Lions for the first time as a region and it will also be the first international game of rugby at the Cape Town Stadium.

The Lions are unique

Cape Town is recognised as one of the most sought after tourist destinations and it is the ideal start for a tour that will follow the coast through Port Elizabeth and Durban and play out in the Highveld with the third and final Test against the Springboks on August 7 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

Tour director Lourens Oberholzer said the five non-Test matches gave South Africans a chance to experience a Lions match day, which he likened to a rugby carnival.

“The supply of tickets for the three Test matches can never match the obvious demand from South Africans and that is why the five non-Test matches have such relevance for lovers of the game.

Being a part of the Olympics in 2016 and experiencing that was incredible … but the Springboks against the Lions in a Test series … I don’t want to miss that

Cheslin Kolbe

Springboks wing, above

A big sporting occasion

“The Lions are unique in that we in SA only get to host them every 12 years.

“The three-Test series is going to be epic but we’ve seen how South Africans immerse themselves in big sporting occasions, like the 2010 Fifa World Cup.

“We are expecting the same response from the South Africans whenever and wherever the Lions play in July and the first week of August,” he said.

The Lions will complete their non-Test schedule against the Bulls at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria.

The Bulls are the last provincial team in SA to have beaten the Lions.

The occasion of that Bulls victory was back in 1997. Current Bulls coach Jake

White was at the helm of the Australian Brumbies who beat the British & Irish Lions 14-12 in Australia in 2013.