ALL three Tests between the British & Irish Lions and South Africa are now likely to be played in Cape Town, according to Warren Gatland.
Officially, the schedule is for the first Test to be played a fortnight today in Cape Town with the next two in Johannesburg on the following two weekends. But, with the Covid situation being particularly severe in Gauteng, the province in which Johannesburg lies, and, with the Lions flying to Cape Town tomorrow[Sun], the switch to sea level has begun to seem far safer.
“I’m not 100 per cent sure, but I’m pretty sure that they’ll be played in Cape Town,” the Lions coach said last night. “That hasn’t been 100 per cent confirmed: that is my understanding at the moment, but until they give us 100 per cent confirmation, we just have to wait and see.
“But I think they’re definitely going to be in Cape Town. The way that we’ve been working in training, if they’re going to play three Tests at sea level I think it’s a real positive for us.”
Gatland also admitted there could be a further change to the fixture list, albeit a less significant one. After today’s game against the Sharks in Pretoria, the tourists are due to play South Africa ‘A’ on Wednesday then the Stormers a week today, but there is now uncertainty over which order those games will be played in.
“We’re not 100 per cent sure who the opposition is going to be next week, so it’s a little bit difficult to plan too far ahead,” the coach continued. “It will either be the Springboks [ie South Africa ‘A’ ]or the Stormers. They might switch those games around. That hasn’t been confirmed - hopefully in the next 24 hours we’ll know which way those games go.”
The good news is that the Lions’ own Covid problems have cleared up somewhat since midweek. All the players tested negative today, including the player who tested positive on Wednesday, so he and his close contacts have been cleared to train and play.
But a member of management has been confirmed as a positive case, so five of his close contacts - one player and four other members of staff - are in isolation. The Lions have not identified any of those involved.
Scotland captain Stuart Hogg was one of the players who had to drop out of Wednesday’s first game against the Sharks, and he is not in the squad for today’s rematch either. The full-back had been a doubt with a dead leg, but Gatland did not say whether that was what kept him out or if it was because he was a close contact. “He’s fit,” was all the coach would say.
Provided he does not test positive in the coming days, the player who remains in isolation should be cleared to play against whichever team turns up to take on the Lions a week today. Meanwhile, five Scots are in this afternoon’s matchday 23 to play the Sharks for the second time in four days. Chris Harris, Duhan van der Merwe, Rory Sutherland and Hamish Watson all start, while Finn Russell is on the bench. English hooker Jamie George will captain the team for the match at Loftus Versfeld.
Sharks coach Sean Everitt has made 11 personnel changes and one positional switch to his starting line-up. Captain and No 8 Phepsi Buthelezi is the only member of the pack to keep his place, while behind the scrum winger Thaakir Abrahams and scrum-half Jaden Hendrikse also hold on to their jerseys. Werner Kok, the home side’s most effective player in midweek, switches from the wing to outside centre.
Far from being downhearted at the prospect of such a swift rematch against a team that scored eight tries against his side, Everitt insisted that a little more composure could result in a significantly improved performance. “We didn’t show enough patience with the ball on Wednesday and we need to back ourselves to hold it through several phases, even more.
“It’s really about getting the balance right: when to have a go and when not to; when to force it and when not to. Against a quality team like the Lions, you have to be patient.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here