The British & Irish Lions have insisted their tour of South Africa will not be derailed despite a Covid-19 outbreak on Wednesday which forced 14 members of their party, including nine players, into isolation just hours before the victory against the Sharks.
The Springboks, meanwhile, have cancelled their fixture against Georgia because of outbreaks in both camps but despite the turmoil the Lions are adamant the intention is to continue with the tour as planned with Warren Gatland convinced the Test series will take place.
Less than two hours before kick‑off against the Sharks, the Lions confirmed one player and one member of staff had tested positive and after identifying close contacts made a flurry of last-minute changes to the 23 to face the Sharks. The match had been plunged into serious doubt when a Lions member of staff earlier recorded a positive lateral flow test with the squad having to isolate and await the results of further PCR tests.
Doubts remain over the rest of the tour, however, and increasingly questions are being asked as to whether it should go ahead with the Lions managing director, Ben Calveley, revealing not all members of the touring party have been fully vaccinated, raising further safety concerns.
There have been suggestions the Test series could be moved to the UK but when asked if it was a good idea to proceed with the tour in South Africa, Calveley said: “We certainly think it is. The medical advisory group contains independent virologists and infectious disease experts on that group and their recommendation is that the match can proceed. So we see it as a positive that we are showing that we can overcome all the challenges that face us and we are determined to make sure we can put a tour on for the players, the fans and for all of our friends here in South Africa.
“We’re here in South Africa and our intention is to get the games over the line in South Africa. At the moment there is no intention to deviate from that agreed schedule.
“Nearly all the Lions party have been double jabbed. There are people in the Lions bubble that haven’t been double-jabbed. The vast majority, the very high majority have been double-jabbed. We are in a secure, tightly controlled bubble environment but what’s absolutely the case and we have seen it in sport around the world is that no bubble is entirely impenetrable. That’s why we set up our medical advisory group so we can take advice from the experts whether it is OK to proceed with matches like this. We are really pleased that they have said this is OK to proceed.”
After overseeing a 54-7 victory, despite the disruption, Gatland echoed that view. “Absolutely. I believe we will do it. We were always going to get a case or two and it is how we deal with it. We are not sure where we picked the cases from – hotel staff or people at matches – I am not sure. We are preparing and really looking forward to a Test series.
“It’s been a real challenge considering the players and staff were in our rooms until 6pm and we didn’t get our results until 5.30pm and we had to make a few changes. We talked about situations of chaos and being able to adapt and to change and that is what we did – the players were outstanding.”
South Africa, meanwhile, admitted defeat regarding their second Test against Georgia on Friday after outbreaks in both camps. The Springboks confirmed they had recorded 12 positive cases, Georgia six, and to mitigate the risk of further infection the match was cancelled. At the very least it leaves South Africa going into the Test series having played just once in more than 600 days – since the 2019 World Cup final.
The Lions’ tour match against the Bulls on Saturday has already been postponed and while there is the possibility it could be rescheduled later in the tour, or an alternative opponent be found, there was no official confirmation on Wednesday night. Next Wednesday the Lions are due to play a South Africa A side in Cape Town but that side was expected to largely be made up of players in the Covid-hit Springboks squad.
“In the context of the loss of life and economic damage that Covid and this third wave are wreaking, the cancellation of a rugby match is pretty trivial,” said the SA Rugby chief executive, Jurie Roux. “We continue to plan for the Springboks’ re-emergence from isolation and the completion of the Test series but in the short term we wish a speedy recovery for those who have been infected.”
