Lions tour to go ahead - really?

I have to say I am pretty uneasy about the British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa going ahead this summer as planned. Has no one realised we are still in a pandemic?

You only have to look at how easy it was for the Covid virus to infiltrate the French squad during the Six Nations to realise what a folly the Lions trip could turn out to be.

It appears, however, that economic – rather than sporting or any other – reasons are behind the decision, with the unions of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales standing to lose several million pounds each in commercial income if the tour is cancelled. 

For me, however, the absence of the usual 30,000 or so travelling Lions fans – the “sea of red” – renders the concept of a Lions tour fairly pointless.

And, while clearly still a big deal to be selected for a Lions trip, for those players who do make the squad it is hardly ideal. I mean, where’s the fun in being confined in a bio-bubble, unable to experience the country you are visiting and only being let out occasionally to play rugby? I mean, that’s hardly a tour is it?

Far better in my view to bite the bullet and call the whole thing off for another four years.

Total Flanker – the older I get, the better I was