Keith Wood voices thoughts on 2021 Lions tour

The scheduled 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa is still in limbo with the organisation and planning thrown into tatters by the Covid-19 pandemic. Ireland and Lions legend Keith Wood has weighed in with another option for consideration.

The current options facing the Lions are as follows:

• To play the series in South Africa as planned but with no crowds in attendance;
• Have the Springboks travel to Britain and Ireland to play the series – this would also likely be played in empty stadiums;
• To postpone the tour to 2022
• For Australia to host the spectacle between the world champion Springboks and the Lions where crowds will most likely be admitted.

Wood, who was part of two Lions tours (1997 and 2001), has called for, above all else, the preservation of respect for the Lions tradition and has suggested that the tour be delayed by four years and played in South Africa in 2025.

“There is heart and head here,” Wood said. “The Lions is commercially one of the big brands in rugby and emotionally it brings together supporters from four countries which is unique in international sport and you want to preserve that.

“However, the Lions is being consistently squeezed and my fear is that if it goes too far from what is a touring side with 30,000 fans to games at home with no fans, will it keep its special place in rugby’s hearts? 

“And if the Lions loses its allure that would be the shame of shames. It could be better to say, ‘Let’s delay the Lions cycle by four years with the tour to South Africa taking place in 2025 and push everyone back and preserve what is an incredible spectacle’.

“I don’t think you can put the tour into another year because that would drive the unions mad, the clubs mad while changing World Cup preparation cycles."