By Paul Jones
Next year’s British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa could now be moved back to the autumn, the hosts have conceded.
The acceptance comes as countries around the world try to put together a revised playing schedule that proves workable in the wake of the current shutdown for the sport.
While football plans to resume in the UK next week – albeit behind closed doors – rugby only has tentative dates in place for a resumption in August and the knock-on effects for both the Test and domestic game of five months of inactivity are going to be huge.
On top of that, the sport is still grappling with how the return can be managed to fit within the requirements of testing and social distancing, on the field as well as off.
The Lions tour has a planned July 3, 2021 start, with the three Tests on consecutive weekends from July 24 onwards, but a mooted change to the sport’s global calendar could see a switch.
“The tour is going on and the time is still fixed on where it is, but there might be a date change,” said South African Rugby CEO Jurie Roux.
“There is a slight chance that, to align with a new global calendar, it might move to either a September/October or October/November window and that is only because if that is the only hurdle of getting the global calendar across the line, we would not want to be the hindrance to that.”
Roux said a decision on the suggested global calendar shift, which would do away with mid-year internationals, could come as soon as July 1, which would provide certainty on when the Lions tour will take place.
“Second only to the World Cup, it is the biggest thing on the calendar,” Roux added.
“The commercial model we have put up as a joint venture between us and the Lions is actually pretty ‘out there’.
“We have thrown away the textbook on it. It is a completely different model. It is a sharing of revenue, logos and IP (intellectual property) and commercial value, and something that in a post-COVID world will help us operate as a going concern.”
Negotiations to align the club and international calendar to ease fixture congestion have been accelerated by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the sport.
Among the ideas under discussion is a shift of the Six Nations Championship, possibly to a month or two later than its current February/March slot, and for Europe to adopt more of a summer club rugby season.
Roux added: “That means we have looked at a number of contingencies around scheduling. We have those scenarios in place.”
Lions head coach Warren Gatland said the tourists would “deal” with any change to the agreed dates.
“I’m conscious of what’s best for the game,” he said. “I know South Africa are desperate for it to go ahead but if it means we have to move some dates then we have to be flexible on that.”
