The British & Irish Lions will continue on their tour to South Africa as is, even in the face of coronavirus upheavals across three teams, says Lions tour director Ben Calveley.
The Lions, who recorded their first COVID positive case on Wednesday, have seen one tour match reorganised already, while the Springboks recorded 12 positive cases in the past fortnight, including head coach Jacques Nienaber.
After the tour match against the Bulls was called off for Saturday following a number of cases in that camp, the Sharks have been roped into a second match against the Lions as they are the only team to remain COVID-free so far.
So with the Johannesburg leg of the tour nearly over, which is where the country’s third wave epicenter is, Calveley says that the tour is proceeding as planned as the Lions prepare to shift their bio-secure bubble to Cape Town.
After being asked if the tour should move to the UK, where crowds have been allowed back into sport stadiums at near full capacity, Calveley said per News24: “My view is that it’s wonderful to see people back at Centre Court at Wimbledon and fantastic to see people back in Wembley.
“But we are here in South Africa. We made the decision back in March that we would make this tour work in this country, which I believe was the right decision.
“There are absolutely no plans to deviate from that strategy. It’s not as simple as hopping on a flight and playing the series on British soil.
“We are taking things one step at a time and dealing with the challenges as they arise. The focus on Thursday was dealing with the rearranged Sharks fixture, and on Sunday, we travel to Cape Town, where we have more fixtures.
“There are no plans to do anything different than that.”
Calveley said that remaining on top of the constant changes has been a challenge, but that he trusted in the measures in place, and in the experts on hand to guide the decisions.
He said: “I’m definitely not going to sit here and say this is easy, but we are determined to make it work, and we’ve put measures in place to make it work.
“We are living in a very strict bio-secure environment where we’re governed by stringent protocols and a Medical Advisory Committee (MAG) that has independent virologists and infectious disease specialists that advise us on what we can and cannot do.
“This is the same for the Lions and Springbok camp. We’re tested frequently, minimum three times a week. We have no interaction with the general public, we’re playing in far fewer venues than would originally have been the case.
“And, of course, we don’t have fans in the venues. We are doing everything we possibly can to make sure that this tour goes ahead, and we’re determined to make it a success.”
Aside from the Sharks in Joburg, again, on Saturday, the Lions have tour matches against South Africa A, the Stormers, and three Tests against the Boks to go, all in Cape Town. The Mother City is experiencing a third wave, though a third of the size of the Gauteng province as it stands.