Key Sentence:
- Springboks home series wins against England, and the Irish Lions will rank higher than spring boxing and win a series of two Tests against the All Blacks in New Zealand later this year.
Ask any Springbok player about their international triathlon, and they’ll sign up to win the World Cup, beat the All Blacks in New Zealand, and win a draw against the best of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Of course, most teams won the World Cup and beat the All Blacks in New Zealand.
What’s missing is that the series won against the Lions and didn’t get any more significant than the next three Saturdays for world champion Xia Colisi Springbox.
Defeating the Lions will end the most critical campaign in the face of all the turmoil and uncertainty caused by Covid. I’ve always had box springs to beat the Lions in all three Tests. My confidence is based on the quality of the Springboks and a test schedule which means two games in the series are played at the same height, one in front of 90,000 at FNB Stadium right next to Soweto and the other at the spiritual home of Springbox, Emirates Airline Park or simply Ellis Park for rugby lovers.
Both teams will also warm up from two Tests against Georgia and an SA-A clash against the Lions. Unfortunately, it doesn’t play like that. Boxing only had one test against Georgia in which he scored six tries and won 40-9. The disaster then resulted in a positive Covid test, and the second test against Georgia was canceled, and some of Bock’s squad had to self-isolate in their respective hotel rooms.
It was even worse when 20+ players and positive management and ten players had to be left in Gauteng when the team moved to Cape Town two weeks ago to reschedule the tour, meaning the Lions are the last five of the eight to play the time, including three Tests, at the stadium closed in Cape Town.
The whole dynamic of the tour has changed.
Supporting the home crowd and 40,000 Lions travelers on the Red Sea is no longer a reality. There will be no supporters on earth. The altitude, often a tremendous asset to the Springbok team, won’t be there, and the Lions can’t claim a better geographic location than a game at sea level in Cape Town.