The British and Irish Lions tour of South Africa will be under threat if international travel into our country is still not allowed in June next year.
With coach Warren Gatland’s men kicking off their tour with a match at Cape Town Stadium against the Stormers on July 3, the South African Rugby Union (Saru) is expecting a lot of tourists to flock to the country for the series.
Without them, Saru CEO Jurie Roux says: “There has been some talk of moving it [the date] out , but our travel advice is that by June/July, we should be at what is deemed to be normal international travel.
“But we are monitoring it on a monthly basis. Travelling for international events will likely still be under more pressure than pre-Covid.
“No spectators and people not being able to travel would not make this commercially viable and then we would discuss how we continue with the tour.”