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Stuart Barnes drops cryptic hint about 2021 Lions tour plans
Rugby pundit Stuart Barnes has dropped a cryptic Tweet concerning this year’s endangered British and Irish Lions of South Africa and where it might be staged.
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Series organisers are yet to confirm their intentions, with a tour in South Africa this year looking to be completely non-viable. A home series in the UK and Ireland is one possible option, while Australia have made an offer to host the series and underwrite the cost of travel for both the Lions and the Springboks.
A left-field offer from the United Arab Emirates has also apparently been tabled.
However, an exchange today between former England flanker Peter Winterbottom and Barnes was intriguing. Winterbottom tweeted: “Does anyone agree with me that the Lions Tour should be postponed until 2022. Is this not the most sensible option or am I missing something. 40,000 Lions supporters, full stadiums, massive TV coverage, happy sponsors.”
Barnes quoted his post, writing: “You might enjoy this weekend’s Sunday Times, Peter.”
You might enjoy this weekend's Sunday Times, Peter.@thesundaytimes https://t.co/NtENdYEKIM
— Stuart Barnes (@SBarnesRugby) February 26, 2021
In January, Barnes’ colleague at The Sunday Times, Stephen Jones, revealed that the Australians had officially offered to host the tour, provided they could cover their costs. The Australians had already suggested the idea on social media, but the confirmation of the offer saw the Lions release a statement in which they confirmed that they were considering it.
A broad reading of Barnes Tweet might suggest that the Lions are now looking at postponing the tour for a year, an option that is highly favoured in South Africa, certainly among Springbok fans. At the very least it suggests that the Sunday Times’ are running a piece this weekend on the tour, which has generated headlines since a genuine threat of the tour not going ahead was revealed at the start of the year.
If the tour was postponed, it would go against the wishes of all four Home Nations captains, with Ireland’s Jonny Sexton, England’s Owen Farrell, Wales’ Alun Wyn Jones and Scotland’s Stuart Hogg all stating they want the tour to go ahead this year as a must.
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And they’re not the only ones.
Speaking to RugbyPass yesterday, Springbok lock Lood de Jager said if the tour must go ahead in the UK, than so be it.
“There is a lot of speculation about playing the Lions here in the UK or even in Australia and I am just waiting to find out because playing against the Lions is something I have dreamt about since I was a little boy,” de Jager told Chris Jones. “I remember the Lions tour in 2009 when I was still in school and it was so important to everyone in South Africa. That is why they don’t want to do the tour without fans because that is what makes it so special.
'To miss this tour then players will never get a chance again and that is why it’s important. It doesn’t matter where that is'
At least one current Springbok is happy to have the tour in the UK, reports @chrisjonespress ???https://t.co/QcsRiuMfdh
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 26, 2021
“I watched all the games on TV in 2009 with my Dad and because the tours only happen every 12 years you are so lucky to play in a test series against them. It is rarer than a World Cup and you could be a guy who plays in two Cups and never get the chance to take on the Lions so it is really special. If I can be part of Lions series then that is something amazing and I would cherish that forever.
“To miss this tour then players will never get a chance again and that is why it’s important. It doesn’t matter where that is, although it would be amazing to have it home with our families there and the boost it would give to the people and the economy. That is why it would be sad if it couldn’t go ahead in South Africa and that would be the biggest disappointment. But you can only control what you can control and if it has to go ahead in the UK then it is still 15 green against 15 red and it will still be very special.
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Earlier this month Keith Wood told RugbyPass that he believes it might be the best to delay the tour, even if it meant a full four-year cycle.
“The Australian option seems fraught with complication, quarantine and potential player welfare issues. It also has a different time zone and the commercial contracts will be impacted. There is nothing easy in any of this.
“We could end up with something in Britain and Ireland and people will say it’s not the Lions, but it may be the most viable option this year. In truth, I believe the Lions needs supporters at the games and if this is not possible it may require delaying the cycle for four years.”
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
27 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
1 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusades , you can keep going.
1 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
27 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
27 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
27 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
27 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments