Exclusive: Jeremy Guscott’s preferred Lions tour options

Adam Kyriacou

British & Irish Lions legend Jeremy Guscott believes the famous touring team should play this year’s series at home, if restrictions prevent them from travelling to South Africa.

The Lions tour, which is scheduled for July, is currently under a cloud of uncertainty due to the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc across the globe.

A number of proposals have been presented and are currently being considered by the Lions board, such as a series in South Africa without fans, playing in Australia with a limited capacity or having the series in Britain and Ireland.

Although the option to head to Australia looks the most attractive, BBC analyst Guscott believes that the Lions should play at home if they are unable to travel to South Africa.

No harm in home games

“I think we should be a bit more humble and play a Lions tour in the home unions. We know the Lions as we know it, it’s a touring side, but if it can’t tour, I don’t see any harm in playing it and having three Test matches and a couple of warm-up games in Britain and Ireland,” he told Planet Rugby in an exclusive interview.

Guscott was part of the famous 1997 team that travelled to face the Springboks, the last Lions side to claim a series victory prior to Warren Gatland’s 2013 outfit in Australia. The centre famously kicked a drop-goal at the death to secure victory for the Lions in the second Test and believes that South Africa is the best tour for the fans.

“I’d rather that (playing behind closed doors) than nothing, I think it’s very challenging, almost impossible, to push it back 12 months and it’s disappointing, they’re all great countries on the tour but South Africa is, I think, the best one for fans to go on.

“There’s so much to do there and with the time zone, it’s pretty perfect, so I understand they have to make quite an early decision because of bookings and due to planning.

“But it’s a shame they can’t wait until March and April to see how the vaccinations are going in this country and in South Africa to give it every chance that we can tour and have the home unions ready as a contingency.”

Due to the lockdown in the United Kingdom, fans have once again been banned from attending any sporting events for the foreseeable future.

The lack of supporters in attendance has already had a major impact on sport with away teams emerging victorious more frequently, and in other cases the quality has dropped.

However, Guscott believes that playing behind closed doors is something that the players have become used to, and is something they will be able to deal with should the tour go ahead under those conditions.

 

“I mean, we’ve become accustomed to it, strange as it is,” he admitted. “Certainly, the viewer is getting the same pictures on television but a lot less of the atmosphere. The experience is slightly lessened because there are no crowds, there’s not so much hype surrounding it all but, you know, the players have been playing under these conditions with their clubs, and they’ve been strict, wherever they might be in Europe, and have become accustomed to it.

“It must have been as strange as anything, it must’ve been the weirdest feeling running out, playing in your Top 14, Premiership, PRO14 and everything else with no crowd. I mean, I remember the buzz of running out, you’re putting your liniment on, you’re getting ready to go out, you have your big team squeeze, big sprint, big pump up.

“You get the knock of the referee on the door, you’re pumped, you’re cutting through the atmosphere that’s coming through the tunnel and you run out to this cacophony of noise – well, you haven’t got that any more and that must be really strange.”

Fans briefly returned to stadiums in early December following the easing of the second lockdown restrictions, which presented an opportunity to see how reduced capacities would operate. This could again be in play by the time the Lions tour rolls around, something Guscott believes would be a positive for the game.

“Yeah, it’s totally unusual. But let’s say we could get half-full stadiums by July, it’d be epic, absolutely epic and brilliant,” he added.

Six Nations – Scotland v Wales is on BBC One and BBC iPlayer from 4pm on 13 February

Interview by Kevin Palmer