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SARU's Director of Rugby, Rassie Erasmus said on Monday during a media interview that SARU will do anything to play the British and Irish Lions. Erasmus confirmed that currently, they are still planning as if the B&I Lions tour will happen as originally planned.
Erasmus, who made his debut against the B&I Lions Erasmus on 5 July in Johannesburg, which the Springboks won 35–16 said he understands the players' drive to play against the B&I Lions. Some players even postponed their retirement for this honour according to Erasmus.
“We know this opportunity only comes around in so many years so we don’t want to miss this," Erasmus said on Monday. “We desperately want to play them and we’ll do anything to play them."
“If at the end of the day option A doesn’t work in South Africa and option B is this and option C is this, we will go to option Z,”
“We don’t want to lose the Lions series. Apart from what it means for commercial reasons, we feel we deserve to play against them. "
“We will do anything so if the question is put to us, ‘Guys, would you do X, Y and Z’, we don’t care. We will do anything to play that. We will find a solution.”
Erasmus also cited the B&I Lions as one of the reasons they decided not to compete in the 2020 Rugby Championship, although player welfare was the main reason.
“The frustration is unbelievable for us. We wanted to go and play the Rugby Championship, but this is something we couldn’t do just because it wasn’t possible. We really need the guys to get game time.” Erasmus said. “We also knew there was a big tournament next year for us and we want to play this."
Full 2021 tour schedule:
Saturday 3 July: British & Irish Lions v DHL Stormers – Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
Wednesday 7 July: British & Irish Lions v SA ‘Invitational’ – Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Port Elizabeth
Saturday 10 July: British & Irish Lions v Cell C Sharks – Jonsson Kings Park, Durban
Wednesday 14 July: British & Irish Lions v South Africa ‘A’ – Mbombela Stadium, Nelspruit
Saturday 17 July: British & Irish Lions v Vodacom Bulls – Loftus Versfeld, Pretoria
Saturday 24 July (first Test): Springboks v British & Irish Lions – FNB Stadium, Johannesburg
Saturday 31 July (second Test): Springboks v British & Irish Lions – Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
Saturday 7 August (third Test): Springboks v British & Irish Lions – Emirates Airline Park, Johannesburg