British and irish lions
Townsend to be Lions' attack coach in South Africa
There are no members of Eddie Jones' England staff among the Lions coaches, with no Englishmen involved at all in coaching the squad after Andy Farrell, Steve...
An eight-game tour is meant to see the Lions play three Tests against the Springboks, with the first and third in Johannesburg on 24 July and 7 August either side of a 31 July clash in Cape Town.
Earlier this week, Rugby Australia offered to host the eight matches scheduled between 3 July to 7 August as South Africa's COVID-19 cases ballooned to more than 1.4 million, with almost 45,000 deaths.
The eight-match tour is scheduled to run from 3 July to 7 August and features three Tests between the Lions and the world champion Springboks, on 24 July, 31 July and 7 August.
World champions South Africa 'will do anything' to play the British and Irish Lions, whose eight-match tour in July/August is in doubt because of the coronavirus pandemic, according to rugby director Rassie Erasmus.
Gatland will lead the Lions for a third time on their tour of South Africa and said the Springboks risked being 'underdone' for the series in 2021.
The match will take place a week before the Lions' tour opener in Cape Town.
South African Rugby said on Tuesday the ballot registration will be from Sept. 2 to 16, with successful candidates confirmed on Sept. 25.
The Lions tour has a planned 3 July start, with the three tests on consecutive weekends from 24 July onwards.
The itinerary was jointly announced on Wednesday with FNB Stadium in Johannesburg hosting the first Test on Saturday 24 July.
The announcement came a day after Colin Cooper quit as Chiefs' coach, with a year still to go on his contract, saying he was leaving for the long-term good of New Zealand Super Rugby.
Gatland, who will step down from his Wales role after this year’s World Cup, coached the Lions on their two previous tours against Australia in 2013 and New Zealand four years later.
Warren Gatland coached the last two Lions tours to Australia in 2013 and his native New Zealand last year.
A sweep of their Rugby Championship fixtures gave the world champions a 12th southern hemisphere title in 16 years.
In their three-test series, the Lions were able to stifle the All Blacks attack with a defensive pattern that pressured Barrett in close and cut off his options out wide.
Owen Farrell slotted a 78th minute penalty to give the British and Irish Lions a 15-15 draw with the All Blacks.
The itinerary was described by former Lions and All Blacks coach Graham Henry as ‘suicidal’ but it did work to an extent.
The British and Irish Lions head into the match riding a wave of confidence after their 24-21 victory at Wellington Regional Stadium that levelled the three-match series at 1-1.
Tadhg Furlong, the British and Irish Lions' 24-year-old tighthead prop, has already beaten the world champions twice in four tests over the last eight months.