- Lions want government guarantees to host tour at home
- Virimi Vakatawa could return for France at Twickenham
The fate of the British & Irish Lions tour this summer remains up in the air with a final decision having been deferred until next week. Lions officials, however, have ruled out any prospect of relocating the tour to Australia, and shifting it to the UK and Ireland will only happen if the government agrees to underwrite any potential losses in the event of another Covid-19 surge.
Until now staging the tour behind closed doors in South Africa in July and August had been viewed as a last resort but organisers may yet be left with little other option. Holding the matches in empty stadiums would be a passion killer on many fronts but it would enable the three-Test series to proceed as originally scheduled.
