- Warren Gatland’s side cleared to play on Saturday
- Rest of itinerary in southern Africa remains at mercy of the virus
It pays to celebrate the tiniest piece of good news on this British & Irish Lions tour because no one knows what is lurking round the corner. At least the tourists have been cleared to play their next game on Saturday but their fraught expedition into southern Africa is starting to make Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness feel like a light romantic comedy.
On the plus side the Lions will take the field in Pretoria, led out for the first time by the hooker Jamie George, the first Englishman to captain the Lions since Phil Vickery against Western Province in 2009. Also involved will be all but one of the players forced to miss Wednesday’s “first leg” against the Sharks because of the Covid-19 scare in the Lions camp that has revealed to all concerned just how precarious a tightrope this tour is balancing on.
