Roger Alton Roger Alton

Can the Lions prise open the strong Boks?

Faf de Klerk in action against the British and Irish Lions in Cape Town on 14 July [David Rog-ers/Getty Images]

You would need a digger to explore the levels of irony in a Springbok chief slagging off an opponent’s dirty play. But that’s what Rassie Erasmus, the South Africa director of rugby, was up to when he used Twitter to question Owen Farrell’s choices of tackle technique.

Fine and dandy and all part of the pre-Test build up to get the ear of the referee after the ferociously hard Lions defeat to a South Africa ‘A’ side. Yet hasn’t Erasmus got a point? Farrell has long had a taste for the high tackle and has largely got away with it. It’s going to be trickier now, I suspect, in what could be a boiling first Test in Cape Town this weekend, where Farrell will start on the bench. And don’t worry about the empty stadiums: the excitement is still overpowering. The Boks will come for the Lions at full tilt; but if you’re looking for exhilarating free-flowing Southern-hemisphere rugby, look away now. This will be a full-bodied battle, as human trucks smash into each other for 80 minutes.

Faf de Klerk is the apotheosis of the wily scrum-half, and a man who could pick a fight on the Moon

On the basis of the ‘A’ game and the 2019 World Cup final it might look iffy for the Lions, but this will be all about the scrum. Warren Gatland clearly loves Alun Wyn Jones, who will be captain (otherwise why bring him back?), and his front row is exceptionally strong. But if Alun Wyn is carried off minutes into the match, prepare for him to be swiftly succeeded as captain by Maro Itoje, currently getting in touch with his inner aesthete in a floral shirt, advertising wallpaper. Not something you are likely to see many Springbok locks doing, so fair play to Maro.

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