Burger poses question ahead of 2021 Lions tour

Former Namibia captain Jacques Burger has made a suggestion that the British and Irish Lions face Namibia in the upcoming tour of South Africa 2021.

This comes ahead of Namibia’s match with Canada in Kamaishi this Sunday in the Rugby World Cup: a game where the African side stand a good chance of winning their first-ever match in the tournament.

Against the trio of the All Blacks, South Africa and Italy, Phil Davies’ side has looked the more impressive, and Sunday could be a historic day. Burger would be keen to keep hold of the momentum that that would generate, and has posed this question on Twitter.

.@lionsofficial in @namibia_rugby 2021. Short flight, unreal experience both ways. Any chance? #Lionstour @NamibiaHorizons 🇳🇦

— Jacques Burger (@Nabasboer) October 9, 2019

The RWC often shows the gap between some tier one and two nations, which is rarely closed between tournaments as teams like Namibia are rarely given the opportunity to play some of the higher-ranked nations.

As the Lions are in South Africa in 2021, the former Saracens flanker suggests that it may be a worthwhile excursion for both teams.

This may be out of reach for this tour simply as the schedule has already been decided, which is shorter than the tour to New Zealand in 2017, but it is a worthwhile idea for future tours, albeit the next one is 14 years away.

But that does not mean that any team that are touring South Africa in June and July cannot add a test against Burger’s former side, whom he represented at the 2007, 2011 and 2015 RWCs.

Furthermore, this is an idea that could be applied to tours to Australia and New Zealand, where the Lions could play a tests against the likes of Fiji, Samoa or Tonga.

World Rugby are clearly intent on developing tier two nations, and this idea proposed by the former Premiership and Champions Cup winner is one way of doing that. The Lions remains one of rugby’s most unique and cherished traditions, and it would only add to the prestige if it helps some of the smaller rugby nations.

CREDIT: WORLD RUGBY Australia sat down to talk to the media ahead of their final Rugby World Cup group game against Georgia on Friday.