3 Springboks positive for virus as Lions tour set to begin
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) - Three members of the Springboks squad have tested positive for the coronavirus, forcing the world champions to cancel a training session and put all their players in isolation at the team camp in Johannesburg, national body SA Rugby said on Sunday.
The news came a day before the British and Irish Lions are due to arrive in South Africa for a six-week, eight-game tour. The Lions tour is coinciding with a surge in virus cases in South Africa, which is now in the midst of a third wave and recording nearly 20,000 new infections daily.
The three South Africa players, who were not identified, returned positive tests Saturday when the squad assembled in Johannesburg after a training camp in the central city of Bloemfontein, SA Rugby said. The entire squad of nearly 50 players are now in isolation and specialist medical advice is being sought, SA Rugby added.
"A decision on further team activities will be made shortly," it said.
The Springboks are due to play Georgia on Friday in the first of two warmup games ahead of the Boks' three-test series against the Lions. It's unclear if that game against Georgia in Pretoria can go ahead in just five days. It was set to be South Africa's first test since winning the Rugby World Cup final in Japan in November 2019.
South Africa's schedule was wiped out by the pandemic last year.
FILE - In this file photo dated Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, South Africa's Springbok rugby coach during a training session in Urayasu, Japan. Three members of the Springboks rugby squad have tested positive for coronavirus, forcing the world champions to cancel a training session and put all their players in isolation at the team camp in Johannesburg, national body SA Rugby said on Sunday June 27, 2021.(AP Photo/Christophe Ena, FILE)
The British and Irish Lions are set to arrive Monday and begin their tour against South African domestic team the Lions at Ellis Park in Johannesburg on Saturday.
South Africa and the British and Irish Lions decided to go ahead with the tour, which comes around once every 12 years for South Africa, despite fears over the pandemic. To mitigate the risks, the Lions changed their scheduled and will be based in only two cities; Johannesburg and Cape Town. They will spend the first two weeks in Johannesburg.
However, Johannesburg and the surrounding Gauteng province is the center of the new wave of infections and is being hit hard, with Gauteng recording more than 11,000 of the 17,958 new cases in South Africa on Saturday.
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British and Irish Lions' fans pose for photographers before the start of the friendly rugby match between British and Irish Lions and Japan at the Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh, Scotland, Saturday, June 26, 2021. (AP Photo/Scott Heppell)
