The Lions tour has been beset by Covid-19 problems since Warren Gatland and his team landed on South African soil a couple of weeks ago, but the decision by Rassie Erasmus to name what is essentially a Springbok side for the fixture against South Africa 'A' on Wednesday night could put the whole thing back on track.

Gatland has confirmed that Alun-Wyn Jones is on the cusp of a return to the squad after he returned to training back in Wales. The tour captain looked set to miss the Test Series when he dislocated his shoulder against Japan on the eve of departure, but he now could lead the team in the series.

England's Marcus Smith has arrived in Cape Town and Ireland hooker Rónan Kelleher looks set to follow in the coming days.

Despite Erasmus calling for another game against the Lions on Saturday to help prepare his Covid-hit squad, Gatland says there are no plans to re-jig the schedule to suit the world champions who came out of isolation on Sunday after their warm-up game against Georgia was cancelled.

Now, they are playing catch-up and the Lions are expecting a ferocious match on Wednesday.

"It's going to be pretty much a Test match if you look at their line-up," captain Conor Murray said.

"It's going to be a really intense game, it's going to be a trial run for the Tests or almost a fourth Test.

"Since we arrived in Cape Town, players have switched into a little bit more serious mode in terms of our prep', the edge that we have in training.

"Now, having seen the South African 'A' line-up, it will only sharpen our focus even more.

"It's going to be a real battle, it's almost like a fourth Test. A massive challenge and good prep' for what's to come."

Gatland is delighted with the strength of a South Africa team that includes Munster's Damian de Allende, Sale's Faf de Klerk and Toulouse's Cheslin Kolbe in an all-star line-up.

"I probably wasn’t expecting them to be as strong as they are, they’re obviously short of games, but I’m absolutely delighted with the team they’ve put out because that helps our preparation immensely," he said.

"We’ll get a bit of a feel of where we are and what things we need to work on in the 10 days leading into the first Test. I’m really pleased with how strong that team is because, even though it’s a South Africa 'A' team it’s going to be a tough challenge and everything is about winning the Test series and preparing for that.

"I keep referring back to 2009, when we had the first Test we had played teams that were understrength in terms of not having the Springboks and we weren’t quite ready or we thought we were a little bit better prepared than we were.

"That’s in the back of mind so the fact that I’ve seen that side, we’ll get a good indication of where both teams are after Wednesday night’s match."

However, Gatland drew the line at a fifth meeting with the South African camp despite Erasmus saying he'd beg to make it happen.

“No, we won’t be playing them again on Saturday," the Kiwi said.

On Jones, Gatland sounds hopeful that the Wales talisman will be able to rejoin the squad.

“It’s a possibility, he’s back in training so we’re waiting for the medical reports rom him, to see what happens with that," he said.

“Obviously a few weeks ago we didn’t think it was an option. He has been back fully training with Wales – he is training this week with them – he is doing a double session tomorrow, with them, and we’ll just see what the outcome of that is.

“He has made a remarkable recovery in terms of that injury, which the assessment was initially it wasn’t as bad as they first thought. That’s a real positive and it would be a boost the squad having someone of his experience and calibre to come back into the squad.”

Kelleher, meanwhile, looks likely to join up with the squad.

"We’ve just got to make a decision on that," he said.

"One of the discussions we’ve had with the South African management was they were a bit concerned about front-row cover, if we pick up some injuries the fact that players or replacement players would have to spend a number of days before they could join the squad officially.

"We are just looking at do we need cover at hooker, if we picked up an injury there, and then picked up an injury In training, they were concerned that possibly a game could go down to uncontested scrums.

"So, we might look at making sure we have got some cover in the front row in terms of that hooker position.”

Although he won't face South Africa 'A', Robbie Henshaw looks set to face the Stormers on Saturday as he recovers from his hamstring strain.

Owen Farrell is an injury doubt with his abdominal injury, while Finn Russell is likley to miss the series.