Robbie Henshaw can still have "a huge role" for the Lions in South Africa according to assistant coach Gregor Townsend.

The Ireland centre makes his first appearance on tour against the Stormers on Saturday having suffered a hamstring issue after playing against Japan.

Henshaw is considered a strong contender to start the first Test against the Springboks if he can prove his fitness in Cape Town and the Scotland supremo has backed him to make an impact.

"He can have a huge role in all aspects, because he’s an all-round player," Townsend said.

"He’s a good attacker, both as a ball-carrier and a passer. Very good support runner too. Then he’s got the kick chase ability which he showed really well against Scotland this year, and in other games.

"Defensively he’s outstanding so I think he showed in that Japan game as well, how Steve is wanting the team to defend, he adapted really quickly to that.

"So, we are delighted he’s back. He got through training fine today and he gets a chance now to show that he’s available to play the Test series."

Circumstances have dictated that Henshaw and Saturday's captain Stuart Hogg have had less opportunity than their rivals, but the coach says they can earn a Test spot with a strong display in the final non-Test match on tour.

"They’ve had less games so it’s what they’ve done in the games and where we see them fit with the game we want to play," he said.

"Both of them have an opportunity tomorrow. It would have been much tougher for them if they hadn’t been available for this game."

Asked if they can still play their way into the Test side, Townsend gave an emphatic nod.

"Absolutely," he said.

"We want to give players opportunities – the same with Alun Wyn (Jones). He’s come out and maybe we weren’t thinking and he wasn’t thinking that he’d be involved in this game, but we want to give players the opportunity to show where they are, physically, but also where they are in terms of their form.

"So, it’s now up to them to grab it.

“We don’t have to remind them, they know it’s a big opportunity. The players who played Wednesday, I imagine, would have realised it was an even bigger opportunity for them - because we were playing a shadow Springbok team.

"But what is freshest in coaches’ minds obviously has influence, so how well the players go tomorrow will add to what they’ve already done on tour. Yes, it’s an opportunity for people to grab."

Townsend has been in the wars himself. The 1997 out-half is understood to have been the member of staff who contracted Covid-19 last week and was forced into isolation along with his close contacts which included Hogg.

"It’s great to be back," he said.

"It’s been a frustrating week in my hotel room. It was great being back with the squad on Wednesday.

"In terms of contingencies, what we’ve found over the last 12 months is that technology can play a big part in connecting with people - be that being in a meeting via 'Zoom' or presenting to the players their videoclips and having meetings with them over the phone.

"Actually, the week we had with those two games, and the late changes with people in isolation, there wasn’t so much coaching time I missed, just the connecting with the players and being in the room with them.

"I wouldn’t want to repeat it. You really miss the conversations you would have after a meeting or being on a training field, just to get a feel of where people are.

"You do feel you are not there, even though you are on a phone call or you are watching the game remotely and messaging the other coaches during the game. Nothing beats being there.

"There was a silver lining and that was that I could watch a lot more of South Africa. I've watched a lot of their games over the last few months but when you go from Saturday, Wednesday, Saturday, the focus is on helping prepare the team.

"Not being with the team, I was able to look back at games they've played recently, as far back as 2018 when the current coaches took over.

"I'm more aware of what we're expecting in defence from them, the game on Wednesday was great for us to learn more about what they want to do and for the players to feel that during the 80 minutes.

"That was the only silver lining."

Rookie out-half Marcus Smith makes his first start of the tour and Townsend believes fans must temper their expectations of the exciting Harlequins talent.

"I'm excited but I'm also managing my expectations, as I'm sure we all are because this is a tough game, not for him, but for the whole squad. We've only had one training session going into this game," he said.

"The Wednesday-Saturday turnaround is really tough, so things won't go perfectly. I think we saw that with the second Sharks game, when a team doesn't have their best preparation, it takes them a while to get into the flow of things.

"For someone like Marcus, it's his first game. He's not had the Jersey camp, the three or four weeks that we've had in South Africa, so we've got to enable him and play what he sees. Already, he's leading like our 10 should lead, by saying 'this is the play we're doing' but also giving feedback on where our forwards should be and what we should be doing at certain times.

"That's great because he's got a feel of things naturally and if he plays as well as he has for his club and country in the last few weeks, he'll go well."