LIAM DEL CARME | Bring it on: the jousting between the Boks and Lions has begun

Finally! It took a while, but it is starting to feel as if the Test series between the Springboks and the British & Irish Lions is becoming a reality.

The pandemic cast a long, ominous cloud over the tour and doubts persisted even after the tourists arrived in SA at the end of last month.

It was always going to be a tour like no other, with social distancing and bio bubbles the order of the day.

The sterile environment in which the opening games took place robbed the tour of the vibe, energy and rapture you’d associate with the build-up to an opening Test to a Lions series.

We have been spared the fanfare, but there was always going to be a shift in mood as the opening Test drew nearer.

The pandemic has demanded time, energy and resources. Both teams and their support staff have had to spend an inordinate amount of time trying to evade the clutches of Covid-19 and remain within protocols, leaving little opportunity to get on with the business of preparing for the series that kicks off Saturday week.

After SA A, in effect a shadow Springbok team, beat the Lions in Cape Town on Wednesday evening, that shift in mood became more perceptible.

Hostilities don’t commence at kick-off. They are often orchestrated well before in carefully scripted utterances that embolden or sow seeds of doubt, depending on the colour you wear.

Both camps crowed afterwards that they got out of the fixture what they needed. It is the pre-series feel-good narrative that is aimed at bringing affirmation to the forces within and doubt to the opposition.

Hostilities don’t commence at kickoff. They are often orchestrated well before in carefully scripted utterances that embolden or sow seeds of doubt, depending on the colour you wear.

Pre-series talk is usually characterised by smoke and mirrors, accompanied by subterfuge and one-upmanship, and though Rassie Erasmus and Warren Gatland didn’t go all the way down that dimly lit path, they did say enough to try to throw each other off the scent.

Erasmus, who took charge of the SA A team in the absence of Springbok coach Jacques Nienaber, who was in self-isolation in Johannesburg, conceded his team ran out of steam, but that he was proud of the heart and grit they showed in the second half to repel the Lions.

The team’s aerobic shortfalls were laid bare, but they still won, showing resilience and resourcefulness rather than finesse and fitness.

Their physicality helped settle some scores, if not the score early on, but they will need to get up to speed.

The Lions may have cause to interrogate why they were bossed in the gainline exchanges in the first half.

Gatland, though, was keen to point out that even in defeat he got what he wanted from the clash. The bulk of the Springbok side that will do duty in the first Test was on view on Wednesday and the Lions would have taken pointers.

When it’s time to stir, the verbal jousting goes up a notch. It is just Test rugby’s way of rustling the leaves before the approaching storm.