Most memorable rugby moment To be frank, there were not loads of them across the three Test matches so I’ll plump for the obvious one. When Morné Steyn was named as part of the South Africa squad, you had to wonder. When he was selected on the bench, you could see it coming, and when he came on to the field with two minutes to go there was an inevitability that 12 years on from kicking the Springboks to victory over the Lions he would do precisely the same again. Warren Gatland had the grace to chuckle at what fate had dealt his side. Steyn’s second coming was an irresistible narrative in a series that, on the field at least, did not provide too many. GM Throwing long miss passes inside your 22 during a Lions Test is not meant to be the done thing. Nor is playing up in the faces of the world’s most effective rush defence. Finn Russell, happily, is not constrained by received wisdom: might the series outcome have been different had the Scotland fly-half been on the pitch for longer? Along with the twinkling Marcus Smith, Russell deserves this award for reminding us all that big-time rugby can still be fun. RK Best tour game After a number of one-sided warmups against inferior opposition and two turgid Test matches, the third Test sparkled into life, almost to the second when Finn Russell came on to the field. The Lions clearly approached the third Test with a bolder gameplan but it took Russell’s introduction to free them from the straitjacket. The Springboks, for their part, had a bit more intent to play too and even if both sides grew increasingly conservative as the clock ticked down, the finale was a nerve-shredder. GM In hindsight the fluctuating SA “A” match – basically the Springboks in disguise – set the tone for the entire series. The Boks, disrupted by Covid, had little option but to give their main men a run, and after the one-sided provincial games how good it was to watch a proper contest. The Lions went 17-3 down but rallied to lose by just 17-13. Ten days later, having been forewarned, they won the first Test 22-17 in the same stadium. RK Try of the tour The Lions ran in so many in the warmups and so few in the series that it is hard to pick one that really stands out. Louis Rees-Zammit’s, late on against the Stormers, came from a trademark goose-step from Marcus Smith, however, and rounded off a fine individual showing by the Harlequins No 10. It gave a glimpse into the future – Smith will be the No 10 in the majority of those teams for 2025 currently being put together – and demonstrated what happens when talent is given the platform to shine. The penny eventually dropped for the Test team, just a little too late. GM Few candidates from the Test series but, once again, the SA “A” game – aka “the fourth Test” – delivered. Eight minutes before half-time a misjudged clearance from Elliot Daly found Cheslin Kolbe who shimmied assuredly between Rees-Zammit and Chris Harris and sent his captain Lukhanyo Am away for a wonderful try, converted by the metronomic Steyn. No one realised then that Steyn was merely warming up … RK Best Lions player Honourable mentions for Robbie Henshaw and Courtney Lawes, who both come out of the series in considerable credit, but Maro Itoje proved to be the Lions’ totem throughout the Test series. In the opener it was he who led the resistance in the face of both an early onslaught and late flurry from South Africa and in the third Test again he came up with some trademark interventions. He came out second best in the second Test but looking at his overall series performance, perhaps South Africa supporters will now acknowledge his class. GM Henshaw was everywhere, Tadhg Furlong was endlessly committed and the fit-again Russell sprinkled some aforementioned late stardust on the series. The most prominent Lion, though, was Itoje in the second row. One minute he was soaring in the lineout, the next making a nuisance of himself around the tackle area or demanding more from those around him. It is a tribute to Itoje and his captain Alun Wyn Jones that South Africa’s influential big men never had it easy. RK Best Springbok player Lukhanyo Am captained South Africa A to a victory over the Lions and then set the tone for the series by marmalising Daly inside the first few minutes of the first Test. Much more to his game than big hits however, he marshalled the defensive line superbly and scored the try which put South Africa out of sight in the second Test. Eben Etzebeth was excellent at times – particularly in the second Test – and Damian de Allende showed no after-effects of his fire-pit incident to dovetail alongside Am to superb effect. But Am edges it and is beginning to get the global recognition he deserves. GM A three-way fight between the outstanding Am, the relentless De Allende and the consistent Franco Mostert. Am and Mostert would both have been deserving winners but De Allende shades it for his all-round contribution. The Munster centre was among the major reasons why the Springboks conceded only two tries in three Tests and was equally forceful whenever he had the ball. Given the horrible fire-pit accident prior to the tour, his was some effort. RK Unsung tour hero Ronan Kelleher was called into the preparation camp, essentially to make up the numbers with Jamie George and Luke Cowan-Dickie still occupied by their clubs. He was then kept on a week but not considered for the match against Japan in Edinburgh. That was supposed to be the extent of his involvement but amid concerns from the South African camp that a flurry of Lions injuries in the front row could lead to uncontested scrums, he was called out to join the squad. He was the only member of the touring party not to make an appearance but there were no hints of complaint from the Ireland hooker. That selflessness keeps the Lions concept going. GM Marius Jonker. The South African was placed in an invidious position when he was asked to step in as the TMO after the original neutral appointee withdrew. Given how many calls were referred “upstairs” he was almost as busy as the on-field referees. Will have been mightily relieved he did not have to adjudicate on the series-deciding penalty. RK Abiding tour memory To wonder what might have been with 30,000 supporters in attendance. Cape Town is a beautiful city even in midwinter but there was something disturbing about seeing it so empty at times. Covid-19 has been devastating while riots and looting broke out elsewhere in the country mid-tour and with unemployment so high you could not help but wonder just how far the economic boon from a fully-attended tour would have gone, and if that was not considered by those who refused to entertain delaying the tour by a year it is to their shame. GM Anyone with a chance to do so should visit Robben Island. Nelson Mandela’s old cell is a stark reminder of the grim injustices of the apartheid era but it was the searing testimony of our guide, an ex-prisoner himself, that really resonated. “Here’s where we went on hunger strike” puts even the most Covid-disrupted rugby tour into instant perspective. RK Best quote(s) “No, I’m actually not Jaco Johan, I’m Johan Erasmus. I actually follow Jaco Johan, he’s a big supporter of us. He’s been feeding me some really good clips for a while now, things that I’ve actually used in the past. He’s a very big supporter, a really funny guy and I quite enjoy the things that he does.” Before things turned sour with an hour-long evisceration of the referee Nic Berry, Rassie Erasmus stole the show with bizarre if entertaining press conference in which he had to deny being behind a Twitter burner account as a not-so subtle way of bringing decisions he disagreed with into the public eye. The quote pretty much sums up a stranger-than-fiction second Test week. GM “You’re looking at him.” Liam Williams, asked to nominate the world’s best full-back under a high ball. “We want to see a change in mentality from our players in terms of speeding up the game. We want to see less ‘ball out of play’ and more action.” SA Rugby’s director of rugby Rassie Erasmus, 25 February 2021 RK Biggest disappointment Another obvious one but we must hope that this is the last major international series played out in empty stadiums. There are some advantages to the absence of supporters – particularly when you are sitting so close to the Springboks coaches – and hearing a fiercely pumped up Bundee Aki rallying the Lions troops in the first half of the last Test was a unique insight. But had the stadiums been packed to the rafters for all tour matches the warm-ups would have been significantly more animated and the Tests on another level entirely. GM The reluctance of many in South Africa to call out Erasmus for his social media and waterboy antics. Everyone was impressed by the way he steered the Springboks to World Cup glory in 2019 but trampling all over rugby’s values of respect was not a good look. Sometimes referees get it wrong and, just occasionally, so do leading coaches. RK My wish for 2025 … The Lions have insisted that if it wasn’t for the pandemic, the Springbok players would have been playing for their franchises and there would not have been so many one-sided drubbings. Warren Gatland and his coaches have highlighted how it hardly helped their preparation but for watching supporters the tour really didn’t come to life until South Africa A named a Test side in all but name. The worry is that there are similar issues in Australia in four years’ time so it is heartening to hear both the Wallabies and the Lions open to potential tour matches against the Pacific Island nations, something that would suit all parties. Little is to be gained by thrashing weakened sides by more than 50 points. GM A Lions itinerary with a refreshing twist. The days of routine walkovers over second-string state opposition are now over. What about a Test in Tokyo en route with either Fiji or a Pacific Island XV added to the fixture list, on the strict proviso that a decent slice of the tour profits go to the opposition and their unions? Or a British & Irish Lionesses tour, running in parallel with the men and perhaps featuring a Test series against a Rest of the World XV? It is time to start thinking more imaginatively. RK