The Lions settled into their remote, luxurious, biosecure coastal base outside Cape Town yesterday and began hastily preparing for what might become an unofficial first Test on Wednesday.
Following their 71-31 rout of the Sharks at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria on Saturday night, the tourists escaped the Covid hotspot of Gauteng and flew south, minus five of their party who remain in isolation in Johannesburg.
Attack coach Gregor Townsend — Warren Gatland's assistant — has to stay behind for a further 72 hours, along with a player and three other staff members.
British and Irish Lions coach Warren Gatland (above) has a real test coming up in his next game
The Lions have been in fine try-scoring form
It is not what the Lions wanted, but they are learning to adapt to this virus-stalked crusade in South Africa. The next complication could be a steep rise in on-field intensity, given the way the schedule for this week is taking shape.
Gatland had thought that fixtures might be switched so that his squad would take on the Stormers in their next outing, but instead they could be confronted by a shadow Springboks side, in the guise of South Africa A.
The Boks emerged from their six-day lockdown to resume training yesterday, despite the outbreak spreading to captain Siya Kolisi and five of his team-mates.
There have now been more than 20 positive cases in the home camp, with Kolisi joining head coach Jacques Nienaber in being withdrawn from hands-on duties.
But Sportsmail understands that 36 players were available for training on Sunday, and, provided further tests come back negative, their fixture against the Lions on Wednesday will go ahead.
Nominally, it will be South Africa A, but it is likely that many senior men will appear under that banner.
After the second of their two warm-up Tests against Georgia was cancelled, the Springboks need game-time to establish some cohesion between combinations that have been mothballed since the World Cup triumph in 2019.
Influential figures such as Sale scrum-half Faf de Klerk and Toulouse wing magician Cheslin Kolbe have not represented their country since their night of glory in Yokohama 20 months ago, so it would be logical for Nienaber to want to give them a run-out.
The A team will be drawn from the Springbok squad, so it could be a
