It took 20 months but at long last the Springboks were back in action on Friday night when they beat a tough Georgia team in Pretoria, and the next day the British and Irish Lions played their first tour game, overwhelming the local Lions in Joburg.
The Boks versus Lions series has been eagerly awaited for so long, and on a number of occasions it looked like the tour would be called off due to the global pandemic, so to see both teams in action over the weekend was a massive shot in the arm for rugby in this country.
Many people said they would only believe this tour was on when they actually saw it, and at Loftus Versfeld we saw the Boks in their first action since the 2019 World Cup final.
Then the Lions laid down an emphatic marker at Emirates Airlines Park, where their high-octane brand of rugby was too much for the outclassed locals.
As expected, the Springboks were rusty for most of the first half of their game before rediscovering a semblance of the rhythm that made them world champions, and they blew away the eastern Europeans in the second half.
The Springboks’ coaching staff were pleased with what they got out of the game – a workout against difficult opposition, but also a reminder to the players that they have a mountain to climb if they are to win the first match of the three-Test series against the Lions on July 24.
And there would have been confirmation of the enormity of the challenge when the Boks watched the slick Lions in action the next day.
The Boks play a second Test against Georgia on Friday, and they know they have to substantially improve as the countdown to the Lions series begins in earnest.
The tourists play their second match on Wednesday, against the Sharks, and then play the Bulls on Saturday as their own warm-ups gather momentum.
For now, though, the rugby world should celebrate the mere fact that the Boks are back on the pitch and that the Lions have indeed made it to South African soil.
The Star