The British & Irish Lions will play a rugby event against Japan in Edinburgh next June before embarking on an eight-game tour of South Africa.
It will be just the third home test for the Lions and the
first against Japan. Lions head coach Warren Gatland said the World Cup
quarter-finals would offer a tough test before his team faces World Cup
champion, South Africa, in a three-round series.
"We saw Japan play excellent rugby during the World Cup
and they will come to Edinburgh fully motivated to win," Gatland said.
"They are a talented team playing high-paced rugby, so it will be a good
challenge for us before the tour and an opportunity for the team of the day to
raise their hands for the test selection."
Japan's head coach Jamie Joseph said the June 26 game would
be an "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our players, and we can't wait
for it to come."
British
& Irish Lions
The British and Irish Lions played in Cardiff against a World
XV in 1986 and Argentina in 2005. The Lions team made up of players selected
from the so-called local nations of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales,
generally tour the southern hemisphere every four years. The first of the 13
tours to South Africa was in 1891.
The Lions will kick off their 2021 tour with a game against
the Stormers in Cape Town on July 3. The series of three tests will begin in
Johannesburg on July 24.
South Africa announced last week that it was withdrawing
from the 2020 Rugby Championship that would begin in Australia due to concerns
for the well-being of the players following the long break from the COVID-19
pandemic. The Springboks have not played an international game since defeating
England in the final of the Rugby World Cup in Japan last November.
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