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2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa

international rugby union tour

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 20, 2026
Entity authorityQ48798319 ↗
Source-derived summary

The 2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa was an international rugby union tour that took place in South Africa in July and August 2021. The British & Irish Lions, a team selected from players eligible to represent England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales, played a three-match test series against South Africa, and tour matches against three of South Africa's four United Rugby Championship teams and South Africa A.

The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted the tour, leading to numerous schedule changes and the matches in South Africa taking place without fans present. Before leaving for South Africa, the Lions beat Japan in a warm-up match at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh. They won all of their matches against the South African franchises, but lost to South Africa A.

South Africa won the test series by two matches to one. The Lions won the first test 22–17 on 24 July, but South Africa won the second test 27–9 a week later before winning the third test 19–16 with a late penalty on 7 August.

Warren Gatland was the Lions' head coach, making him only the second coach to lead the team on three consecutive tours. Alun Wyn Jones of Wales was the Lions' tour captain, but was injured in the home match against Japan on 26 June; he initially withdrew from the squad before returning three weeks later. Ireland's Conor Murray took over as captain during Jones' absence.

Schedule

The eight-match schedule was announced on 4 December 2019, and confirmed on 14 May 2021. The Lions also scheduled a home match against Japan for 26 June, the first time the teams had met, and the first game to be hosted by the Lions since they played Argentina at the Millennium Stadium in 2005.

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The public source identifies “2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa” as international rugby union tour. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around British, Irish and Lions.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—2021, 2019, 2005—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with British, Irish and Lions providing the first useful test.
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This entry incorporates text from “2021 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.