The key questions to emerge from British and Irish Lions’ tour to South Africa

The British and Irish Lions ended their tour of South Africa with a 2-1 series loss sealed by Saturday’s 19-16 defeat at Cape Town Stadium.

Here the PA news agency looks at some questions emerging from the aftermath of the event.

Are South Africa worthy winners?

Over the course of the three Tests, South Africa edged it and produced the only truly dominant period of rugby when they took ownership of the second half of the second Test, scoring 21 unanswered points. Given the major outbreak of Covid that severely disrupted their build-up and the injuries sustained to key players such as Duane Vermeulen and Pieter-Steph du Toit, they had to overcome adversity to deservedly clinch the series, although the Lions will always be haunted by the opportunities to claim the series for themselves.

What happens now?

The Irish Lions are able to quarantine at home, but as they are returning from a red list destination the English, Welsh and Scottish players will spend 10 days in Jersey where they will be joined by their families before reaching their final destinations. Warren Gatland heads to his native New Zealand on Sunday where he will quarantine in a hotel for 14 nights and then resume as Waikato Chiefs coach. England players begin a mandatory 10-week stand down period consisting five weeks rest away from their club and five weeks of being unavailable for selection. South Africa boss Rassie Erasmus, meanwhile, faces a misconduct charge from World Rugby for his unprecedented attack on the officials from the first Test as his Springboks immediately embark on their Rugby Championship campaign.

What has the tour done for the Lions?

What has it done for rugby?

Possibly the most toxic Lions tour of them all grabbed headlines for all the wrong reasons. Erasmus has emerged as rugby’s pantomime villain after he tore up the etiquette of using the traditional media to send messages to referees by instead releasing online a staggering hour-long critique of the officials’ performance from the second Test. It worked too as a week later they spent an inordinate amount of time consulting the TMO to make sure they got calls right. And if Erasmus’ scheming felt like it trampled over an unwritten code, then the tactics used by both teams had even purists reaching for the off switch on their remotes. Some rugby finally broke out in the final Test when Finn Russell stepped on to the pitch, but the series was hardly a showcase for the sport. Even former South Africa boss Peter de Villiers described the side he once coach as “very, very boring”.

Will Gatland lead the next tour?