Johannesburg (AFP)

Opportunistic winners of the first shock, the British and Irish Lions can already win their prestigious tour in South Africa in the event of a new victory, Saturday in Cape Town, against vindictive world champions, very upset against arbitration.

The Lions, stunning last weekend after being dominated for a long time (22-17), have planted their fangs in the Springboks and no longer hear their prey let go.

"We don't want to give them a chance to get back into the game," said Warren Gatland, manager of the 'All Stars' team of top England, Scotland, Welsh and Ireland this week.

Their quadrennial tours of the Southern Hemisphere are followed in the British and Irish Isles with as much - if not more - interest than the Rugby World Cup.

Four years after a series without a winner in New Zealand (one win on each side and a draw), the Lions are only 80 minutes away from a prestigious success, which would be their first since 2013.

But South Africa, reigning world champion, intends to extricate itself from the mouth of the Lions and offer a "beautiful" on August 7 during their third and last test match.

"We no longer have a choice: we absolutely have to win to keep a chance of winning the tour," summed up South African coach Jacques Nienaber.

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Since their 2019 world coronation in Japan, the Springboks have only played two games because of the Covid pandemic, earlier this month against Georgia (40-9 victory) and last week against the Lions.

Caught up in recent weeks by the health crisis, with several contaminations having caused the cancellation of one of their preparation matches, they did not go the distance during the first test, but the automatisms should be consolidated after an additional week of collective work.

- Referees under pressure -

The two breeders have made some alterations in their compositions, with three changes on either side.

Preferred to the Scottish Ali Price, the Irish scrum half Conor Murray will bring his experience to the Lions, in which will also begin this time the English left pillar Mako Vunipola and the Scottish three-quarter center Chris Harris.

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Two of the three changes made in the South African starting XV concern the first row, with the tenure of the pillars Steven Kitshoff and Frans Malherbe, while the inexperienced Jasper Wiese (25 years old, 1 selection) will be aligned from the start in third line.

All eyes will also be on the referee of the meeting, New Zealander Ben O'Keeffe, indirectly put under pressure all week by the South African camp.

Former coach Rassie Erasmus, now manager of the Springboks after leading them to the world title, did not appreciate the performance of his colleague Nic Berry at the whistle during the first shock and did not hesitate to let it be known.

First strongly suspected of having created a fake Twitter account to denounce his disputed decisions, according to him, he hit the nail on the head Thursday in a video monologue of more than an hour returning point by point to his reproaches to the refereeing body.

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He considers in particular that the Australian official did not lend to the South African captain Siya Kolisi an ear as attentive as that of the Lions Alun Wyn Jones.

"I had the feeling of having been completely despised. I don't think I had the opportunity to fairly express my point of view," Kolisi said at a press conference on Friday.

At the heart of the debates this week, Nic Berry will officiate again Saturday in Cape Town as assistant to Ben O'Keeffe.

© 2021 AFP