First published in the Daily Maverick 168 weekly newspaper.

The Springboks will shift gear in the next seven days as Cheslin Kolbe and several other high-profile players return to South Africa after fulfilling their club commitments in Europe. It’s been 20 long months since the entire squad was together, and plans for the series against the British & Irish Lions will gather momentum as coach Jacques Nienaber takes stock of his charges and tweaks the team’s approach.

The global pandemic has prevented the Springboks from competing at Test level for the better part of two years. As many of the coaches and players have pointed out, the team will have to start from scratch and develop the necessary form and confidence before tackling the Lions in three epic Tests, the first of which is scheduled for 24 July.

Some of the players have been in camp for the past three weeks. Others have joined the group in Bloemfontein as they have been released by their franchises and clubs.

Game time key for Bok combos

Kolbe and Rynhardt Elstadt were expected to rejoin the set-up after featuring for Toulouse in the Top 14 final on 18 June. Meanwhile, Springbok assistant coach Deon Davids has confirmed that the Ireland-based duo of Damian de Allende and RG Snyman, who suffered superficial burns in a recent fire pit accident, have responded to treatment and should be back in action soon.

All that said, these latecomers – as well as No 8 Duane Vermeulen, who is recovering from a serious ankle injury – are unlikely to start in the first Test against Georgia at Loftus Versfeld on 2 July.

DM168 understands that Nienaber intended to pick his strongest available team for the two fixtures against Georgia and for the one-off between SA A and the Lions on 14 July. The South African coaches are determined to get the best combination back on the park sooner rather than later.

While many individual players have starred for their respective franchises and clubs in recent months, the Bok team haven’t competed as a unit for nearly two years. Kolbe, for example, plays in France while his back-three teammates, Willie le Roux and Makazole Mapimpi, compete in Japan’s Top League.

Lood de Jager has been based in England while other locks such as Eben Etzebeth (France) and Franco Mostert (Japan) have competed elsewhere. Faf de Klerk and Handré Pollard – the halfback pair who produced a tactical masterclass in the 2019 World Cup final – have been playing in England and France, respectively.

These combinations, and many others within a squad that boasts the bulk of the team that won the 2019 Rugby Championship and World Cup tournaments, are well established at Test level. But after nearly two years in the international wilderness, these combinations could use an extended opportunity to shake off the rust.

The Boks will run a similar race to the Lions in the coming weeks. Lions coach Warren Gatland should have a good idea about his best team for the three Tests against South Africa, but it’s only after the preliminary games against the Golden Lions, the Sharks, the Bulls and the Stormers that his match 23 will be finalised.

Gatland and Nienaber in same boat

Given the current situation, Nienaber will be in the same boat. He will know who should face the Lions later this month, but performances against Georgia and in the South Africa A fixture – not to mention the number of injuries in the squad – may well force a revision or two.

It’s for this reason that the two matches against Georgia, who are ranked 11th in the world, are especially important. Nienaber would have wanted to start the campaign with his strongest side, a combination resembling the team that beat England in the 2019 World Cup final.

Prop Tendai “Beast” Mtawarira and flank Francois Louw have retired, though, and their places in the match 23 will be up for grabs.

Vermeulen and De Jager are unlikely to recover from their respective injuries before the first game against Georgia at Loftus.

As Nienaber said recently, the late arrivals of Kolbe, De Allende and Snyman will jeopardise their selection chances – at least for the first match of the season.

The team for the season opener will differ from the team that started the 2019 World Cup final. Nienaber may be forced to experiment with new players, and it wouldn’t surprise to see Rosko Specman coming into the mix as a like-for-like replacement for Kolbe.

Four weeks down the line, after all the players have been successfully reintegrated, the make-up of the team may change again as the first Test against the Lions looms.

Covid takes a turn for the worse

To say it will be a Lions tour like no other is a gross understatement. Both sets of coaches will have their work cut out for them from a rugby perspective over the next six weeks.

How they manage the players in the respective bio-bubbles will also have a bearing on the outcome of the series.

SA Rugby continues to harbour hopes that 10,000 fans will be allowed through the stadium gates for the three Tests. That is extremely unlikely considering that tighter restrictions have been implemented in recent weeks and that the Covid-19 situation has taken a turn for the worse.

The inevitable third wave has arrived and the country looks set for a particularly tough winter. The number of Covid-19 cases has spiked and various reports suggest that hospitals – particularly in Gauteng – are battling to cope with the volume of patients.

The Boks have moved camp from Bloemfontein to Johannesburg ahead of the two matches against Georgia. The group has been vaccinated and will remain in a bubble before moving to Cape Town for the next part of their campaign.

Similarly, the Lions will remain in a bubble while in Gauteng, and will enter another secure environment after their tour moves to the Mother City. Both groups will return to Gauteng to prepare for the final two Tests, both of which will be staged at FNB Stadium.

All precautions have been taken to ensure that these environments will remain safe and secure. But how will the impact of the virus on the greater South African community affect the players, particularly those who have friends and family in Gauteng?

It’s just one of several unpredictable factors the Boks face in the 2021 Test season. DM168

This story first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick 168 newspaper which is available for free to Pick n Pay Smart Shoppers at these Pick n Pay stores.