Former Springboks captain Bob Skinstad has ended his first season involved in French rugby by calling for the British and Irish Lions to tour France.
Skinstad, co-owner of Beziers, saw his club miss out on the Pro D2 play-offs in agonising fashion after conceding a late bonus point try to Montauban in their penultimate game.
The result meant Montauban pipped them to the last post-season spot, and the Tarn-et-Garonne outfit have gone on to stun the nation by winning away at higher-ranked Colomiers and Brive to set up a final against top seed Grenoble this Saturday.
Despite Beziers falling short, Skinstad has been bowled over by the passion for the game in a country where the top three leagues are ultra-competitive and magnificently supported.
Lions in France
It has led him to wonder just how incredible a Lions tour to France could be if the best of British and Irish rugby could be persuaded to break with tradition and add a new destination to their touring rota.
Skinstad said: “A Lions tour to France would be one of the biggest occasions in the history of rugby. I think it would be absolutely amazing.
“It came up in a conversation I was having the other day. Absolutely I’d like to see it. The intense passion for the game in France and the fact the Six Nations is watched by more in France than in any other country, just shows how well it would be received.”
This is not as far-fetched as some might think. The Lions, who have not played in France since a non-cap game in 1989 to help celebrate the bicentennial of the French Revolution, are in talks about playing Les Bleus to launch their 2029 tour of New Zealand.
The proposed match would act as a curtain-raiser, in the same way Argentina playing the Lions in Dublin two weeks on Friday is for the upcoming tour to Australia.
“That would be great, but a tour would be even better,” added Skinstad. “Can you imagine some of the midweek games? It would be an amazing opportunity.”
The idea was mooted by Rugby World, the sport’s best-selling magazine, in 2023. Alan Dymock, then the editor, wrote “France 2023 was a Rugby World Cup not without issues, but it was another fine demonstration of just how much France loves its rugby. It loves the sport almost as much as the Lions have grown to fear change.
“From a purely rugby point of view, a Lions tour in France would have a fixtures list packed with meaningful matches. Mid-weekers or early weekends against Toulouse, La Rochelle, Bordeaux, Toulon, Racing 92, Clermont and others would be incredible.
“Playing a match in Bayonne, say, against a Spain, Portugal or Iberian side of the two combined would be amazing. And then the Tests – imagine a rocking Stade de France, a frenzied Velodrome in Marseille, a jumping Lyon. You could catch that Zombie feeling every game.”
Dymock’s piece was received enthusiastically, the accompanying tweet viewed 500,000 times. Benjamin Kayser, France star turned respected pundit, wrote an accompanying sidebar championing the idea.
“The British and Irish Lions is an institution, and we adore it,” he opined. “We tour for the adventure, for the thrill, for the quality of rugby, yes – but also for the amazing fan experience and being confronted by the best.
“If you want to package an amazing destination, regional pride, a lot of cultural diversity and, at the moment, quality rugby, that’s France. France bring something different to the table. I think it could be absolutely extraordinary.””
Skinstad, who played against the 1997 Lions as a 21-year old for Western Province, insists the blend would have to be right.
Describing himself as “relatively progressive in my thinking but also a traditionalist”, he added: “I love the concept of the Lions and I wouldn’t want it to suddenly be bastardised. You know, there’s a Lions match every second week, and suddenly, it’s overplayed.
“It would have to be a very careful and calculated evolution of the brand and possibly the competition style that they take on. But there’s a real opportunity to get all of these things right now, because there’s a bit of conjecture about the game.
“There’s lots of traveling and tourism and a whole bunch of things that come with the Lions. You can’t throw that out, the baby with the bath water type of stuff. But I do think there’s an evolution that could happen.”
It would be some story, but that is for another day. Right now it is Montauban, a club 30 miles to the north of Toulouse which last played in the Top 14 in 2010, which has rugby-mad France agog.
Well-timed charge
An unremarkable regular season saw them lose 13 of their 30 games. But they timed their charge beautifully, their semi-final win over Courtney Lawes’ Brive as emphatic as it was unexpected.
“It is sad for me to say, as part of Beziers, but they were fitter and stronger than we were when we played them,” admitted Skinstad. “Against us they had a lot of faith in their fitness and their conditioning. They definitely looked to outlast us and it worked.
“They have gone up another level since then. Winning two knockout matches on the road is some achievement. Can they now beat Grenoble? They’re good enough, but Grenoble has been the outstanding side in the league.
“Either way, it’s a fitting way to end a season that, for me, has been fantastic; an absolute joy to witness.”
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Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/ex-springboks-captain-urges-british-irish-lions-to-capitalise-on-potentially-the-biggest-occasion-in-the-history-of-rugby
