Lloyd Burnard | British Lions tour on the ropes, fighting for survival

"In the context of the loss of life and economic damage that Covid-19 and this third wave are wreaking, the cancellation of a rugby match is pretty trivial."

Those were the words of SA Rugby CEO Jurie Roux on Wednesday when cancelling Friday's match between the Springboks and Georgia at Ellis Park, and nobody can argue with him. 

This virus and its path of destruction, being felt so severely in Gauteng presently, quickly puts sporting matters into perspective, but for a rugby-obsessed South African public that has been starved of watching their national team throughout the pandemic, things are getting even worse.