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Keith Wood: Lions tour should have been delayed for four years

Keith Wood believes that this summer's British and Irish Lions tour should have been delayed by f...



Rugby

Keith Wood: Lions tour should have been delayed for four years


Keith Wood believes that this summer's British and Irish Lions tour should have been delayed by four years.

Speaking to Monday Night Rugby, Wood said that the tour due to occur on these shores is a 'pale version' of the traditional tour.

Keith Wood on Lions tour

Wood opened up on whether this summer's tour is against the spirit of a touring side.

"I am conflicted on this in that I would like to see the Lions play. I don't think that the Lions are a team to be playing at home, I think they are a touring side.

"I would have delayed it by four years because if you delay it by just one year then it causes a huge amount of additional confusion in other parts of the game. I would have just pushed the whole schedule back four years and I think that would have been the best way to do it.

"Commercial concerns could mean that the Lions would need to pay back money that they probably don't have. They only make money at this period of time, they don't hold onto huge money. If this is the next best option, or the only other option, then maybe for financial reasons it has to happen.

"For me, I would have pushed it back four years."

Extraordinary

Wood believes that the confusion around the tour's logistics is to be expected.

"I think we have been trying to fit in every single bit of sport after the most extraordinary 12 months of all our existence. Nothing is normal. Yet we try and say that we can factor every single thing in - I'm not so sure about that.

"I love the Lions, so I want to see the Lions play. If they play here, then we'll watch them. Maybe that is necessary, that it absolutely has to happen to keep it in the schedule.

"Maybe it just absolutely has to be there. It is a pale version of what the Lions is usually but maybe that is what we have now and maybe we have to accept that."

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