B&I Lions could face All Blacks in 2021

NEWS: The British and Irish Lions could have a mouth-watering warm-up Test ahead of their South Africa tour in 2021.

Warren Gatland, who will be in charge of his third B&I Lions tour, has been looking for the right opponents to test his players before they embark on their tour.

Opponents that have been considered for the proposed warm-up match are the Maori All Blacks, Japan and the Barbarians.

However, a more high-profile opponent in the form of the All Blacks could be heading north for that match if Gatland has his way.

Gatland revealed that he has held discussions with the New Zealand Rugby chief executive, Mark Robinson. The Welsh coach believes a match against the All Blacks could generate up to £5 million.

The match could also be a potential decider after their drawn series in New Zealand in 2017.

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Gatland told The Breakdown Show on Sky Sports NZ: “I’ve spoken to Mark Robinson about a warm-up game for the Lions and he was potentially talking about the New Zealand Maoris as a game.

“But is it something that the All Blacks go up there for a decider at the end of June before we go off to South Africa?

“Potentially it’s an opportunity to make four or five million pounds from a game like that and put some money back into the coffers, that we’re going to need.

“Potentially there’s some opportunities for the world to come together in terms of how we get up and running again and generate as much revenue as we potentially can and don’t damage what we’ve got.

“With the July, August Test series due to be called off, do the Southern Hemisphere teams go up to the Northern Hemisphere in November and play in a round-robin tournament?

“If it’s revenue sharing, I think potentially there’s an opportunity to earn probably about £20million for each home nation if they did something like that.”

Source: WalesOnline, The Guardian & Sky Sports NZ