Former Lions manager Donal Lenihan says the Lions have put the ball firmly into South Africa's court after the possibility of hosting the tour in the UK and Ireland was ruled out.
Uncertainty surrounded the location of the proposed three-Test series over the last few months and the Australian Rugby Union had offered to host the event.
The possibility of games being staged in venues around Britain and Ireland had also been mooted, with reports claiming the UK government had been approached about financial guarantees if it was held in the UK.
"After reviewing information relating to the various contingency scenarios being considered, I can confirm that the Board's intended position is for the Tour to go ahead as scheduled in South Africa in 2021," said Lions chairman Jason Leonard yesterday.
The Tests are scheduled for 24 and 31 July and 7 August.
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Former Ireland and Munster lock Lenihan toured three times as a player with the Lions and managed the side on their 2001 tour to Australia.
"I think there’s a bit of silly buggers going on here," he told the RTÉ Rugby podcast.
"It’s very obvious to me. Look, they thought there was no way this tour could go ahead in South Africa because of all the Covid scenarios and the lack of vaccinations and all that sort of thing.
"They looked at the alternatives: Australia made an offer that they could go down there and tour – they ruled that out.
"The second one, that looked reasonably feasible at one stage, that you could host it in the UK and Ireland. The Ireland part was in doubt from the start because our vaccination situation isn’t as good as it is across the water.
"The key part of that was a guarantee from the British government that they would underwrite any losses if circumstances changed, and you couldn’t get your minimum of 25% of the capacity into [the various stadia].
"Why would the British government guarantee a Lions tour? Rugby, through the amateur and professional side, the RFU, have got something like €135million already from the British taxpayer.
"So why would they underwrite a potential loss on a Lions tour?
"To be fair to the Lions board, they looked at every avenue they could get to host a tour in the UK. It just wasn’t stacking up, so they’ve now gone back to the basics.
"The basics is the tour agreement [which] says that South Africa have to host a tour, that they are the hosts of the tour and we have to turn up.
"So I think the Lions have now said, 'okay lads, we’re turning up, we are picking a team, we’re going to South Africa, tells us how you are going to host it'.
"The bottom line is, I think, it’ll cost a minimum of €7 million to run the tour.
"If you don’t have crowds and the sponsors aren’t getting the exposure that they thought they were going to get, well then there is a very strong danger that the four home unions could lose their drawers on this at a time when all the unions are haemorrhaging money at the moment because of Covid.
"So they’ve passed the buck to South Africa, and South Africa are the host nation, so therefore they are quite entitled to say to them, 'okay lads, we are going to turn up, tell us how you are going to run it’.
"That’s exactly what’s happened, in my opinion."
Lenihan also questioned how the logistics of an extensive tour party from two different political jurisdictions would work, and wondered how would players feel about returning to another bubble environment following the Guinness Six Nations.
"How is this going to operate? he asked.
"[Are the players thinking] 'Am I going to be trapped in a hotel for another two months on tour in South Africa and I can’t go outside the door and have a coffee?’
"Are they going to vaccinate all the players? The UK players may be vaccinated by that period but there’s no guarantee that Irish players will be.
"You can’t organise a Lions tour in three months."
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