The hosts of a Lions tour are going to be less well prepared for the series than the touring side for the first time in the professional era, according to Donal Lenihan.
The British and Irish Lions will play eight games in South Africa between July and August, as well as a match against Japan in Edinburgh next month, with the highlight of the trip will be the three tests against the Springboks.
While the hosts of these tours - rotated between Australia, New Zealand and South Africa - usually have the advantage of the knowledge of playing with one another, that is not the case this time around.
Covid-19 has meant that South Africa haven't played a test since they beat England in the World Cup final in Yokohama in November 2019. They pulled out of last year's Rugby Championship over concerns related to the pandemic.
For Lenihan, speaking on the RTÉ Rugby Podcast, this presents an advantage to Warren Gatland's visiting northern hemisphere side.
"Every time the Lions go on tour you go with one hand tied behind your back," he said.
"It's a race against time, you're cramming - like a student in the night before the Leaving Cert. That's the way the coaches have to approach it.
"But this time, for the first time certainly in the professional era, the opposition are probably less prepared than the Lions. Right now Rassie Erasmus doesn't know when he's going to get a lot of his overseas players back to South Africa.
"It depends on their involvement in the domestic game in Japan, Ireland, England and France. His squad are scattered to the four winds - they haven't been together since the World Cup.
"Secondly he would have hoped that some of his guys based in South Africa would have been involved in games in the Rainbow Cup and that they would have played against opposition outside of their own country.
"So we have a scenario where not one of the Springbok's squad have played in an international test since 2 November 2019. They're in as much of a scramble for that opening test as the Lions are.
"They were to have warm-up tests against Italy and the USA but they've been scrapped. Now they're hoping to get two tests against Georgia.
"So the whole thing is a race against time."
While Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales have played two Six Nations tournaments since the tournament in Japan 18 months ago, the players won't play together - outside of training matches - until that clash with the Cherry Blossoms at Murrayfield.
According to Lenihan the Lions will have to be wary of a South Africa side playing their first home games since claiming the sport's top prize.
"There'll be an emotional energy with the Springboks, given what they achieved at the World Cup (and) given the impact it had back in South Africa.
"The fact that they haven't come together since then - I think that emotional energy and that will to do well against the Lions could supersede the best coaching and the tactical approach.
"That's the unknown factor in this tour and that's why, for me, it makes it one of the most intriguing test series that we've seen for a long time."
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