As Warren Gatland completed a successful tour of New Zealand for British and Irish Lions which ended in a 1-1 draw, we take a look on the probable contenders for the 2021 edition when they visit South Africa.
With the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour in the books and delivering in almost all ways imaginable, hopefully you can forgive us for already casting our eye forward to the 2021 tour of South Africa.
The 1-1 draw between British and Irish Lions in their recent New Zealand tour is only the second time that they were involved in a tied series with the first coming against South Africa in 1955 when the two teams played a four match series.
Patrick Lambie is in danger of missing the action for the remainder of the year after reports emerging of the fly-half unable to recover from a concussion.
England skipper Zach Mercer led from the front with the decisive try in the closing stages as the defending champions managed to edge out South Africa by 24-22 in the U20 Championship 2017 semi-final at Mikheil Meskhi Stadium on Tuesday.
South Africa Under-20 flanker Zain Davids has been handed a two game ban following his red card incident against Georgia in the recently concluded U20 Championship encounter at Avchala Stadium on Sunday.
Scotland Sevens went on to win the London Sevens tournament after managing a 12-7 victory over England Sevens team in the final of the World Rugby Sevens Series 2016/17 season.
South Africa's hopes of staging the 2023 Rugby World Cup received a shot in the arm after the government decided to lift the ban on hosting major sports events.
Fiji came up with a dominating performance in the final as they blanked South Africa 22-0 to win the Hong Kong Sevens. This was also the third consecutive time they clinched the Hong Kong Sevens after previously wining in 2015 and 2016 editions as well.
Japan came up with a four try performance as they defeated South Africa by 10-22 in the final in Hong Kong and secure a berth in the Women's Sevens series.
The World Rugby Women's Sevens Series Qualifying kicked-off on Thursday in Hong Kong with Japan, Belgium and South Africa topping the respective pools.
South Africa continued their terrific run in World Rugby Sevens series 2016-17 after they clinched the Las Vegas sevens by defeating Fiji 19-12 in the final.