Thursday 5 December 2019 11:05, UK
British and Irish Lions boss Ben Calveley says they are "working around" the Premiership final taking place just seven days before a 2021 South Africa tour opener.
Lions head coach Warren Gatland has already voiced concerns about having sufficient preparation time with his squad.
But Premiership Rugby confirmed on Wednesday that the 2021 final would not be brought forward - unlike the PRO14 final.
"The 2021 Gallagher Premiership rugby final will be on 26 June at Twickenham Stadium, as we reconfirmed to the Lions some weeks ago," a Premiership Rugby spokesperson said.
"Talks are not ongoing over this issue, and we are glad to have the opportunity to confirm that so any doubts can be removed.
"In 2017, World Rugby's San Francisco Agreement set out a new global calendar to run until 2032, which included the movement of the Premiership Rugby season into June, aligning with Super Rugby."
The Lions' eight-match itinerary sees an opening fixture against the Stormers in Cape Town going ahead on the Saturday after the Premiership final.
It could mean that Gatland will not have his full squad together potentially until departure day for South Africa, with a number of 2021 Lions likely to be involved at Twickenham.
Calveley said: "Things like dates for domestic competitions have been in place for some time now, so we have to work around what has been agreed previously.
"We do have a very good relationship with the stakeholders, PRL [Premiership Rugby Limited] and PRO14, and these are the clubs that provide the players for the Lions tour.
"We do have to be respectful of their position. What we are working to is the dates that were confirmed, which is there is a Premiership final on June 26 that year, so we are working around that.
"We have dialogue with them [Premiership Rugby] all the time.
"They, in my view, are supportive of Lions tours. They do work to try and make sure these things can be as successful as possible."
It is understood that as part of their tour build-up, the Lions would like to have played a significant fund-raising game before departure - potentially on June 26 and possibly against the Barbarians.
Calveley added: "We have made no secret of the fact that playing the home match is something we have always been interested in.
"But the reality is there are so many issues you would need to get over to make it happen that it still sits very much in that hypothetical category.
"If there was an announcement to be made around something like the home match, then we could have a conversation around what the benefits of that would be."
Two of the three Tests against newly-crowned world champions South Africa will be staged at altitude in Johannesburg, and there are no midweek games immediately before or between Tests.
"There were three things we were interested in," Calveley said.
"Firstly, to have a clear week before the Test matches; secondly, being able to travel round the country in a logical way.
"We begin at sea level before we gradually climb to altitude, rather than what has sometimes been done in the past when you've had to traverse the host country from side to side.
"Another thing for us was around altitude. That is always going to be an aspect when you play South Africa, but one of the positives of the schedule is that it gives us enough time to acclimatise properly."
