VIDEO: Brutal reminder of what awaits in 2021

WATCH as we bring you a timely reminder of just how brutal the 2021 series between South Africa and the British & Irish Lions could be.

The hype surrounding the Lions tour to South Africa next year will be stepped up the closer we get to 2021.

The clash between Warren Gatland's tourists and the country that Rassie Erasmus guided to 2019 World Cup glory is keenly anticipated - and if it's in any way as epic as what happened when the Lions last toured South Africa, it will be fantastically received.

Former England and Lions midfielder Will Greenwood has been doing his bit to ramp up interest with a tweet showing footage of Brian O'Driscoll's concussive collision with Danie Rossouw in 2009.

In the TV commentary, pundit Stuart Barnes claimed at the time that the game-stopping second-Test tackle "is the sort of hit from one of your players that lifts players. That's brilliant play from O'Driscoll."

Eleven years on, Greenwood said: Holy S*** - Remember this hit!!! One of the most brutal test series you will ever witness!!"

Irishman O'Driscoll wasn't inclined to agree, though, tweeting a reply emphasising how he doesn't remember the collision that so excited Greenwood. "Not so much," he said.

The 61st-minute clip from a match the Springboks went on to dramatically win to clinch the Test series sparked a huge debate on Twitter about the legality of the tackle and whether it would be carded with the increased vigilance of the current game, whether O'Driscoll was onside when he first started his run-up towards Rossouw, and how in the current climate of player safety it is wrong to be 'celebrating' an incident that left two players injured with concussion.

Source: TheLionsrugby2009