Lions have a mountain to climb

OPINION: The British and Irish Lions are not the sort of rugby team you feel sorry for. But you could. At a pinch.

They really do face the rugby equivalent of climbing Mount Everest over the next five and a-bit weeks in New Zealand. In their jandals.

Everything is stacked against them. And everybody.

Steve Hansen will name a squad off 33 to face the Lions next Thursday.

But the true number will be north of 200 in terms of the full Kiwi assault on Warren Gatland’s tourists.

Make no mistake, another All Blacks series success over the combined might of the four Home Unions will be a collective effort.

And if the five Kiwi Super Rugby franchises and the special entity that is New Zealand Maori do their job, then the task facing Hansen’s chosen test warriors will be exponentially easier. This itinerary is stacked against the tourists. It is designed to sap them of confidence.

But don’t take my word for it. Here is Sir Graham Henry who knows a thing or two about coaching both the Lions and the All Blacks:

‘‘It’s probably the most difficult itinerary in the history of rugby union,’’ Henry told me. ‘‘There is no harder itinerary than this one. They’re virtually playing nine test matches – the five franchises, New Zealand Maori and the three tests. The [Kiwi] franchises are head and shoulders above the other franchises around the Sanzaar nations.’’

And then Henry explains what it means for the tourists.

‘‘Momentum is very important in sport. If these guys don’t have a lot of success before the first test match they won’t have that momentum and it will be a negative. I don’t think they can ignore the franchises. They need to get out there and get a positive result, and gain confidence and momentum going into that first test match.’’

Of course the schedule was set long ago. And the degree of difficulty has been well raked over. But it is only now about to become a reality for Gatland and his men.

New Zealand rugby does a lot of things right in this professional era. You have to in order to achieve the unprecedented dominance the All Blacks have in international rugby.

Kiwi rugby’s strength has always been its system which remains light years ahead of the chasing pack. Everything is designed to ultimately benefit the All Blacks. The age-grade teams feed into the provincial tier which feeds into Super Rugby. At the end of that Hansen gets a group of men who have spent years learning the style and skills needed to excel in the black jersey.

But the New Zealand rugby system is more than just a welloiled talent production machine. Though it is most certainly that as All Black contenders pop out with uncanny frequency.

It is a co-ordinated, unified entity that works for a common goal. In this case it will be to defeat the Lions.