BRITISH LIONS TO NEW ZEALAND, 2005

The 2005 British Lions probably got just about everything wrong. They took too many players – 45. They took too many of the wrong players – ageing Englishmen who had been in their prime at the 2003 World Cup but beyond their best by 2005. And they had the wrong gameplan if they were serious about beating the All Blacks.

New Zealand had shown at the end of 2004 that they had developed a continuity game built on the skill, speed and athleticism of their forwards and, in Daniel Carter, they had a supremely talented playmaker pulling it all together.

But Lions coach Clive Woodward had an idea he could beat the All Blacks up with setpiece rugby and grind them down. The Lions could barely beat modest provincial sides with that style and as the tour developed, fringe players became bored and disgruntled. They were there to hold tackle bags and more than half the squad felt like they didn’t have a chance of making the test team.

There was unhappiness about the number of meetings and structured approach. The Lions came into the first test as massive underdogs and then everything fell apart when captain Brian O’Driscoll was injured in the first minute of the game and ruled out of the series. The incident which caused his injury was suspect – it looked like foul play by the All Blacks but there was no citing.

That left the Lions raging and nursing an even greater sense of injustice, but did them no good – as they were hammered 48-18 in the second test and then well beaten again in the third.

They limped home, broken and bitter – having lost the series 3-0.