BRITISH LIONS TO AUSTRALIA, NEW ZEALAND AND CANADA, 1966

The 1966 British Lions tour to New Zealand and Australia was epic. The team were away for five months and would play 35 games in total. That was ample time for the wheels to fall off and for the tourists to descend into dysfunctional chaos.

The Lions arrived in New Zealand unbeaten through eight games in Australia and were moderately confident about what they could achieve. But the standard they encountered across the Tasman was considerably higher and indeed, dirtier. The Lions were rattled by the physical approach of the New Zealanders, which was often well over the mark.

After the game against Canterbury, Lions captain that day, Jim Telfer, said: “I am not going to say today’s game was dirty, because every game we have played in New Zealand has been dirty.”

But it wasn’t just the filth that split the Lions. They played 25 matches, winning 15, drawing two and losing eight. As they lost more, divisions between players occurred and team manager Des O’Brien disappeared for a few weeks to holiday in Fiji.

While he was away, coach John Robbins ruptured his Achilles and the squad was basically training itself.

What also became apparent was that Lions captain, Scotland’s Michael Campbell-Lamerton, wasn’t actually good enough to merit a test place. Everyone could see that and after the Lions lost the first test, CampbellLamerton dropped himself for the second.

The four-nil loss in the test series illustrated the gap in quality between the two sides and the unhappiness in the Lions set-up.