Famous five weigh in on ‘ greatest

Legends divided on how first test will go but agree tour is a treasure

Here they are, five immaculately attired legends of the oval ball.

Mix and match their talents and experiences and you compile a rugby CV to top them all.

All five of them were World Cup winners, two of them multiple. There were two head coaches of Wales, two head coaches of the Lions and two head coaches of the All Blacks.

Two of them have held the record for most All Black test caps ( one of them still does).

One of them has played for the Lions and, er, England. Two of them have played against the Lions and England.

There are two knights of the realm. There will be more to follow.

Four of them are beloved in New Zealand, one maybe not so much.

But all five — Sir Graham Henry, Sir Clive Woodward, Steve Hansen CNZM and High Chief of Vaiala, Sean Fitzpatrick ONZM and Richie McCaw ONZ — are perched on a pew inside St Matthew- in- the- City chewing the fat ahead of an AIG corporate event that foreshadows the test series.

All have been at the forefront of the professional rugby revolution. They have as many differences between them as similarities but the thing they all agree on is this: they cannot wait for the phoney war to end tonight and for hostilities proper to commence.

The All Blacks and Lions meet at Eden Park tonight, a ground the home side has not lost at for 23 years, in the first of three breathlessly anticipated tests.

The series, the biggest rugby event outside the World Cup, according to all five, is being billed not just as a clash of the t wo best teams in the world, but almost as a clash of cultures. There’s the catch- and- pass, counter- attacking prowess of the All Blacks and the more prosaic, setpiece orientated Lions.

“Those contrasting styles are magnificent for the game and I’m really looking forward to seeing who comes out on top,” says Henry.

When asked to assess the strength of the Lions, McCaw, who played two of his world- record 148 tests under The All Blacks start favourites but the Lions are getting better. It’s the two best teams in the world out there playing [ tonight] so it should be fabulous. No. Look, potentially they’re good enough to win a test but they’ll need the All Blacks to not play very well and they’ll need to play the best they’ve played. To do that three weeks in a row is a major challenge. It’s hard to see the Lions winning two out of three but you never know. That first test, if the conditions are rubbish and it gets tight, if the Lions win that first one it changes the whole dynamics of pressure. I’d be surprised but hey, that’s why we go and watch. The answer’s yes. They’ve got a good squad and have certainly got better week by week. Their forward pack, I think they’ll fancy their chances . . . in the scrum and lineout. I always think if you’ve got a good forward pack and guys who kick their goals, you’ve got a good chance in a test match. Tana Umaga in the 2005 series, points to their increasingly well- honed systems.

“What they’re really good at is . . . getting field position and then building pressure by not allowing the other team to play,” he said.

“I did wonder if they had the midfield to put pressure on themselves but they’ve shown that with good ball they can be dominant.”

Woodward ran his eye over this version of the All Blacks and couldn’t escape the feeling things were not much different from when he led that ill- fated 2005 expedition.

“New Zealand teams are always going to score tries,” he said. “The Lions are going to have to score tries too. The All Blacks are favourites but I give the Lions every chance.”

Henry has described the Lions’ schedule in New Zealand as “suicidal” and the itinerary has been heavily criticised by those in charge of professional rugby in the north as being potentially too damaging to clubs.

It raises the question as to whether there is a realistic long- term future for the Lions.

“There has to be,” McCaw says. “It is one of the special things in world rugby that you look forward to every four years and in New Zealand’s case every 12 years. I’m not sure the