KIWIS’ TOUR WARNING

regard the tour as outdated and a drain on their resources. At the very least they want a bigger slice of the commercial revenue and have already won a battle, with future tours reduced from 10 to eight games. Yet doubts are still being raised over the Lions’ future — with Tew adamant the current international calendar depends on it. He added: ‘To argue that commercially the Lions brand hasn’t got legs or that the team isn’t good enough to compete in New Zealand has proven to be nonsense. ‘Much more complicated is that if we don’t have a Lions tour, the entire reciprocal arrangement between north and south falls apart. The money generated when we go north isn’t fairly balanced with the money when they come south, and the Lions tour equalises that. We make a lot of money, but it has to be spread over a 12-year period.’