# LionsFuture
We asked you what must change on future Lions tours.
Lewi Clarke Northern hemisphere leagues need to be rescheduled and Lions should spend extra four weeks together @JohnTheCoach1 Select squad several months earlier, with designated windows for team prep throughout the year @ theboy2306 Tour countries where games are needed. Pacifi c Island tours would be amazing and help keep their talent @ realityrose Fans need to be able to watch it on terrestrial TV, even if it’s just highlights Mark O’Connell Defo a warm- up game needed. They have done it in the past. Why not make it in the UK before they leave? @Joevinten1 Announce the squad later so that half of it isn’t injured when it comes to the actual tour Roy McHugh Appoint a coach who isn’t double-jobbing. Will avoid calling up own players for future development Sabelo J Dlamini Shorter or better northern seasons. Tired of: “If the Lions don’t get time to prepare, call the tour off”
AT VARIOUS stages of the summer, the mob has had their flaming torches and pitchforks out. When the Lions named their squad; when the Lions struggled at the start; when the call-ups came in.
It’s easy to dismiss these. Those first two examples come down to subjectivity and circumstance. The last point, though, raised serious questions about this tour, with former Lions captain and 2001 tour manager Donal Lenihan telling BBC 5live: “I just think that it impacts on the whole ethos of being a Lion… it doesn’t sit well.”
Following this tour, we must answer the question: What will happen to the Lions in the future?
Memories of past visits can fade. In 2005, it was suggested the Lions might die. We are back in New Zealand but we mustn’t forget all these experiences, good and bad. Forget the results for a second – this is about much-needed changes to ensure the Lions continue to have a valued place in the modern game. With nothing yet agreed for the 2021 tour to South Africa, this is the time to make big shifts.
The suggestion here is not that the Lions will die
– it is such a fierce commercial beast now that the possibility is hugely unlikely anyway – but some wounds have been exposed. After the 2013 triumph in Australia, the management sent in a report asking for the midweek match just days before the first Test to be scrapped. It was not. Then here Liam Williams was selected to start against the All Blacks after 80 minutes against the Chiefs on the Tuesday. No matter how fit the player, that is far from ideal.
Neither is the lack of preparation – the Lions have stressed that they needed more time together in order to prepare. Domestic finals have been a hurdle and the team rolling into the first game with jet-lag may sound feeble, but we’re in the age of one percenters. For 2021, the Premiership and Pro12 finals must be pulled forward, away from the Lions’ departure date. Then the playing schedule must be addressed.
The Lions will lose something if there is a cull of fixtures and destinations, closer to a three-match Test series. No one wants that; it must feel like a proper tour. But axe the game so close to the opening Test and ensure all matches are against quality opposition. This tour had probably the hardest-ever schedule but tougher fixtures are hugely beneficial.
As for call-ups based on geographical proximity rather than playing merit, there needs to be a closer look at public outrage. You can’t keep telling those who buy the shirts and tickets that they need to just accept players coming in who are glorified bag-holders with a snowball’s hope in Haiti of making a Test. If you can take that heat, you are strong enough to announce the squad of 47 you clearly wanted.
From now on the Lions must be ruthless in boardrooms on both sides of the world. n
THE PREMIERSHIP AND THE PRO12 FINALS MUST BE P U L L E D F O RWA R D