Party like it’s 1973 .... ? It’s the stuff of dreams

IN a modern rugby world where the release of players resides at the heart of the political battleground, one idea being mooted in Auckland on Saturday night seemed like the stuff of fantasy.

No sooner had it been suggested than it was being scoffed at, knowing guffaws peppering the city air as Lions fans toasted a drawn series with the All Blacks that tempered celebrations by a couple of percentage points compared to the scenes victory would have spawned.

As honours had ended even at Eden Park, romantics, and those whose inhibitions had been dulled by alcohol, were asking could there possibly be any way of including a deciding Test into this autumn’s schedule?

Preposterous eh? Well not from a conceptual standpoint, no. While some traditionalists might argue that a drawn series should be left in the record books as just that, what could be more natural than wanting to extend one of the greatest duels the sport has ever seen?

The problem is that from a practical and realistic standpoint, the prospect of Warren Gatland picking a one-off Lions squad to take on New Zealand at, say, Twickenham this November, is miniscule. In fact, on the scale of likelihood, start at zero and work downwards.

For a start the Aviva Premiership clubs, already standing over the Lions in a hooded cloak and brandishing a scythe, would baulk at making their players available for a match outside of the official World Rugby Test window.

Then you would have the concern of the home nations themselves, all of whom have important games in their schedules, all of whom are building towards the 2019 World Cup, all of whom would want their best players spared the rigours of such a re-match.

And all this, of course, is before we get into how on earth any proper preparation time could be factored into the calendar, who should be selected and whether it should be the same players or different ones based on early season form.

Come to think of it, there’s no need to get into that because, like we’ve said, there’s no way this could happen. Or is there...

Admittedly it would require a slight tweak, a bit of imagination, a lorryload of slack cut by the powers-that-be and co-operation between competing interests the like of which rugby doesn’t normally do.

But if this alternative scenario were to become reality, interest among rugby fans across the UK would go into orbit. TV companies would fall over themselves to cover it, sponsors would have a field day, tickets would be the hottest in town, it would likely be an encounter for the ages... and you know what? It’s been done before.

When New Zealand toured the British Isles at the end of 1972, they did so seeking revenge for the humbling treatment Gareth, Barry, JPR and the rest had dished out to them in Lions jerseys the year before.

Having beaten Wales, the best side at the time, 19-16 in Cardiff on December 2, the tourists believed they had proved a point: they had wrestled back their status as the No.1 in the world.

Then the Barbarians named their side for the end-of-tour showpiece at Cardiff Arms Park on January 27, it was all but the Lions except in name.

All Blacks skipper Ian Kirkpatrick quickly realised what the game had now become, what was now at stake.

“This game is supposed to be a fanfare of rugby,” he moaned. “But I can see now that if we lose this one British rugby will be regarded as superior again.”

Given that the Baa-Baas XV was made up of seven Welshmen, three Englishmen, four Irish and a Scot, you could see where Kirkpatrick was coming from.

The 23-11 victory for the invitation side and the riotous length-of-thefield try finished off by Gareth Edwards that started it, needs no fresh recital.

It was a Barbarians triumph, sure, but the Lions context was everything, lending as it did a significance to the result not associated the famous old club.

Could it happen again in the pofaced professional age? Probably not. Make that 99.9% not. But you can’t look at New Zealand’s fixture with the Barbarians at Twickenham on November 4 without imagining it morphing into a Lions-All Blacks decider in everything but name.

The beauty about the Barbarians of course is that they can invite whoever they choose to play for them. The pity is that rugby’s statute book curtails their ambition in a way it never did in the early 70s when times were different.

This latest Lions-All Blacks installment was as compelling in its own way as many of the celebrated chapters that went before it.

It’s competitiveness harked back decades and the fact New Zealand didn’t win has given the exploits if the Lions class of 2017 a certain synnergy with that of 46 years earlier,

To enhance that synnergy with an unofficial decider ‘fourth Test’ in a few months to rival that 1973 day would be the stuff of dreams.

Exactly. Dreams.