Become extinct within next 12 years

removed from their familiar comfort zone. The Lions are different. And that is what makes it special. That is why people are interested the length and breadth of the various countries.

Now tell me who contested the 2017 Aviva Premiership final? And the Pro12 final? Struggling? You probably are unless you are a Wasps, Exeter, Munster or Scarlets fan. Exeter won an extra-time gripper 23-20, thanks to a Gareth Steenson penalty. In Dublin a bloke by the name of Liam Williams helped the Scarlets to a 46-22 victory against Munster.

On Saturday, Williams set off upfield with only black shirts in his way and the try-line no more than a shimmer. But sport affords possibility above all other things, the opportunity for audacity and nerve and blissful self-expression. And so it came to pass – ‘The Try from the End of the World’ Mark II. It has been dubbed that (the sequel to the 1994 original Jean-luc Sadourny effort) because it was vivid and meaningful. The try was savoured by millions, from live at the stadium through the various organs of conventional and social media.

There have been similar tries in many a Premiership or Pro 12 game. Are they the talk of the sporting world? No. The Lions, though, have reach and impact.

That is why it matters that the very notion of a Lions tour is under such grievous threat. It is my belief that the Lions will be finished within the next 12-year cycle. There are too many external pressures piling in on them.

They are under assault from the English clubs in particular. Even though it has not yet been formally ratified, the five-week, eight-game Lions tour is a fait accompli. If that does come into existence for the next Lions tour in 2021 to South Africa, it will be a Lions tour in name only. It will not be a proper Lions tour as it compromises the fundamental principle of fair selection by having enough games in which to prove yourself worthy of Test selection. Even this 10-game trip has stripped it back to bare bones audition time.

You might as well select 35 players back home and be damned. Play a three-test series. But do not their own turf and their own assets, the players. But to see the Lions tour as an irritant, an anomaly, a pain in the backside, is wrong. If it really is all about money, as Rowe says, there must be a deal that can be struck.

But here is the thing. The clubs are short-changing their own players and their own fans if they allow the Lions to wither and die through their own misgivings and obstructionist tactics.

Certainly no player I have ever come across has dismissed the Lions as an anachronism. Quite the opposite. These are the sort of experiences that fire their imagination when they are kids.

The Lions have real significance. They raise the profile of the sport to a level that many multinational companies investing a lot of money on promotion would die for.

And yet there are those in the clubs who deem the concept bad for business. Short-termism and self-interest must not be allowed to rule. Protect the Lions.