Lions tourist?An iron resolve, and carrying the water bottles

Allan Bateman, a player whose ability was matched only by his humility, was another who showed the right qualities after being squeezed in selection, with the tourists opting for the iron fist/velvet glove midfield pairing of Gibbs and Jeremy Guscott for the first two Tests in South Africa in 1997.

“Whether it was holding tackle bags, carrying water bottles or running rings around the opposition on the field for the Lions, he did it without complaint,” recalled Will Greenwood years later.

“I learned as much from Allan in four or five weeks than I did from any coach in the years after.”

Famously, in 1989 the midweek team skippered by Donal Lenihan became known as ‘Donal’s Donuts’. They were considered invaluable to the tour for putting pressure on the Test side and keeping standards high. local women. According to Phil Bennett in his autobiography, when Bobby Windsor heard such claims, “he demanded to know where these orgies were taking place and why he hadn’t been invited!” Windsor provided much of the light entertainment in 1974 and 1977 – though a number of bully-boy South African forwards he stood up to might disagree – while Richard Webster famously got on well with everyone in 1993 and John Bentley proved the off-pitch star turn four years later, with Andy Powell a hit in 2009. Back in 1971 Chico Hopkins had been the squad’s resident humorist. Moaners who drag others down are fatal to the success of a Lions trip. Those who have the ability to see the funny side of life – even on a wet Wednesday after a walloping in Waikato

This is tough because as Clive Rowlands, a selector in 1974 and tour manager in 1989, explains, “everyone gets a bit homesick on a Lions tour, especially in days gone by when trips could go on for three or four months.

“Even coaches and the tour manager will miss their wives and families a hell of a lot – of course they will.

“But you just have to deal with it and try to enjoy the experience of playing rugby in a different country alongside the very best players in the British Isles.”

In 1993 Gibbs found the English easy to deal with. “When I came back from the tour, everyone was asking me: ‘How were the English? Were they b ****** s?’

“To be honest, the English were the best and most professional on tour, the best to mix with.”

Jim Telfer has described some Welsh players back in the day as “cliquey and homesick”, while Scots and Irish players “bloomed”.

But it is surely an individual thing and something that is linked to circumstance.

Do have an iron resolve ...

You know you are doing something right when Jim Telfer praises you. The Scot has said of the 1997 tour: “Scott Gibbs was the most important player in the Lions party because inside centre was such a fulcrum position. I still remember they way he used to shout at the opposition ‘I’m gonna get you! I’m gonna get you!’.

Gibbs simply wasn’t going to return home a loser.

Jeremy Guscott, his midfield partner on that trip, later remembered the moments before the second Test, saying: “Johnno [Martin Johnson] pulled us into a huddle on the halfway line while we waited for the Springboks to come out and Gibbsy started jabbing the air shouting: ‘We have to smash them back. We have to play harder than we’ve ever played before’.

“Then he stared us all in the eye. ‘This is ours’.

Scary.

Don’t take a pop at the tour management or the opposition in a tour diary, however tempting...

This doesn’t work. Matt Dawson had his grievances with Graham Henry over a perceived harsh training regime in 2001, but was it the greatest idea to let the world know about them in print on the morning of the first Test against Australia, beneath the headline: “Harsh regime tears us apart”?

Probably not, all things considered.

Similarly, it might not have been Austin Healey’s best decision to provide his version of an encore on that trip, criticising Australia and their players.

Everyone’s for free speech and maybe the days of “what goes on tour, stays on tour” are behind us, but morale still matters and so does not giving the opposition a team talk.

Verdict

Asking the question ‘what makes a good Lions tourist?’ would probably provoke a different response in 1977 than in 2017.

Ireland’s Willie Duggan was a charismatic and dogged performer 40 years ago in New Zealand but he was a man who hated training, once saying: “Warm up? I’ll be all right there, because I’ve had the heater on in my car on the way up. I’m warm enough.”

That one would have gone down a storm with Graham Henry in 2001.

But let’s assume that Duggan would have been persuaded to go with the flow of the modern game.

Whatever, as the late Clem Thomas suggested, key requirements for touring with the Lions are ability, attitude and fortitude, the willingness to keep going in the face of adversity.

Going the extra mile for the team regardless of personal circumstances is key, along with the ability to get on with others.

Buying into the Lions ethos is also critical. Don’t quit, don’t moan, don’t fly solo. Also, enjoy it while it lasts. For a Lions tour is a point in time. No one has a guarantee they will go on one again.

Done properly it can be remembered as the time of a player’s life.

Done badly and it can seem never ending.

It really is important to get it right.