Sport, sport and more sport

“TOO much of a good thing is bad for you.”

That is what our grandmothers used to say way back, and in many ways it applies to international sport these days.

There are so many T20 or ODI cricket internationals, for example, that they kind of all blur together.

There have even been calls to make the Rugby Championship a bi-annual tournament, so that the magic of a Springbok-All Black Test does not just become routine. The sporting calendar is just too overcrowded.

But tomorrow’s first Test between the All Blacks and the British Lions is something that will raise the heartbeat of even the most jaded rugby fan.

And it has all to do with the fact that a battle between the red jerseys and the black jerseys is not something that happens every year. The last time the Lions were in New Zealand was in 2005. That’s why tomorrow’s date has been circled with a thick red pen by rugby lovers across the globe.

The All Blacks, of course, have been setting the pace and inventing the trends in rugby for quite some time now, but the Lions will be fuelled by a mixture of pride and a thirst for revenge. In 2005, the Lions were whipped 3-0, but to this day pundits and fans wonder what the outcome of the series would have been if talismatic Lions skipper Brion O’Driscoll was not injured in the first few minutes of the first Test after a controversial spear tackle by Tana Umaga and Kevin Mealamu.

The Lions had a shaky start to the tour, but they have recovered nicely, with good wins over the Crusaders, the Chiefs and the Maori All Blacks. And of course there has been a nice spicy war of words between the coaches, Warren Gatland and Steve Hansen.

At the moment, the weather forecast for Auckland looks a bit grim, but come hail, wind, sunshine or moonshine, the rugby world will stop and turn its eyes towards a long white cloud at 9.35am South African time tomorrow morning.

Don’t miss it.