LIONS TOUR ROAR
Rugby stars past and present on why the clash of the hemispheres is so momentous
TURNING into 2021 can only mean one thing for rugby fans — it is Lions year. So with fingers firmly crossed that the trip to South Africa goes ahead in July, Sportsmail spoke to an Englishman, an Irishman, a Welshman and a Springbok about the most famous tour in sport.
MATT DAWSON (right) 7 LIONS TEST CAPS; 1997, 2001, 2005 TOURS; 77 ENGLAND CAPS
I WAS 16 during the 1989 tour and had a poster of Finlay Calder holding a Lion on my wall — a friend of mine managed to go to Australia, and I was insanely jealous.
By 1993 I was playing for Northampton and Buck Shelford told the Daily Mail I should go on the tour as a leftfield pick, which blew my mind! I remember watching Ceefax when they announced the squad with a quarter of an eye checking if I’d made it — which was just ridiculous.
By 1997 Northampton were in the second division having been relegated, but had Lions boss Ian McGeechan as a coach. He told us we were still in contention for the Lions as he wanted them to play like Northampton.
Geech would give nothing away before selection but from Saints Gregor Townsend, Nick Beal, Tim
Rodber, Paul Grayson and I all ended up going. It was complete euphoria, but it meant I had to honour a bet with Allen Clarke, the Irish hooker, who had said, ‘I promise you’re going to go’. I said, ‘No way, Sniffer, and if I do you can shave my head’.
I had lovely long blond curtains but he clippered them straight away — that was the end of my hair from then on!
We were told we’d be filmed, the News of the World came in to brief us on the sorts of stories they’d be looking for and we flew firstclass on Virgin. It was absolutely bonkers having recently turned professional. The film- crew produced the now legendary Living with the Lions video.
They filmed everything, no fudging, and I’m so glad they did. We trusted them — they sat in the corner of meetings, gyms, all the pubs and court sessions and showed the heartache, pain and euphoria. You couldn’t have scripted it better.
Everyone thinks I planned my first Test try where I dummied down the blind-side. But it was instinct — if Rob Howley had done it, South Africa would never have fallen for it as they knew he was brilliant, but they knew sweet FA about me! I don’t believe they thought I had the audacity.
It’s going to be a fabulous trip. It’ll be attritional, but the Lions will have the firepower to deal with them. Key game-breakers will win it. It’s impossible to call.
TOMMY BOWE (below) 5 LIONS TEST CAPS; 2009, 2013 TOURS; 69 IRELAND CAPS
I WENT on two tours and South Africa was definitely the best. One of my fondest memories was the first Wednesday we met in 2009. Monday and Tuesday training at Pennyhill Park had been of a different level to anything I’d experienced. The intensity, speed and skill were phenomenal.
On the Tuesday, I had to go down to dinner on my arse as I was in bits! On the Wednesday we were tucked up in our rooms at 9.30pm but got a text saying: ‘Tomorrow’s session is off, get down to the bar before 10pm.’
There were 30 pints ready for everyone. Coach Ian McGeechan and captain Paul O’Connell said: ‘This is the opportunity to get to know somebody you’ve not spoken to before, find out their stories.’
That set the tone. Sunchyme by Dario G was our theme tune. Whenever that came on, the whole bus were shouting, clapping, roaring. We ended up doing two laps of Cape Town once, with a bus driver we thought looked like Peter Clohessy, not wanting to get off!
There was such a camaraderie with the likes of Donncha O’Callaghan and Andy Powell keeping everyone entertained, and Euan Murray had to tell us a joke each day.
The support was outrageous. That rivalry was everywhere. In every hotel you went to, the staff wore South Africa jerseys.
I’ll never forget the bus journey into Pretoria for that second Test. The South Africa supporters were nearly trying to topple the bus! It was crazy. They were making gestures, it was an intimidating atmosphere to enter. It was a match for the times. It had everything. You couldn’t have been anything but blown away by it. For South Africa to come back and win with the last kick was heartbreaking.
I hope the 2021 tour happens — you have to have fans, though. It isn’t the Lions without them.
It’s going to be a tough season injury-wise. I fear if our players don’t get a rest after the Six Nations it could be last man standing. South Africa’s players will be rested, fit and healthy.
ADAM JONES 5 LIONS TEST CAPS; 2009, 2013 TOURS; 95 WALES CAPS
SOUTH AFRICA 2009 was my first tour and I was a bit shy to start with, but ended up having the time of my life.
There were good men there — Donncha O’Callaghan, Nathan Hines, Andy Powell — guys who didn’t make the Tests but were good tourists.
We gelled so quickly as a team. Being Welsh, you go in thinking things about the English, but then you meet Andrew Sheridan, Phil Vickery, Lee Mears, Joe Worsley — great blokes — and the Wales-England thing becomes a thing of the past.
As Ian McGeechan said in 1997, when you play for the Lions and meet each other years later there is a ‘look’ — you go straight back into where you were. If I saw Vicks now, we’d go straight into taking the mickey out of each other again.
I remember saying to Kyle Sinckler before he went on the 2017 tour, ‘You want to play in the Tests’. You do everything you can to. I probably went as third choice, but it fell my way with Euan Murray hurting an ankle and coming in for Vickery after the first Test.
Before the second Test there was a lot of media about ‘ The Beast’ Tendai Mtawarira who was a folk hero in South Africa. It was very hostile going to Loftus Versfeld — lots of finger gestures!
Unfortunately we lost and after there were five of us in the ambulance to hospital: I dislocated my shoulder, Gethin Jenkins fractured a cheekbone, Brian O’Driscoll was concussed, Jamie Roberts hurt his wrist, Tommy Bowe had an elbow problem. We probably should have won. It didn’t help we went to uncontested scrums, having lost two props in one phase of play. If only one of us had been injured, Andrew Sheridan would have been licking his lips ready to annihilate John Smit! The 2021 Lions squad could be unreal. Just in the front-row you could have any of Mako Vunipola, Joe Marler, Ellis Genge, Rory Sutherland, Wyn Jones, Luke CowanDickie, Jamie George, Ken Owens, Ky l e Sinckler, Tomas Francis, Zander Fagerson, Tadhg Furlong and Andrew Porter! For Warren Gatland it’ll be like playing Football Manager with an unlimited budget.
South Africa will be really good, too, so it’ll be a hell of a tour.
FAF DE KLERK 30 SOUTH AFRICA CAPS; 2019 WORLD CUP WINNER
I’VE missed playing for the Springboks a lot. During the World Cup we became such a close-knit family. We were all buzzing to play together and see each other again.
In 2021, being selected for the Lions tour would be perfect. It’s such uncertain times and we don’t know what will happen. It’s going to be a challenge, as we haven’t played together for so long.
During the last tour to South Africa in 2009, I was 18. I watched every week.
I didn’t really realise who the Lions were at that stage, but now knowing how big it is and what it means, knowing that it comes every 12 years, so a lot of players will not get the opportunity, being so close to it is cool.
That second Test in Pretoria was amazing. Morne Steyn kicked the last-minute winner for us. He is an amazing guy, we all love him — he was a special player.
Hopefully there can be more memories created for the Springboks, and not for the Lions!
They are playing one game in my home town of Nelspruit against South Africa ‘A’. They’re going to be surprised at how hot it is down there. It’s quite different to other parts of South Africa.
I’ve played one Test there against Argentina. It was amazing to go there and see my old friends. It gives you a bit of a lift.
Fans will give each other a bit of stick — assuming they are allowed in — but we’ll enjoy the camaraderie, sharing stories, so it’ll be great.
Hopefully the pubs will be open and everyone can have a few beers together, and we can enjoy the South African way of doing things. It’ll be an amazing trip.
But we’re under no pretence that just because we were in the World Cup squad we’re going to play against the Lions.