THE LIONS ARE READY FOR TAKE-OFF!
BRAND IS STRONGER THAN EVER AFTER ALL THESE YEARS
THE British and Irish Lions are in town, taking on Japan at BT Murrayfield today before flying out to South Africa next week to take on the world champion Springboks.
It’s only the second time they have played a Test in the UK after the Argentina game in 2005, and it really gets the juices flowing.
I love the Lions and everything they stand for. In many ways, the concept shouldn’t work — but it does.
They are almost an anachronism, suited to a different era — and there was a feeling that when the game of rugby went professional in 1996 the Lions would be squeezed out of an already congested calendar.
However, the complete opposite has happened, with the Lions brand stronger than ever — and they are the team that every player in Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland wants to play for.
It’s also the team that every player from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa wants to play against.
Remember, we get the Lions every four years, but those countries have to wait 12 years for a crack at them.
Southern-hemisphere players can go through their whole career and never play against the Lions. Aussie Nathan Sharpe has more than 100 caps but has never played against the team in red.
My love affair with the Lions started in 1983 when I was 12. Jim Telfer was the coach and they lost the Test series 4-0 against the All Blacks, but I’m not sure I cared.
I remember getting excited, with Roger Baird scoring tries for fun, something he, inexplicably, didn’t do for Scotland. I got hooked, but there was a six-year gap before the Lions played again due to apartheid in South Africa.
In 1989, the Lions were coached by a Scot and captained by a Scot and I loved it.
Ian McGeechan started his Lions coaching odyssey in ’89 in Australia and Fin Calder was the captain. Their compatriots on tour included the Hastings brothers, Gavin and Scott.
They got battered 30-12 in the first Test then bounced back to win the series. Brilliant. When I was being inspired by that win watching the TV early in the morning, little did I know that I would be playing on the next tour! The Lions went to New Zealand in 1993 with another Scottish coach and captain combo, this time with McGeechan and Gavin Hastings. I missed out on original selection but captained Scotland on a development tour to the South Seas.
We had just played Samoa in Apia when the Scotland manager Alan Hosie told me I was going to be joining the Lions as Robert Jones had taken ill. The best news ever — but I could hardly raise a smile as I was knackered after playing Samoa in a boiling temperature! I was with the Lions for six days before Jonesy recovered and I sat on the bench against Taranaki when Dewi Morris, the England scrumhalf, let me on for the last six minutes of that game to make my debut for the British and Irish Lions. I was made up. I was sent home the next day — but I went home a Lion! As it turned out, this wasn’t my last involvement with the team, but my second appearance was very different. In 2001, with the Lions in Australia, I was overlooked for selection again, but I was asked to lead a supporters’ tour for the Test series. This involves basically drinking with the fans every day and I took that job very seriously. The trouble was that the Lions had a scrum-half crisis the day before the deciding Test match in Sydney and I had to sit on the bench (left) and be the replacement scrumhalf. It’s fair to say it was probably best that I wasn’t required to take to the field ....
My Lions career isn’t the most orthodox but it doesn’t matter if you go on five tours like Willie John McBride or play six minutes like I did, I am still a British and Irish Lion and very proud of that.
For the last two tours to Australia in 2013 and New Zealand four years later, I have hosted the Lion’s Den before each of the Tests. There were about 4,000 Lions fans in a facility and my job was to rev them up before the game. The Red Sea of shirts that descend on each host country is remarkable and it’s a shame we will not see it this time in South Africa due to the pandemic.
Scotland almost fell out of love with the Lions because of the dearth of players from this country on the last two Tours, but it’s different this year with eight being selected and Gregor Townsend as one of the coaches.
The Lions are special. I hope they remain special for years to come.