My blueprint designed to safeguard
Former coach explains in the second extract from his new book why the Lions impact must be recognised
‘British Isles Rugby Union tours must continue.” That was Clive Rowlands in his report in 1989. “Let’s ditch the negativity now. A Lions season is truly special. Let’s embrace it and enjoy it.” That was what I said in my Sunday Telegraph column in 2016.
Why? Well, there appears to be an ever-present question mark over the Lions. It seems we have always had to justify them. Whenever there is a Lions tour there is always someone, somewhere who wants to criticise it and ponder the merits of its continuing existence. I just do not understand this. If the Lions concept was not working, then I might do, but it is working.
Yes, there have been some rocky moments, notably in 2005 and also when the game went professional – which was why the success of the 1997 tour was so vital – but it has survived them and thrived.
Take the 2017 tour in New Zealand. The three Tests there were sold out in no time, even though the host nation has cleverly scheduled two of the Tests at its biggest ground, Eden Park in Auckland, which holds 50,000 spectators. No doubt the cruise ships will be there again in the harbours acting as temporary hotels due to the influx of some 30,000-plus Lions supporters.
There will doubtless be so many replica shirts sold that every other rugby fan walking down the street here and in New Zealand will appear to be wearing one. That is some impact for a team to have, and it should be acknowledged and recognised. It is something very different and very special.
So how can people say that the Lions have had their day? They haven’t. On every single front they are a success. Quite simply they are the flagship side of northern hemisphere rugby, both in terms of the finance they generate and as a pinnacle for the players. The Lions have just got bigger and better as a business while others have fallen away. It is not as if the rugby itself has been a failure.
Yes, the last tour of New Zealand in 2005 was disappointing, but in South Africa in 2009 – although we lost the series – we won four of the six halves of rugby, and in 2013 in Australia we again won four of the six halves, this time to win the series. The Rugby World Cups are the first things that go in rugby’s calendar, but the Lions tours should follow straight afterwards. That is how important they are.
If the Lions are that important, they deserve more respect from administrators in other parts of the game. They must be given more time and space by the authorities at international and domestic levels.
Everybody benefits if there is a good Lions tour. World Rugby and all the unions need to recognise that in a Lions year the Lions are the biggest team rugby union has.
Of course, there is a problem with scheduling now, which I am not sure will be alleviated by the new schedule announced in March. But that is not a Lions problem, it is a rugby problem. It is not right that in 2017 the first match of the tour will take place in Whangarei just seven days after the Aviva Premiership and Guinness Pro12 finals, but it was just as wrong that in 2014 England played the first Test of their New Zealand tour with a weakened team because they were without the players who had taken part in the Premiership final the weekend before.
It was no different in 2013 when the Lions played the Barbarians in Hong Kong a week after the domestic finals. But here we are in 2017 and the Lions are still the most important thing to the players, sponsors and supporters.
The administrators have to respect that. Everything is in place: it is all there, you do not have to find it. You do not have to sell the Lions. So the challenge is not for the Lions, it is for World Rugby and the other governing bodies. They have to find a better fit for it. I know tours will probably only ever consist of 10 games or fewer from now on, but a bit of space is needed, just to give whoever is playing and coaching the chance to prepare and to ensure that the Test series remains competitive.
That was the worry in 2005. The Lions have to be Test match