Tradition looms large whenever a British and Irish Lions team is chosen. The last squad of the ‘Amateur Lions†was announced in 1993 at the East India Club in St James’ Square, London.
The East India Club was (and is) a venerable institution: membership is available to public schoolboys and gentlemen who represented their country at sport.
When the game went professional after the 1995 World Cup some things changed for the worse. The announcement of this year’s Lions team to tour South Africa was made in Terminal Five at Heathrow Airport. Talk about paradigm shifts: it’s like moving the meeting out of the library and into the cafeteria.
But tradition lingers on, notwithstanding the loosening of ties and sartorial standards.
Traditionally the Lions do well under Irish leadership, so the election of Paul O’Connell was expected. There have been 10 Irish captains in the 27 tours undertaken by the Lions.
Traditionally the Lions like a lock forward in charge in South Africa. Martin Johnson did the job in 1997, Bill Beaumont in 1980 and, most famously, Willie John McBride in 1974. Like those three gentlemen, players will look up to O’Connell, both physically and morally.
Tradition also dictates that the Lions management may make some unusual choices for their squad.
O’Connell, like Johnson 12 years ago, is not the captain of his country, although he has led Ireland when injury has removed Brian O’Driscoll from the reckoning. Johnson went on to be an outstanding England captain, winning the World Cup in 2003, but in 1997 he was regarded as an odd choice.
It seems that the Lions coach, Ian McGeechan, was persuaded to place O’Driscoll among the foot soldiers this time around because of what happened in New Zealand four years ago. As the undoubted star of the back line, the All Blacks targeted O’Driscoll. In the opening minutes of the first test he was spear-tackled by Tana Umaga and his tour was over.
Four years on, O’Driscoll is still a great player, but no longer head and shoulders above both his teammates and the rest of the world. Indeed, he may have ceded his pre-eminent position to Jaque Fourie, a player so good that he transcends the limitations of the South African Lions every week.
Another interesting tradition is for Lions tourists to South Africa to be written off. It happened in 1974, despite the fact that the 1971 Lions had beaten New Zealand. In 1980 a plethora of injuries before the first Test ended the tourists’ hopes, but the Boks may have been too strong anyway. Ruan Pienaar’s dad, Gysie, was the fullback and his exultant leap after running over Bruce Hay to score in the corner has passed into legend.
Seventeen years later, after isolation had come and gone, Johnson’s team was given little chance.
Then, as now, the Lions were facing the reigning World Champions with what amounted to a popgun attack. The tourists recognised one crucial thing, however, the vital need to kick goals whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Neil Jenkins was picked out of position at fullback and the precision of his kicking in the first two tests was in sharp contrast to that of the Boks. Under the coaching of Carel du Plessis, the Boks were
trying to play a new game, less structured than the one advocated by Kitch Christie and Andre Markgraaff.
To an extent it worked. The Boks scored nine tries to three in the series and later the same year butchered Australia at Loftus 61-22 and France in Paris 52-10. But the key moments of the first two Lions Tests were boot-related; Jenkins at Newlands and Jerry Guscott’s drop goal in Durban.
The scores were locked at 15-15 and Guscott seized the moment with four minutes remaining. He had scarcely ever attempted a drop goal in his long and distinguished career up to that point. Shades of Stephen Larkham in the World Cup final
of 1999.
There are parallels on both sides ahead of this year’s tour. Bok coach Peter de Villiers shares Du Plessis’s yen for open rugby. McGeechan was in charge of the Lions then, as now. Great players seem thin on the ground in the Lions’ squad.
O’Driscoll, Shane and Martyn Williams, and then half a dozen pretenders.
Compare that with a Bok squad bursting with luminaries. Jean de Villiers, Fourie, Fourie du Preez and Victor Matfield, great players all, share one more unwanted distinction: they are all injured at the moment. Only time will tell how close to his ideal unit the coach will get come the first Test in Durban on June 20.
He will also be sweating on the form and fitness of Schalk Burger, Bryan Habana, John Smit and Ruan Pienaar. The latter pair have a few weeks left to impress the coach in their new positions: tight head prop and flyhalf respectively.
Time is tight: the Super 14 final coincides with the opening match of the Lions tour.