Lions Special

Bryan and Bernie Habana:

Bernie Habana stares out across the Ellis Park pitch towards the opposite stands to where he and his famous son are sitting and lets out a blow of air. He had listened to the British & Irish Lions play the Springboks back in 1974 on a crackly old radio, then watched live a test match between the two sides in Pretoria in 1980, both times as an oppressed, coloured man treated as a second class citizen by the reviled apartheid system.

And now here he is, sitting in the exact seats he and his son Bryan had used in Johannesburg when South Africa defeated New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup final, a day when Nelson Mandela wore the number six jersey of captain Francois Pienaar, and the Rainbow Nation was truly born, not quite believing what is about to happen.
The Habanas are a family steeped in Lions history and in two weeks’ time, barring injury, Bryan Habana will be playing for South Africa against the touring side in the first test in Durban.
“If you had told me this would happen back in 1974 and 1980, when the Lions played such a role in my own story, I would have laughed in your face,” Bernie says, as he surveys a stadium which may well contest the series-deciding third test match between the Lions and the Springboks. “Back in 1980, we didn’t believe Nelson Mandela would ever be seen alive again, so to suggest that I would have a son who would be playing for the Springboks against the Lions would have been impossible to have imagined.”
Bryan Habana is sitting a couple of seats away from his father, where he sat on a white, Afrikaans man’s knee as a 12-year-old boy to gain a better view of that ’95 final in what was a tiny symbol of the changes, and listening intently to every word uttered.
He is the face of the new South Africa, the “glue” as his father puts it, where everyone is equal, and people of his colour enjoy the freedom denied to Bernie, but he is only too aware of what the Lions mean to the Habana family.

“It’s not lost on me that if I’d been born twenty years earlier I would have had to have watched the Lions from an enclosed, blacks-only pen inside one of our stadiums,” he admits, with a shake of his head. “I would have had to have gone through what my parents did. I’ve been very lucky. I was brought up not to differentiate between colours. I went to a good, private school where everyone was equal, even though outside we were not. And I’m aware of days where we’d be refused service in a drive in because, even though myself, my brother and father were fairly pale-skinned, my mother was darker and that was enough to deny us. Most of all, I am aware of what the Lions means to this country, and to my father.”
Back in 1974 Willie John McBride led the Lions to a famous series victory, a group of exceptional rugby players who never took a backward step. “The Lions beat the Springboks up, literally as well as figuratively,” Bernie recalls. “I loved the irony of it back then. The Afrikaans had this aura that nobody could ever out-muscle them, but here were the Lions beating them up. I enjoyed that, and I remember getting excited listening to my radio each time the English, as we always saw them, won a fracas.
“You have to remember that during that tour, and in 1980, the vast majority of black and coloured people supported the Lions because they were playing against our oppressors. Of course, the British have hardly been good to the South African people in history, and they weren’t doing too much at the time to stop apartheid either, but still the majority of South Africans were behind them. We saw it like Muhammad Ali did when asked to fight the Vietnamese. Why should we support a regime that did not support us?”
Then, in 1980, when Bill Beaumont led a more reconciliatory Lions squad to South Africa, and lost, Bernie went to Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria to watch a test match. He was a lock forward at the time, a keen rugby player at a club that let in non-whites, but the South African Rugby Union, a body in charge of only black and coloured players, banned him from playing the game after he was seen and reported.
“I was working at a company with whites and I went to the game and sat with them, instead of in the closed-off section for the blacks,” Bernie explains. “I remember feeling extremely guilty at the time for not sitting with them. It was as if I’d turned my back on my own people, even though that wasn’t the intention. I was just sitting with my workmates. Anyway, I wasn’t allowed by law to be in that part of the stadium and this led to my ban. It was a mistake on my part, and I don’t have any complaints. I should have sat in the closed-off section like everyone else.”
It is little surprise that with memories such as these there will still be some black South Africans who will be supporting the Lions next month. “It’s not just the Lions,” Bryan says. “You’ll see black South Africans wearing All Black jerseys when we play New Zealand. That’s whom they always supported in the bad days, so they’re not changing their allegiances now even though everything has changed.”

What does the 25-year-old winger feel about some of his own people supporting a Lions team he is desperate to beat? “I can understand them, I really can,” he says. “Don’t forget, I experienced nothing compared to the generations older than me but I’ve seen enough, and been told enough to recognise what touring rugby teams meant to the majority of the oppressed people.
“But I see it differently. I’ve been lucky enough to have met Nelson Mandela and he is the humblest man in the world. If anyone should hold a grudge, if anyone should be supporting the Lions, it is he, but after 27 years of incarceration he has shown the rest of South Africa how the past must be the past. If Mandela can do it, then so can anyone.
“When I put the green and gold jersey on I’m aware that I’m not just playing for me, my family, or even my team. I’m playing for a whole nation that is finally united. We still have our problems, of course, and a lot of people still hold grudges, but I’ve been lucky to have been given the opportunity I have had, and this is down to the new South Africa.”          
By 1997, when Ian McGeechan and Martin Johnson’s Lions defeated South Africa, Bryan was playing schoolboy rugby and Bernie was on the touchline, both watching the test matches later that day on TV. By then Bernie was an out-an-out Springbok supporter, angered by South African rugby’s failure to select a recognised kicker. “With respect to Ian McGeechan the fact that we didn’t have a kicker lost us the series,” he says. “It’s as simple as that.”

Bryan nods his head. “Now that series I remember very clearly. It was full of incidents you’ll never forget: Os du Randt being put flat on his backside by Scott Gibbs, the Matt Dawson overhead dummy that everyone bought, the Jerry Guscott drop-goal. It’s been a long twelve years to wait for South Africa, and now it’s almost upon us. I’ve been lucky enough to have won a World Cup and a Super 14, but if I can get on to that pitch for the first test in Durban, I believe it will be one of the greatest moments of my life.”
Now that says a lot from a man who was voted IRB world player of the year in 2007, who equalled Jonah Lomu’s record for world cup tries, and is recognised globally to be one of the greatest players in the game, but that’s not how Habana sees it.

“I hear or read myself described as a legend which I struggle with because, to me, people like Brian O’Driscoll are legends. I’ve never admitted this before but, back in 2003, when I switched from scrum half to centre, my provincial coach, Eugene Eloff, asked me to write a study on centre play, and I chose Brian as the perfect centre. I wrote thousands of words about him and now I’m about to face him as a Springbok against a Lion. It doesn’t get any better than that.

“And in ten years’ time, if Brian and I were to meet again, I’d like to think we’ll have a beer and talk about some of the unforgettable moments of the 2009 Lions test series against the Springboks. I have a feeling there’s going to be many of them. I believe we’ll win, of course, and I hope it will be 3-0, but it wouldn’t surprise me if we come here to Johannesburg needing to settle the series. Whatever happens, it will be tight, intense and emotional. Above all, it will be emotional.” 

None more so than for Bernie Habana, who will be watching his boy playing, unbelievably, in the green and gold against a team that hurls him back to the days of segregation and bans, and of a time when a Springbok black eye was met with rejoicing.

On the afternoon of June 20th he will be there in the stands at King’s Park, Durban, and he may well be shedding a tear. “If Bryan runs out on to the pitch to face the Lions the feelings I will experience will resonate deeply,” Bernie says, as he looks across at his son, the symbol of the new South Africa. “It will be different to put into words. Quite simply, it will be the best moment of my life because of what it represents. It will be overwhelming for me, and it will be overwhelming for a great many others too who live for today, but do not forget yesterday.” 

Bryan Habana is an ambassador for Canterbury of New Zealand. Visit www.canterburynz.com

Victor Matfield:

If the Lions stand any chance of success in the forthcoming test series then they have to keep Victor Matfield quiet, and that may well prove to be too steep a task in itself.
The 32-year-old lock forward, with 66 caps to his name and the small matter of a World Cup winners’ medal under his belt, is arguably one of the best players in world rugby in any position, whether it is in the line-out, where he and second row partner Bakkies Botha form the most formidable set piece duo in the game, or in the loose, as his try-saving tackle on Matthew Tait in that 2007 world cup final against England proved.

He is not a bad leader, either, taking his beloved Blue Bulls to yesterday’s Super 14 final in Pretoria (check result), and will serve as Springbok captain John Smit’s trusty lieutenant against the Lions.
Most of all, though, Matfield is hell bent on exacting a ruthless series defeat on the Lions and, judging by his words, this thoroughly decent man off the pitch will not struggle to get up for the challenge.

“It’s what kept me playing in South Africa, instead of joining an English Premiership or French club for a season or two,” he admitted, as he stood in the middle of the Loftus Versfeld pitch where the second, and possibly series-deciding test against the Lions will be played. “I had some tempting offers, but nothing was going to stop me playing against the Lions. To the South African public winning the World Cup was very special. To the South African rugby player, after twelve years wait, beating the Lions will be just as satisfying, perhaps even more so.”
There is a further goal, too, and it involves the continuation of world supremacy. “For players like me who are the wrong side of 30 losing to the Lions may mean the end of the line. I not only want to play in the 2011 World Cup, but I want to be part of the first team ever to successfully defend a world title, but the first hurdle to all this can only be cleared if we win over the next few weeks.”
Matfield, one of the glamour boys of Springbok rugby, owner of a number of restaurants in the Pretoria area, and the World Cup final man of the match, knows all about the Lions. In 1997 during the last Lions tour he was playing for the Springbok Under 21’s.

“I watched all the test matches here in Pretoria at a hostel drinking with my mates,” he recalled. “Of course I was disappointed with the result, but I also admired the Lions for what they achieved, and the way they went about it. I loved watching the “Living with the Lions” video and I’d like to think this time it is the Springboks who have that degree of team camaraderie. 
“Ian McGeechan knows what he’s doing, he’ll get the Lions to challenge as a unit, and if both sides play to their best it’s going to be an awesome test series. I can assure you there will not be an ounce of complacency from us because, although there are weaknesses in the four, individual countries, I see no discernible weakness when the best of the four are placed together. They’ll be big and physical and will want to take us on. That’s fine. We’ll be ready. There are many Springbok legends that have never played against the Lions, or lost to them, like Mark Andrews and Joost van der Westhuizen. I have no intention of joining them. I’ll be disappointed with anything less than a 3-0 series win.”

Later that day Matfield would play in a cricket match for the Bulls rugby team against the Titans cricket team, smashing a half century against, amongst others, South African test spinner Paul Harris.

It seems the man is on form in whatever he chooses to do right now, and this is ominous news for the Lions.

Martyn Williams:

It may be of small consolation now to one of the best all-round footballers in British rugby but Martyn Williams was never going to miss selection for this Lions tour, even if he went through the personal grinder before finding out he would be spending the next six weeks in South Africa.

The man who famously quit international rugby in 2005, only to be talked out of it by his Welsh national and Lions assistant coach Warren Gatland, sat alone at home in the kitchen in Cardiff to watch the naming of the squad live on TV.

“I didn’t care what everyone was saying about me being in the squad, as far as I was concerned only captain Paul O’Connell should have slept well the night before, because I wasn’t sure of anyone else guaranteed a place, least of all me.

“My wife and kids were out of the house and I sat by myself very twitchy as the names were announced. Gerald Davies, the tour manager, read out seven back rowers and I was the seventh and last one named, by which stage I was a wreck.”

Five days’ later Williams found himself missing the crucial penalty kick in the Heineken Cup semi-final shoot out against Leicester at the Millennium Stadium, a cruel blow to one of the best players on the pitch.

“It took me a couple of days to get over that as I felt personally responsible for Cardiff losing, having spent so long at the club to get so close to a major European final. I have even more respect for the likes of Stephen Jones and Ronan O’Gara now, who will be asked to take so many pressure kicks for the Lions in the next few weeks.”
In truth the Lions have been dominating Williams’ mind ever since the start of the season. “You try and push it to the back of your mind but from September everyone’s been thinking about the Lions, and if they say they haven’t then I’d suggest they’re deluding themselves. It’s been impossible to switch of and get it out of your head.”
In particular the Welsh openside, who won a second Grand Slam last year and finds himself on a third consecutive Lions tour after deciding to return to the game, is desperate to make an impact after just five minutes service in tests for the Lions in two tours.

Like a good many others in the 2009 squad, he knows what went wrong last time in New Zealand, is desperate to make amends, and expects a return to an old school approach to improve the Lions’ lot.

“I learnt more on that 2005 tour about how to win and lose rugby than I had in ten years previous service playing the game,” he explained, having played in nine out of the ten midweek matches. “There’s no doubt we came up against a supreme All Blacks side at their peak, and every provincial side treated their game against the Lions like a cup final, which is what I expect in South Africa this time round as well, but it’s also the case we trained far too hard, and didn’t have anywhere near enough fun. All I can remember from 2005 is rugby pitches and hotels.
“I’m pretty old school and I see what goes on off the field to be just as important as what goes on in the games and in training. The social side’s crucial, and this time I think we’re going to get it right.”

Enough to win a test series, and with Williams playing his part? “We’ve got a great chance, for sure, and as much as I want to play every minute of every test match, I want even more to be a member of the 2009 Lions squad that once again went to South Africa and returned home as winners. Just don’t ask me to take any more penalty kicks.”

Ben Kay:

One of the key components to winning and losing the test series between the British & Irish Lions and South Africa will be the line-out where both sides sport two of the finest exponents of line-out play in the world.
Lions captain Paul O’Connell is recognised worldwide for his dominance at this particular set-piece but even the Irishman may have his work cut out against Springbok vice-captain, Victor Matfield.
One man who has played against both in world cups and Six Nations is double world cup finalist Ben Kay, and this is the England, Leicester Tigers and indeed former Lion’s take on the main men in the battle of the line-outs.

Kay on O’Connell: Paul reminds me of Martin Johnson, and you don’t get a bigger compliment than that. It’s why I always wanted him to be captain this time. He has a presence, people want to follow his lead and I know for a fact that he is a popular choice with the players, just like Johnno was. Paul backs himself, he patrols an area, and he never over-complicates his game. He is also rather old school, who will not take a backward step, but will have a beer with you afterwards.
Like his South African counterpart Paul will be a talismanic figure for the Lions. The Springboks will be looking to ensure he is kept quiet. When Paul plays well Munster or Ireland play well. He is an old-fashioned second row who likes to bash holes in the opposing defence and be confrontational. I would argue he is slightly grittier than Matfield and the way this Lions squad seems to be based, with the onus on a big, physical battle up front to take on the Springboks at source, should be right up Paul’s street.
If I were selecting the starting XV I would place Donnch’a O’Callaghan alongside him in the second row because they have played together so many times, and so successfully, for both Munster and Ireland. The combination is very important, as Matfield and Bakkies Botha have proved, but the lifters and the hooker, who throws in the ball, also plays a vital role in the success of the line-out.
In this sense the loss of Munster and Ireland hooker Jerry Flannery to injury is a real blow for the Lions because having him throw to an O’Connell/O’Callaghan combination would have made sense. Still, the Springboks will look to nullify O’Connell, rightly recognising him as a major threat.

Kay on Matfield: You can usually pick a weakness in an opposing team’s line-out, but I’ve never succeeded to do so when facing South Africa, and this is largely down to Victor and his sergeant-in-arms, Bakkies Botha.
Compared to the Lions captain Victor is more technical, and it is his leadership in the South African line that not only blocks off opposing teams, but also creates options from the front, middle and back of the line. He tends to make the Springbok line-outs complicated – in contrast to O’Connell’s style – but manages to pull it off. I was talking to Heyneke Meyer when he was coaching Leicester a few months’ ago and he was telling me how at the Bulls, where he was coach before coming to the Tigers, Victor did an extraordinary amount of homework on his opposing line-outs. His style is complimented well by Bakkies, who is a big mute and acts as the Springboks’ enforcer. Victor’s more of an athlete, as he showed when he took out Matt Tait in the World Cup final, and he’s just as happy to throw a miracle off-load as he is to blast a hole himself. That said, like Paul, Victor won’t take a backward step, and if he’s having a good game for South Africa, it can only be bad news for the Lions.

Graham Rowntree:

Lions head coach Ian McGeechan almost caused a motor way car crash when he telephoned Graham Rowntree asking him if he would like to become his scrummagging coach.
The former England, Lions and Leicester prop admits he struggled to keep hold of the wheel. “I never saw it coming and I had to pull over at the first opportunity to take it all in,” said the man who toured with the Lions both in 1997 and 2005.

“I’ve had a meteoric rise in coaching, and I’ve been very lucky, but to have a man of Geech’s stature ask me to join his coaching team is one of the greatest moments in my career. I told him I needed time to think about it, then agreed approximately two seconds later. I would have said yes even quicker, but I didn’t want to seem over-enthusiastic.”
Rowntree, who won 54 caps for England but who famously failed to make Clive Woodward’s 2003 World Cup squad, a decision the World Cup-winning coach admitted was the toughest decision of his life, was still playing for Leicester in a player-coach role just two years’ ago.

“I got some breaks, such as Dorian West leaving the academy to join Northampton, and then John Wells seconding me as an assistant coach to him with England. Then Martin Johnson asked me to become his specialist coach and this led to me coming down to places like Wasps to work with the props, and getting to know Geech, who was my coach on the ’97 tour, and Shaun Edwards.”
His opinion of his fellow coaches is high. “I like the way Geech speaks best of all,” Rowntree explains. “You hang on to every word he says. He’s very gentlemany but, underneath all that, as hard as nails. I’ve obviously been working a lot with Warren Gatland now. I didn’t know Gats much before but he’s great to work with, encourages you to pitch in all the time with ideas and views, and speaks when he has to. Everybody went on about the verbal spat he and Paul O’Connell had during the Six Nations but I can tell you it meant everything to Gats when Paul hit him back with a couple of verbal counter punches. That’s when he knew Paul was the man for us. I am, quite frankly, a little in awe of my fellow coaches. I believe I’m working with the best in the world.”
The key to victory is twofold, so Rowntree now believes: first, to front up on the field. “We have to match South Africa’s physicality and intensity, if not better it, and that means taking the players to a place they’ve never been to before. Tours like this will define the players as people. It’s that special.”

And second, to be a complete team player. “There will be a lot of disappointment in the ranks from those not selected for the test teams but I’ll always remember the manner in which Jason Leonard dealt with it in 1997. He did everything in his powers to lend his experience. The way the midweek team plays is also a vital component to the success of the test series.
“Failing to make the 2003 England World Cup squad was a tough blow for me but you just had to get on with it, and it was pleasing to be back in the England team one year later. To be fair to Clive Woodward, when he selected the 2005 Lions squad I was the first player he contacted. It was six in the morning when he phoned, but he told me he owed me that for what happened in 2003. It was a nice touch and it proves that there’s only one way to handle rejection.”  

That’s how we need to be over the next few weeks. Whatever happens, we must stand or fall together.

Paul O’Connell Exclusive:

Paul O’Connell likes his history. He knows that if he is to lead the British & Irish Lions to a test series victory over world champions South Africa he requires, above all else, a large helping of luck.

“Like Napoleon with his generals, I’d prefer lucky players even to great players,” the Lions captain admitted. “Without that the odds are stacked against us.”
Negative? Not really. The 29-year-old Munster lock knows all about the Lions. “In 1997 the Lions had a fantastic squad who gelled superbly, but it still required a host of missed penalty kicks by the Springboks to win the test series. In 2005 we lost Brian O’Driscoll, Lawrence Dallaglio and Richard Hill early into the series against New Zealand. That’s three legends of the game gone instantly.

“Let’s be honest here. The task facing the Lions is huge simply because of the notion that a team can be manufactured in such little time and then be expected to beat the world champions on their own patch. It’s not like how it used to be, when the Lions would go off together on a four-month tour. We have four and half weeks and if someone had just conceived the idea of the Lions now in the professional era he’d be laughed out of the door. It wouldn’t make any sense at all. No-one would know how we could possibly be competitive.”

That is reality, but luck has played a significant role in the story of a man whose childhood dreams were to emulate Mark Spitz or Darren Clarke, not Martin Johnson. A multi-talented sportsman O’Connell swam for Munster, trained occasionally alongside Michelle de Bruin in Dublin, the Irish Olympic treble gold medallist who later was banned for doping offences, and was then sufficiently good enough on the fairways to consider making golf his vocation.
“My first goal was to win seven gold medals in the Olympic swimming pool,” he explained. “Then it was to win the Open. I got to 17 and hit the wall for a few months on the golf course so I took a break with the full intention of re-discovering my zest for the game.” To fill the void he continued playing rugby and, in his words, “out of nowhere managed to be selected for Irish schools.”

Out of nowhere? “I got lucky because the guy I was marking in the line-out was highly-thought of, but lifting had just been introduced and his lifters used his shorts to lift, whereas mine used my knees. It meant I won every one of our line-outs, and nicked quite a few of his. That got me into the Munster Under 20’s as well and it just carried on from there. It’s fair to say that had I not hit that wall in golf I wouldn’t be a rugby player now, let alone leading the Lions. I’d probably be an amateur golfer playing off one or two and messing around on the circuit.”

It was at the same time when he switched from golf to rugby that the Lions were beating the Springboks twelve years’ ago. The series passed O’Connell by, but not the subsequent “Living with the Lions” DVD that came out a little later and relayed in graphic detail how the Lions came to win that epic test series.
“We used to watch it every time before we went out and played for the school or the province,” O’Connell recalled. “It struck an immediate chord. The simplicity of the messages Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer got across still applies today. It really is one shot, one opportunity for us all.
“Every year some of us become Grand Slam or Six Nations champions, Heineken Cup or domestic league winners. We have a lot of winners in our squad, but the Lions is something completely different. It comes just once every four years and we tend to lose a lot more than we win. And so, to me, to become a true legend in rugby you need to win as a Lion. That’s the challenge we now face.”

Four years earlier O’Connell tasted his first Lions test series in New Zealand under Clive Woodward, playing in every minute of the three tests save for a ten-minute sojourn in the sin bin. Rugby is an honest game, and O’Connell is an honest leader, hence his brutal assessment of 2005.
“I’ve said how much the odds are against us, but if you get the environment right, as they did in 1997, then the Lions can be very special. This wasn’t the case in 2005. Clive’s idea of having two squads didn’t work, we didn’t get lucky, the environment wasn’t right and, ultimately, we didn’t respect the tradition of the Lions, nor do the jersey any justice. Four years ago we were ready to be picked for the Lions, but we weren’t ready to win for the Lions. I think about it often. It was the biggest low of my career, and I’ve been waiting for four years to put it right.”

So what’s the difference now? On paper is this Lions squad any better than the 2005 model? “Back then the English boys were still in a World Cup hangover, the Irish were under-achieving, and the Welsh were asking themselves how they managed to win a Grand Slam. Now the English are coming good again, the Welsh have another deserved Slam under their belts, and the Irish have won three Heineken Cups between them, and this year’s Slam. We’ve all learnt how to win, but this is not enough because now we need to take it to the next level as Lions.

“It is a level our individual countries have failed to reach but, collectively, using the Lions jersey to inspire us, we can and we must get there. We have good rugby players in our squad but already, in the short space of time we’ve been together, I can see we’ve got good characters as well, and that’s more important. Our chance of winning the test series will be decided before the first test kicks off, believe me.

“We need to be playing for the guy to the right of us, and for the guy to the left. We need broad-minded people, players like Jason Leonard who failed to make the test team in 1997 but who then set the standard for people who didn’t know how to react to not being selected. Above all else, when we’re dead on our feet, when we’re down but quite not out, and when we’re struggling to take in the oxygen, that’s when we play for each other and honour the true sense of being a Lion.”

O’Connell’s done his homework. He’s spoken to Martin Johnson on a number of occasions, and to McGeechan as well. He has embraced all the other leaders in the Lions squad, especially his Irish captain, O’Driscoll.

“Brian was straight on to the phone when we knew I would be appointed Lions captain,” he said. “The more leaders I have around me, with the more opinions, the better. You’ll find the less the captain has to do in rugby the better the team is going. That said, I’m confident I will do everything in my power to make this tour a success. I have total belief in myself.”

The first objective is to win (which they succeeded in yesterday against the Royal XV – check), and then to win the next game. “Everyone asked me whey Ireland seemed a happier camp under Declan Kidney this year than before under Eddie O’Sullivan, expecting some magical answer,” O’Connell explained.
“The truth is there is no mystery. We were winning, that’s all. Donnch’a O’Callaghan gets it right when he says that when you’re winning everyone laughs at your jokes – even his. To build morale we need to win, and to win again. The success of this tour will be on us discovering a winning habit, and will require all 37 players to buy completely into the ethos. If we can do that – and I believe we will – then South Africa will need to play very well to beat us.”
O’Connell comes across as an intelligent, thoughtful soul who could happily share a beer with you and discuss almost anything, but behind his friendliness and softly-spoken utterances is a purpose so intense that it borders on frightening.

“I’ll tell you something,” he added just before heading off to rejoin his troops. “I don’t just want to win this test series. I need to win it. I need it on my CV. I need it so that whatever else may happen in my rugby career I can walk away happy with my lot.

“There’s no bigger challenge than the one we are about to face, but I have no bigger motivation to succeed either. I’m not going to die wondering about the 2009 Lions tour, and I’m not going to leave anything out on a South African rugby field.”

Now that sounds like a man who recognises the low odds and fancies his chances nonetheless.

Read Paul O’Connell’s Captain’s Blog at www.imaginesportsclub.com/pauloconnell