Martin Johnson

Martin Johnson, the man who led the British and Irish Lions to their last test series win twelve years ago, has labelled the squad named recently to take on South Africa this summer as “massive underdogs,” but believes that a combination of an outstanding management team coupled with total commitment to the squad ethos can see the world champions beaten in their own back yard.

Johnson, picked to lead back in 1997 by the then head coach Ian McGeechan despite having no experience as an international captain, was one of the stars as the Lions stunned the Springboks, world champions then as they are now, to take a 2-0 winning series lead.

Since then the Lions have lost to Australia and New Zealand, while Johnson captained England to a victorious World Cup, before taking over the England manager’s job which sees eight of his squad bound for South Africa with the Lions.

But he sees pertinent similarities between 1997 and now. “The Lions are massive underdogs because they have to beat the world champions on their own patch with a group of players who have never played together before,” Johnson explained, having been on three Lions tours, captained on two tours, and played in eight tests in total, with two in 1993 in New Zealand, and three in both South Africa in 1997 and Australia in 2001. “They have it all to do, and in just six games.

“On top of this they will come to South Africa and be amazed at the enormity of a Lions tour down there. It took me aback when I went there in 1997 how they were all still talking about the 1974 tour and seemed to know everything about it.

“It will be the same this time. They’ve been waiting twelve long years for the chance not only to play the Lions, but to avenge their series defeat. Since 1997 some great players have run out for South Africa whose careers have come and gone without ever getting the chance to play the Lions. Nobody really remembers a Tri Nations or a Six Nations from twelve years ago, but everyone remembers the Lions series.”
That includes Johnson. “I played in over 80 test matches for England and I can’t remember all of them, but I recall every minute of every game I played for the Lions because it is the most special rugby a player will ever get the chance to taste. The South African series win is the obvious highlight and there are definitely some similarities in terms of circumstances between the squad of ’97 and now.”
The obvious one to make is that the South Africans are once more world champions. “I’d say this current Springbok team is at least as good as the side that won the 1995 World Cup, or the side that broke the world record for successive test match wins in 1998-9. Nothing much will change. South Africa will come at the boys hard, and if that doesn’t work, they’ll come at them even harder. But there’s more to their game than just their physicality. As they showed against England last November, they are very skilful as well. They are not too short of the full package.”
Then there is the underdog tag the Lions will once more carry. “It was the same in 1997, maybe even more,” Johnson recalled. “South African rugby players and fans tend to be honest. If they think you’re good they’ll say so, and if they think you’re not, they’ll also tell you, and it was the latter in our case. There’s no way they’ll be complacent this time, because most of the players felt after winning the World Cup that their job would only be complete when they had beaten the Lions as well.”

Finally, there is Ian McGeechan, head coach once again as he was in 1997. For Johnson this could be key. “No-one’s come close to the 35-year contribution as player and coach to the Lions that Geech has made,” he said. “He has the ability to say the right things at the right time. Geech pulls at exactly the right level when it comes to the emotional chords, something which is very difficult to get right. And his rugby acumen, his awareness of tactics, is second to none. You don’t normally win a test match due to a specific tactic, but it was Geech who insisted we closed down the Springbok stand off, Henry Honibal, and by doing so we went on to win the series.”
Johnson is also impressed by McGeechan’s choice of captain, lock forward Paul O’Connell, seen by many as fitting the Johnson mould. “O’Connell is his own man but what I will say about him is that this is the right time in his career to lead the Lions in terms of his physical skills, and he has a strong head on him which he will need. I also believe that Brian O’Driscoll, without being captain, will stand a better chance of re-producing his world-class form with the Lions on this tour.”

But not even a combination of high-class coaches and captains will be enough to beat South Africa. “There’s no doubt the Lions have the talent and the ability to win, but it will boil down to a collective will to succeed and a total squad effort. It sounds silly but if one guy doesn’t buy into this, even the kit man, it will affect everyone.”

As an example of this Johnson recalled a story relating to Scott Gibbs, the Welsh centre who shone in 1997. “We’d just won the first test in Cape Town and were on the bus that night going back to the hotel. The next morning the dirt-trackers were training for a game in Bloemfontein that Tuesday. The test team were supposed to be recovering from the test but Scott, without asking anyone else, announced that instead we’d all be training on the Sunday morning. I looked at him and knew he was right. So the following morning in the wind and the rain we held tackle bags for the midweek team, who played their socks off that Tuesday night to beat Free State in one of the games of the tour. It put us in exactly the right mood to finish the job that Saturday in the second test and although we knew the Springboks would throw everything at us, we came through.

“That’s what this current squad must do. If you don’t make the test 22 for the first test, do everything you can to help out and encourage. Make Geech look at all 37 and ask: “Who do I leave out of the 22 next time?” When you don’t feel like training and can make an easy excuse not to, don’t. Get out there and show that you are a single unit made of 37 players and the management team.

“If the Lions do this, and then take their chances when they come along in the test matches – something South Africa did ruthlessly against England in November – then they have a good chance.”

As for England they will sporting a surprisingly strong 22 themselves when they take on the Barbarians on May 30th, then Argentina in two tests at Twickenham and away in Salta, with the likes of Delon Armitage, Mark Cueto and especially Tom Croft missing out with the Lions.

“I don’t mind either way because those with the Lions will benefit from the experience, and those with England can continue our development,” Johnson insisted. “It wouldn’t surprise me if someone like Croft ended up flying down to South Africa in any case if a back row player gets injured. He’s been unlucky but it’s not because Alan Quinlan is a better player than him, but a different player suited more to what the Lions intend to do in South Africa. Either way, we’ve got a stiff challenge against the Pumas, but I’m looking to continue the progress we were making in the second half of the Six Nations.”

Martin Johnson is a Patron of the children’s medical research charity, Sparks. Visit www.sparks.org.uk