British & Irish Lions should take most heart from only loss ahead of Springboks Test
ASSEMBLE a squad of players from scratch, work with them for a few weeks, then take on one of the greatest teams in the world in a best-of-three series.
It sounds like the sort of fool’s errand that would be turned into a reality TV show these days, but it is in fact the formula that the British & Irish Lions have worked with since they first left our shores back in 1888.
This year, as in their two previous visits to South Africa in 1997 and 2009, the Lions are playing a Springboks side who are the reigning world champions.