Cole: Lions devising formula to blunt All Blacks’ threats

And there, in a nutshell, is the challenge facing Warren Gatland’s men. “I’ll tell them to enjoy the moment”, he said.

Kit manufacturers adidas went with the white collar at the start of the decade but have kept the kit as black as possible in recent years. If they don’t, it might be a tough old series for them.

Once the suit snaps were taken, the lads changed into some more comfortable gear for the long-haul flights to New Zealand.

“The great thing about rugby is there is more than one way to win a game. I see that as their only chance”.

Scott Quinnell admits he knows exactly how Billy Vunipola feels, after the England No 8 was forced to admit defeat and pull out of the British and Irish Lions Tour of New Zealand. “I don’t sit there at night and think “I hope I am going to be the next Lions coach”, said Jones.

Four significant cups – the Webb Ellis Cup, Tom French Cup, Dave Gallaher Cup and Women’s Sevens World Cup – will be displayed as a fitting demonstration of New Zealand rugby team’s recent worldwide achievements. “Or get involved in other aspects, to put that focus on yourself”.

“They are a smart side and they will know what’s coming”.

The upcoming tour will be the shortest ever by a full Lions team to NZ, unless you count the five matches tacked onto an Australia trip in 1904, and that’s down to the club owners, but I can’t imagine the club owners will be any happier, given the relentless standard of opposition. “I think the Lions can win a Test and two on a really good day”.

“The warm-up matches will be full on and nearly like Tests”, said Thrush. Then we’ll see where we go, whether I continue coaching or I go and watch cricket in Barbados. “You felt you could get on top, and it can be a mental barrier for the opposing team”.

Not even the 1971 squad, which remains the only Lions team to have beaten New Zealand in a test series in New Zealand, could not win at Lancaster Park, losing 22-12 before winning the four-test series 2-1. Nowadays at the elite level, tours are just test matches.

So who makes up this squad and which players could be in the first XV come the first test in Auckland?

More tours followed before the end of the 19th century, bringing the “English” game to the tough migrants toiling on the frontiers of the British Empire.

Amid the fighting, there was also some rugby and by the time the four-match test series arrived the Lions had scorched a trail, beating the cream of New Zealand’s mighty provincial sides and shocking the locals with their blistering backline.

“If the Crusaders play with all their All Blacks, that’s effectively a fourth Test”, said Boyd, who coached Wellington against the Lions in 2005 and the Sharks against the 2009 tourists in South Africa. “It’s nicer to be longer than that”.

“They’re obviously the best team in the world so playing them in their back garden is going to be a massive challenge”. “You want to be present in all the camps to get yourself in the best position to learn your role as early as you can and understand the way that Gats wants to play”.