Nick Cain’s column: Time for Lions to show claws over intinerary

Australia v British & Irish Lions: Game 3The 2017 itinerary, which was due to be announced in May but is now expected later this summer according to the , has to come with important provisos. There are long-standing issues dating back to 2013, and beyond, which need urgent attention, and this time the Lions chief executive, John Feehan, has to ensure that they are addressed.
The most pressing is that New Zealand 2017 is a proper tour, rather than a series of non-event provincial mis-matches leading into a three-match Test series. The potential for competitive provincial matches is there, because the itinerary is expected to include games against New Zealand franchises for the first time.
However, recent history tells us that they will only be competitive if the Lions insist that , including stars like No.8 Kieran Read (Crusaders) and wing Julian Savea (Hurricanes), are released to play for their Super sides ahead of the Test series.
In in 2013, 2009, and even in Clive Woodward's ill-fated 2005 tour of New Zealand, the majority of the provincial games were a massive disappointment with the Lions facing weakened opposition, and therefore almost certain of winning.
In 2005, while the Lions Test side was annihilated by Dan Carter and co, the mid-week dirt-trackers went unbeaten, including routing Manawatu 109-6. Even so, NPC sides like Bay of Plenty and Auckland provided the Lions with sterner opposition than they faced against South African Currie Cup provinces four years later, when they were again unbeaten outside the Tests.
Worse was to come in Australia two years ago, when, despite facing Aussie Super Rugby franchises, they trounced the Western Force 69-17, the NSW Waratahs 47-17 and the Melbourne Rebels 35-0, mainly because they refused to field their strongest line-ups. The only sides that fronted-up were the Queensland Reds and the Brumbies, and the latter were rewarded with a 14-12 win against a scratch Lions midweek outfit in Canberra four days before the first Test.
cartoonThe Lions ledger against provincial opposition in the three tours to New Zealand, South Africa and Australia since 2005 is instructive. They have played 20, won 18, and lost 2, with a mountainous points difference in favour of the tourists, and the only defeats coming against the Brumbies and the NZ Maoris.
The common denominator in those tours is that the Southern Hemisphere host nations have introduced a deliberate policy of refusing to allow any international squad players to represent their provincial or Super Rugby sides.
It is a ‘scorched earth' policy, and it stinks. The reek comes not just from denying the Lions enough games against meaningful opposition, but also by short-changing fans who have travelled half way round the globe to support the Lions, and local supporters who want to see their teams play in their true colours.
The Lions legacy has been forged over the past century not just in Test matches but in the great matches they played against provincial opposition. In the past these matches were hugely competitive, and games against sides like , Auckland, Northern Transvaal and Western Province attracted almost as much attention as the Tests.
The key word is competitive. That commodity has been in short supply outside the Tests in the last three Lions tours, and it reached a nadir in 2013 when the Western Force coach, Michael Foley, decided to pull 11 of his regulars from the team.
Foley's rationale was that he had a Super 15 game against a virtual reserve Waratahs side coming up a few days later – but, given that it was in a competition which has no relegation, his incensed predecessor as Force coach, Phil Blake, jusifiably let him have both barrels. Blake said: “They've been promoting the history of the Lions and what it means to everyone who plays with them, and against them. I would have thought a potential win against the in your history books would have meant more than a win against a second string NSW side.”
He also warned the Perth-based franchise, “Next time there's a touring side coming to Australia they'll jump up and down if they don't get a game in the West. But why should they get another game when they've treated the biggest game in their history this way?”
Feehan could start by making it clear to the New Zealand RFU that in the new Lions tour agreement post 2017 they will – starting now – penalise any country that fails to release Test players to their Super franchises, irrespective of what the All Blacks coach wants. He should argue that if the Lions are putting Test players at risk of injury in the build up to a Test series, why should the host nation be allowed to cotton-wool theirs?
The Lions should let it be known that in future they will reserve the right to refuse a fixture to any Super franchise which fields a weakened side. That includes telling the Australian Union that they do not want a fixture against the Western Force on their next tour Down Under.
It is high time that the Lions protected their touring heritage, because the last three expeditions to the Southern Hemisphere have seen it devalued by the host nations. The Lions have to bare their teeth before the NZ tour starts.

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