Jeff Probyn: Lions must copy All Blacks hatred of complacency

As the Lions continue their winning ways Down Under putting virtual cricket scores on all they meet, there are still some who are not satisfied. The history of Lions tours to Australia is one littered with big wins over all sides faced, until the games that count, the Tests.
You can understand Warren Gatland's almost zealot-like obsession with quality of performance as, at the moment, it's one-all in the series between Australia and the Lions, so whoever wins this time will have the “bragging rights” for at least the next 12 years.
Winning these build-up games is not enough for Gatland as he knows that there is little strength in depth in Australian rugby and come the Tests his team will have to step up in a number of areas.
One aspect of being able to score virtually ‘at will' is that it makes you complacent and not precise, two of the worst qualities you can have when facing any international side.
No matter how big the Lions winning margin, or how many tries they score, for Gatland and his management team, it is all about the performance of the individual and the team.
For the individual, performance is a state of mind that doesn't allow you to settle into the complacency of knowing you can beat your opposite number at will, not taking full advantage of every opportunity, because you ‘know' another will come soon.
For the team, performance it is about consistently ‘hitting the mark' with a sustained display of accuracy, power and precision, both in attack and defence relentlessly for the full 80 minutes and not letting the opposition off lightly with mistakes made through lack of concentration.
It is difficult for the Lions or any team to maintain or build that high level of intensity that a truly competitive game brings when you are so much better than the opposition. It is hard to remain focused when running in easy tries, but it is a quality that has been a trademark of one team over the years, the All Blacks.
The All Blacks have a pedigree unrivalled by any team and because of that history each new All Black squad knows that they have to live up to that winning past, unlike the Lions who have lost more Tests than they have won.
I played for the Lions once (we won) and for a World XV in South Africa. I have to say that in my opinion this is not like playing for your country. Yes, it's a tremendous honour but for me there was not the same emotional investment as when I was playing for England.
When playing for your country you are fulfilling a childhood dream in front of your home crowd with your mum, your dad and your family in that crowd, you sing your national anthem and you play with your own countrymen against the players of another country. I have to ask, do you think that the Welsh players in the Lions Test team that played in the Six Nations ‘final' against England have the same emotional charge running out at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane as they did at the Millennium Stadium?
The important thing for each Lions squad is to win their series and make their place in the folklore of the game and, unlike when you play for your country, they don't have the dread of being pilloried for letting their nation down if they lose.
It is for that reason that Gatland is so desperate to foster that All Black attitude to performance in this Lions squad because he knows that despite not having the same amount of game-time preparation as the Lions in the build-up to the Tests, the Australian players will be under far greater pressure to perform.
Unlike many in the Lions squad who could play on another Lions tour in four years, for the Australian players it is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to record a series win against the Lions.
I would be willing to bet that win or lose none of the current Australian squad will be playing in 12 years' time when the Lions come back.
It is that desperation that makes the Australian Test team a threat to a Lions squad that on paper should win the series easily.
The Lions players are not stupid, they know that as a squad they are in the best position for years to win a series but it is that knowledge that is their weakness because it could breed a level of overconfidence.
Although all would deny it, they know that this is not one of the best sides that Australia have produced over the years and if they get their game right they should comfortably win the Tests, but what is worrying Gatland is, are these big wins in the build-up games allowing a sense of complacency to creep in?
In 1990 England were on the way to a Grand Slam having crushed every team they played – but it was that fact that led to our eventual loss in Scotland.
There was a sense of we just had to turn up and the trophy was ours! Training that week wasn't as crisp as it should have been, there was a bit more laughing and joking during team meetings and even if things went wrong on the training pitch there was a unspoken sense that it would be all right on the day.
The Scotland team we faced should have lost on paper but they had the focus and intensity to play for 80 minutes and they deservedly came away with the prize.
Gatland's team will win this Lions series on paper but he knows that the game isn't played on paper – it's about attitude and application on the pitch.