Inside my special reunion with the '97 Lions

When I gave my pre-match team talk before the second Test of the 1997 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa, I told the players: “Remember this day. This is a privilege. You’ll meet each other in the street in 30 years’ time and there’ll just be a look. And you’ll know just how special some days in your life are.” 

The line has probably been a bit overplayed now owing to the phenomenal success of the Living with the Lions documentary! But it was a sentiment I was keen to impress on the players ahead of a huge game.

Well, it’s not quite been 30 years yet. And it wasn’t a street but the Billesley Manor Hotel just outside Stratford-upon-Avon. But the looks exchanged between us all at the 25th anniversary reunion of that tour, which took place earlier this week, were incredibly special.

1997 will forever hold a special place in my heart. The 1974 Lions tour, also to South Africa, was undoubtedly the highlight of my playing career. That tour affected me in ways which are difficult to put into words. 

The experience of competing alongside that group of players, being part of an incredible team, forging bonds of friendship which have lasted a lifetime - it was a transformative summer for me. When I came home, I was a changed man and player. I saw things a second or two earlier. I had more confidence in myself.

I would never have had that experience without the support of the senior players on that tour. The likes of Willie John McBride, Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams, JJ Williams, Mervyn Davies; players I had grown up idolising. I was like a kid in a sweet shop when I first got out to South Africa! Playing outside Phil Bennett? The privilege of a lifetime.

But what was so special about it was that those players went out of their way to make me feel part of the squad in what was only my second season as an international.

It was that attitude, that spirit of camaraderie, that I wanted to recreate when I was appointed Lions head coach for the first time in 1989.

I think we managed it to an extent both that year and in 1993. But it is fair to say that it was never recreated more successfully than on the 1997 tour to South Africa. 

That year was the perfect storm in terms of raw ingredients. A combination of factors never to be repeated. It was back to South Africa, the harshest and most beautiful of touring environments, two years after their iconic World Cup triumph. 

It was right at the start of the professional era, giving the tour elements of both the amateur and professional game. Every match was, for the first time, live on Sky Sports, with the exceptional Miles Harrison commentating.

It was just a magical time. We had the documentary makers embedded with us - some of whose footage was played at points during this week's reunion - and the footage they captured was so raw, so authentic. The players enjoyed themselves. There were no smartphones back then so they were able to let their hair down and be tourists, which they did (some of the stories told this week were new even to me!) 

But at the same time they all bought into the ethos. They never abused the trust placed in them by myself, or Fran Cotton or Jim Telfer, or any of the tour management. The team came first. Always. 

To the extent the players who won the first Test were reminded by Martin Johnson, on the way out to dinner, that they had a job to do the next morning - holding bags so the mid-week team had the best possible preparation to play Orange Free State the following Tuesday evening. And what superb rugby they produced in that game.

It is testament to how special 1997 was that virtually every single player turned up this week. Even Gregor Townsend, whose Scotland team is in camp at the moment, busy preparing for their tour of Argentina, or Richard Hill who likewise had to leave the England camp to attend, or Doddie Weir who drove five or six hours down from Scotland with his wife Kathy and son Ben. Doddie’s presence, such a big man with such a big heart, as he battles Motor Neurone Disease, was incredibly special.

As for Rob Wainwright’s tribute to the much missed Tom Smith, it was so poignant. The respect for Tom - not one of the most obviously celebrated players on that tour but one whose courage and skill was appreciated by every single one of his team-mates - sums up that group for me. It was fantastic that Zoe, Tom's wife, was able to be with us.

I have to thank Martin, our tour captain all those years ago, and Stan Bagshaw, our bag man in 1997, for organising this week’s reunion. They did a truly phenomenal job. They didn’t just assemble the players. We had everyone from Sam Peters, our tour administrator and the first woman on a Lions tour, to James Robson, our tour doctor and a great, great man, to Andy Keast, our analyst, to my old friend and fellow coach Jim Telfer. 

Spending time with them all again - and with all our partners, too, some of whom we had yet to meet back in 1997 but all of whom are now part of the family - was incredibly special.

I hadn’t seen some of the players or staff for a quarter of a century. But it made no difference. As I said all those years ago, when you have shared something as special as that, it only takes a look. 

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