New Zealand in winter. The best team in the world. The All Blacks on home turf. Tumbling rain and whipping winds. Even the friendly crowds bay for victory.
On and off the field, the pressure builds, almost to the point of suffocating you. It is like a jet-black blanket, covering you, weighing on you, stopping your movements and breath. Every newspaper dissects every decision and move you make. The country talks about nothing else. It is rugby, rugby, rugby. It is relentless.
It is the hardest place on the planet to take a rugby team and win. I know how hard this can prove because the last time the British and Irish Lions were in New Zealand, in 2005, I was lucky to be in the touring party.
History has not been kind. We lost 3-0 and our performances have been consigned to the rubbish bin. The tour has been described as a failure. New Zealand were good. In fact, New Zealand were epic, but that does little to change the figures in the win-loss column. That is something we, the touring party, have to live with.
The Lions of 2017 will, by most measures, be the most professional side ever to set foot on New Zealand soil. But it is not the ability to bank money or bench-press personal bests that will make the difference.
If the Lions want to win, they are going to have to beat the Kiwis at their own game – and do it for six weeks straight. In South Africa and Australia, winning is called the Everest of a player's career. In New Zealand it is the moon. The quality of their rugby is utterly brutal. On that basis, winning in Wellington in June 2003 with England will be the game I take to my grave.
When the Lions tour South Africa and Australia there are usually a couple of games when they are up against players who would not make a Pro12 or Aviva Premiership starting XV. Not in New Zealand. Every game will be a virtual Test match because the structure of All Black rugby dictates that all their sides are designed to feed into the national set-up. A cohesive vision that unifies the country with a single aim; to create great All Blacks. As a result, there is a DNA to Kiwi rugby players that means they all understand the game and their role in it. They have a sixth sense, that is coached and taught from an early age, about understanding what may happen on the pitch, about where the ball is likely to end up.
They think, they watch, they wait. They are tough, smart players who have a mission. This is a potent mixture – you never want to face a team who have the mental iron to back up their natural sinews. Throw them together and they play as if their lives depend upon it. The Lions, by contrast, are a patchwork quilt of diverse talents and styles, national teams and regional squads, defensive systems and attacking patterns. Instead of the All Black brotherhood, the Lions are a multicoloured touring party who have to reinvent their identity every four years. That is why the 2017 Lions must create their own narrative and history, their own story, and do so quickly. The clock is ticking for them to find out who their leaders are, discover how far they will go to win, and realise how much the jersey means to them.
There is no place to hide in New Zealand, and twice a week they will need to deal with the simple question: are we winners or losers, tourists or Lions?
The Telegraph, London
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