The likelihood of the Lions going to New Zealand, after a hard season with no opportunity to rest, and recuperate from any injuries, and even winning a test, much less the series, is pretty much nil.
The fixture list includes a number of fixtures against Super Rugby teams and then the NZRU have thrown in a match against the Maori the week before the first test, and then a midweek game against the Chiefs, just to soften them up before the fully fit, rested and raring to go (and you can bet they will be) All Blacks lay into them.
New Zealand is the toughest of all tours and the Lions can expect no concessions from the NZRU. They will go out of their way to make life as difficult as possible.... as if playing the All Blacks in their own back yard wasn't difficult enough..!!
Eddie Butler (I think) wrote a piece in Rugby News a couple of weeks ago suggesting that the British and Irish Lions are an anachronism in world rugby now anyway and, tradition aside, there's no reason not to call it a day.
Of course, the Lions tours are big money spinners but I get the feeling that, increasingly, a lot of players in the future will start to wonder why they put themselves through a gruelling summer tour where they're just going to get duffed-up and humiliated. Some might ask themselves if they really need the money that badly.
Yes, we all love the Lions. It's a great rugby tradition and when the Lions actually do win a series it's a tremendous filip for Northern Hemisphere rugby. But as time goes by, I suspect more and more players will be 'unavailable' for whatever reason they can come up with.
