IF THERE were still doubters that the British and Irish Lions are worth their place in modern international rugby then surely the terrific performance at Ellis Park on Saturday will lay that to rest.
This squad, managed by Gerald Davies and coached by Ian McGeechan, two great Lions themselves, has put Lions rugby back at the forefront of rugby minds across the world and has done enough in my opinion to ensure the tours of 2013 and 2017, at least,
will be widely supported.
However, one particular aspect that the performance by the squad brought home to me, and I think many Lions supporters, was just how tight, and perhaps impossible, a ten-match tour is.
I know the game has changed from when I toured, and there are many more demands on professional players now from never-ending league and cup programmes, but I hope the home nations think again about the length of future tours and push for a minimum of 12 games.
Ian McGeechan has said that they need more preparation, but that's not weeks of training at home, but more weeks on tour, together, building through training and games that the Lions need to be somewhere nearer their best. Saturday's performance was what this squad knew they were capable of and were clearly determined to prove, and if they had had 12-14 games on tour instead of just ten we would have seen better Test displays.
And yet, when I look back on the past month it is just those first 40 minutes, or 45 maybe, in Durban that haunts me. Since then the whole Lions squad has pulled together and really taken the games to the Springboks and been unfortunate in many ways to end up 2-1 losers over the series.
I have to say that I cannot remember a Lions team that has performed as well in defeat as this one. They went into this last match staring at a first-ever whitewash in South Africa.
Yes, South Africa made changes to their side, but the Lions also started with just five players in the same positions across the three Tests, partly due to the injuries they suffered in the most physically intense series I have witnessed.
Not only did they ensure that new 'landmark' was not set, but they actually proved in a quite commanding win that they were unlucky not to have won the series. I have played with and watched many great players in my time, and I am not given to issuing praise to players who ultimately have not done enough to win a Test match.
But, in watching how this squad came back from two defeats, to beat a side that was intent on a whitewash, I found quite remarkable. I said before the game that it would be about who wanted to win this more, and there was no doubt at the finish who that was.
Stephen Jones was absolutely outstanding – he had the game of his life in my opinion. He kicked beautifully, defended heroically and his management of the back line was tremendous.
I felt this was the coming of age of Jones as an international outside half. Jamie Heaslip also had his best game on the tour, and Martyn Williams showed what a class act he is and why I always felt he should have started at openside flanker in all three Tests.
Shane Williams hadn't had his best tour, but he took his two tries brilliantly on Saturday and that was very important in the context of giving the Lions reward at key times for their possession and attacking ambition. I was also delighted to see Ross Ford get on early and again show he is not out of place at that level of rugby. I always said we'd be better with Scots on the field!
The sense of achievement by the Lions in the third Test should not be dismissed because the series was already lost. The players recognised that there were thousands of people in South Africa supporting them, and to us out there it felt as if they played for the supporters, as well as themselves.
So, I leave Johannesburg with a real feeling that the Lions are back. All the people I have spoken to – supporters, players and management – thoroughly enjoyed the experience, and those in the squad realised once again what an honour and privilege it is to play for the Lions.
If they had had more time together I have no doubt they could have been another victorious Lions side. The other work, supported by sponsors such as HSBC, to take the Lions to towns and villages, to schools, and spread the word in the old-fashioned sense of touring I also found very encouraging because, to me, the Lions should not solely be about winning three Test matches.
That may seem something from the past, but I believe this tour has shown it should form part of the future, too.
All credit to each and every one of the guys involved in 2009. They did not win, but they restored the Lions place, and, more personally, I hope the four Scottish players involved come home desperate to build on it and help Scotland further up the international ladder and restore our respectability.
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