BEING hammered by New Zealand in that fateful 2005 tour still gives me nightmares.
Clive Woodward made a lot happen for England and was influential in us winning the 2003 World Cup.
He tried to bring that to the Lions and some of it didn’t work.
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The numbers of people he took was criticised straight away — but you need the bodies.
There was a lot of controversy around everything but hiring Tony Blair’s former spin doctor Alastair Campbell took it to another level.
He got debagged at one of the press conferences early into the tour — boys will be boys, no matter what role you have — and that was the best thing that could have happened to him.
Otherwise he would have just been an outsider.
We tried to please everybody out there, too, and we saw so many hakas on that tour.
You have to embrace the culture, get out into schools and communities. But we did too much.
Off the back of a tough season and the magnitude of the games, it was too much to do and we tried to be too nice.
I think New Zealand don’t care about anyone else and will do what they think is right.
Here in the northern hemisphere we go the other way and don’t stop worrying about what everyone else thinks of us.
The All Blacks have a great reputation for being a great team but if you go and face them on their soil you have to bring a bit of nastiness.
This 2017 trip needs to be focused on the Lions and what they need to do to win down there for the first time since 1971.
Wherever the Lions go in the world, they bring so much to the party to the tune of 30,000 fans.
So we need to have a bit more control on proceedings rather than let everyone else dictate.
For the players, they will know by now that the nature of a Lions tour means there is no holding back in training.
At your club, or even with England, you get a bit of dispensation to not do everything.
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But I remember being out there in New Zealand and my ankle was constantly playing up — yet I was training a lot MORE.
There is nowhere to hide in these series, especially against the triple World Cup winners.
It’s a great challenge, but for any team going out there you will be tested to the very limits.
Twelve years ago we were under the pump from the start with the spear-tackle that ended Brian O’Driscoll’s tour.
Conditions were the worst I have ever played in — and that’s a big statement for a Yorkshireman, trust me.
It was a big contrast to my first tour to Australia four years earlier.
The All Blacks was by far the most disappointing tour I ever went on. And in hindsight, I probably should not have gone because of that ankle problem.
You take your chances and in 2005, we just were not ready for what hit us.
It is not easy, though. The Lions should really not work at all when you break it down, with the amount of preparation you get.
With England, we had been together for four years.
If someone slipped up, you knew someone was there to cover.
The Lions brings together four nations with four different defence patterns and thoughts on attack.
You are all world-class pros but things get driven into you and it is not easy to get out of habits.
In 2005 I had this massive binder of stuff, calls for everything. I read what I could and retained what I could.
You have to learn moves quickly, but also the calls can cross over and the Lions may end up calling one move identically to your club or country but it means something totally different.
And that can be extremely confusing in the heat of battle.
So, the six warm-up games before the First Test on June 24 — starting tomorrow against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians — will be vital.
If the injury count is low and players such as Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton stay fit, I think we have a great chance.
New Zealand are the No 1 side in the world but they are beatable. Ireland proved that last October.
So mix that Ireland side with the best Englishmen, Scots and Welsh and I’d take the Lions every time.
Just don’t give the All Blacks time, get in their face and don’t stand in awe and let them play.
Otherwise they will end up making fools out of you... just like they did to us 12 years ago.
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