When Ian McGeechan coached the Lions in New Zealand in 1993 his policy with the media was simple: say nothing in a polite way. He knew, even at a time when the Lions were a rugby entity rather than the commercial juggernaut they have become, that a difficult tour would become onerous if the tourists generated negative headlines through a word or two out of place.
Have a quiet word with him afterwards, as you were able to in those days, and you were given something more sustaining than gruel, but on top table, in front of New Zealand journalists, he would be like Geoffrey Boycott, dropping his bat to loaded questions and returning them gently to his inquisitors.
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