Soon enough the longest wait in rugby will be over. Warren Gatland can still expect loads of advice between now and the first Test against the All Blacks on 24 June but after this week’s selection excitement the tone will swiftly change. Picking a British and Irish Lions squad to tour New Zealand is a lot easier than coming back victorious.
It certainly pays to hear from those who have made the same trek in the past and experienced, rugby-wise, a parallel universe. “Their rugby was different from anything I had experienced before; at times it was just wave after wave after wave,” recalled Ollie Campbell, the great Irish fly-half who was part of the 1983 squad. “It was like standing on the beach trying to keep the tide back; eventually it just goes over you.”
Related: England’s Joe Launchbury and Jonathan Joseph to miss out on Lions squad
Related: A hell of a job: why the Lions selection process is almost as tough as the tour
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