How did it feel to be in the great unbeaten Lions squad of 1974?
It was one of the peaks in my playing career. I was young, injury-free and very fortunate to be part of what turned out to be a great team. For a lad born and brought up in Blackpool, the abiding impression of South Africa was its sheer size.
It was a much longer tour, then.
Three and a half months, but that was short compared with the tours when they went by sea. I felt very alone at times, especially in the final two weeks after we’d won the series. My wife and I exchanged letters by airmail, but there was a five-day lag between receiving them.
Is it true that the Lions left a trail of wrecked hotel rooms?
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If you’re away for that length of time, blokes together will do daft things, especially if they’ve been drinking. It was all tidied up.
Did the 1974 Lions have problems with injuries?
I was lucky that Tony Neary was injured before the first Test and I was put in the back row, having played all my England games at lock. Unusually we played the four internationals against South Africa using only 17 players. In those days you could replace a player who was injured, but there were no substitutions.
And you caused a few injuries, too ...
Part of the mythology of that tour is that it was very violent. It can be overstated, though. There was lots of good rugby played, too. But there were some nasty punches that made the games interesting. Embarrassingly in the third Test, I went in with my foot on a player on the ground. I was never normally like that.
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Are the Lions still relevant?
The Lions is a great concept, an opportunity for players to make their own history. They have to get out of that professional mould where they are constantly instructed to do this and that and realise that they must take all the decisions themselves.
Can they win?
They will have to win the first two Tests if they are going to win the series because it will become tough at altitude. In 1974 we won the first Test and it created disarray among the South Africa selectors. I think Paul O’Connell can be a great leader. If I was young enough, I’d love to be out there playing under him.