THE FINAL whistle sounded on the final match and brought the curtain down on another tour. The British and Irish Lions can now be packed away for another four years like so many toy soldiers going back in their box. With both coaches making a raft of changes and the series already in the bag, yesterday's encounter had the feeling of a phoney war, but it was a good one to win for all that. Now the post mortem begins.
Before yesterday's "consolation" victory, the Lions had suffered seven straight Test defeats going back to Australia 2001, and some respected columnists claim the whole concept of a Lions tour is flawed, a throwback to the carefree amateur days,
irrelevant in the professional era, sure to collapse under the weight of its own structural anomalies.
They are wrong. The Lions will continue because, as South Africa coach Peter de Villiers pointed out in one of his more lucid moments, "talk is cheap but money buys the whisky". Ignore everything else, turn a blind eye to the gouging, overlook the injuries and forget the ticket prices, the British and Irish Lions is simply too lucrative a cash cow to ever slaughter.
Not only have the players made good money, earning about £35,000 for six weeks' work, but so too have the host union. SARU's ticketing strategy was crazy, with a Lions Test ticket (£95) three times more expensive than the Tri-Nations equivalent. This disgraceful situation may not have led to full stadiums but it certainly filled the SARU coffers. The wider South Africa economy has benefited from a cash injection estimated at £138 million.
They are not the only beneficiaries. The four home unions will share a windfall from the tour that, according to an official Lions spokesman, could be worth around £1m each although nobody really knows until the last taxi receipt has been paid and the last bar bill signed off. It is not just finance that ensures the concept will survive: the players love it and the Lions are a beast that benefits from the less-is-more concept. In an era when the All Blacks play the Wallabies as often as four times a year, the Lions appear once every four years for the home supporters and once every 12 for the opposition fans. They are that ultimate rarity in top-class professional sport, a rarity. Nothing else in first-class rugby comes close to the exclusivity offered by the Lions and so long as they are competitive who cares if they lose, it's all part of the great Lions tradition.
Ahead of this tour Ian McGeechan pointed out that the Lions had only ever won four series. He was exaggerating but not by much; they have won just four series since 1971. Overall the Lions boast a 36 per cent success rate; post-war that figure drops to 32 per cent. Hell, Scotland once lost 17 consecutive Tests so for the Lions to lose seven on the bounce is hardly worthy of comment, especially when they ran the opposition so close in three of those defeats (29-23 in Sydney, 26-21 in Durban and 28-25 in Pretoria).
Ian McGeechan may not be the genius some would have you believe but he has at least restored some pride to the pack. The Lions may have only beaten South Africa once the series was lost but this Springboks side are worthy world champions.
To run them close in their own back yard is no disgrace. Australia here we come.
BOKLASH: HIGHS AND LOWSPOSITIVES
1. The rugby So much else happened that we are in danger of forgetting some truly memorable rugby. The Lions put the ball through the hands at every opportunity and the Springboks showed everyone that it is still possible to score tries from first phase. The opening Test was tight with that fightback from the Lions but the second game in Pretoria was an absolute classic, a belter of a match that went right down to the wire and was only won and lost on the very last kick of the ball.
2. Credibility The Lions lost the series but regained their credibility. When the Lions history is written, the New Zealand '05 tour will go down as one of the low points. At least it was close in South Africa where the Springboks may have been the better team and enjoyed home advantage but the Lions could have won the first Test and should have taken the second.
3. Money The four home unions should receive something like £1m each as the profits from the Lions tour are re-distributed and the windfall will come in very handy as the SRU continues to push down the level of debt.
4. Players Several players return to these islands with their reputations greatly enhanced. Rob Kearney made the injury to Lee Byrne seem inconsequential, Brian O'Driscoll, below, remains the ultimate on-field warrior, Tom Croft should never have been omitted from the original party, Jamie Roberts has proved he can do it at the highest level, Simon Shaw finally got his Lions cap 12 years after his first tour, Jamie Heaslip was the stand-out player yesterday and who would have thought that such heroics could be packed into Adam Jones' unlikely frame!
5. Props It's not often that front row forwards determine the outcome of a game pretty much on their own but Tendai Mtawarira did just that with his demolition of Phil Vickery in Durban.
NEGATIVES
1. Losing Lions The Lions lost this series just as they have lost the previous two in New Zealand and Australia. They now have the full set of Southern Hemisphere defeats. Before yesterday's victory, the composite side had not won a Test match since Brisbane in 2001. The brand will survive but it owes its many thousands of fans more days like yesterday.
2. Scottish players All four had a disappointing time of it. At the start of the tour each Scot had a chance of a Test place, by the end not one had appeared in the run-on team. Tom Smith was the last Scot to start in a Lions Test and that was eight years ago. Euan Murray and Nathan Hines might have come close to selection in Pretoria but the prop was injured and the lock was banned. Mike Blair had a forgettable trip and Ross Ford, despite yesterday's run-out as a replacement, is still let down by his arrows and his lack of aggression.
3. Ripped-off fans The ticket prices were a disgrace (see main story, left). Maybe next time the Lions should look at adding Argentina on to their itinerary instead of South Africa.
4. Ian McGeechanIt may seem harsh after yesterday's victory but ultimately his decisions cost the Lions dear. The coach picked the wrong side for the opening game when the Springboks did not even have to play well to win. Had the Pretoria XV started in Durban the Lions would have won that match. Had James Hook been on the bench instead of Ronan O'Gara in Pretoria the Lions would have won that one too. Selection is the coach's No.1 job and McGeechan got it marginally, but crucially, wrong.
5. Peter de Villiers The Boks won despite, not because of their coach. He withdrew his front line troops too early in Durban. He played the race card when Ricky Januarie attracted justified criticism and he defended the indefensible in Schalk Burger's disgraceful gouging of Luke Fitzgerald. If De Villiers leads South Africa into the next World Cup everyone else will have hope.
