Hines revelling in Lions team spirit

Published on Tuesday 26 May 2009 23:06

HE HAS only been a British and Irish Lion for a week, but already Nathan Hines is telling the squad where to sleep – and who with – after the Australian, who pitched up in Galashiels on a European tour 11 years ago and became a leading Scotland internationalist, was put in charge of deciding who bunks up with whom.

One of the aspects of the ill-fated 2005 tour that Ian McGeechan, the current Lions head coach, has reversed was the decision to allow players to have their own rooms. As well as putting extra noughts on the Lions costs in New Zealand four years ago, this, McGeechan believed, took away some of the necessary bonding attributes of Lions tours down the years.

It was something that Woodward had brought into the England camp "to give players space" and it became common for wives and girlfriends to spend time with the players as a result in 2005. But not this time. Hines explained: "This is a rugby tour and we're here to enjoy being part of the Lions, of course, but to play rugby at a very high level and to win a Test series. The players all agree that the big thing is us bonding, creating a real team spirit and we're seeing that happening already. One part of that is sharing rooms, and myself, Adam Jones and Keith Earls have been given the task of deciding who shares with who.

"We discussed it and decided we wanted to make sure there would be no cliques, which was something all the players agreed right at the start – I've been warned that we may be few in number but if I'm seen speaking to another Scot by myself that's a clique! So we're making sure that everyone rooms with someone from a different country.

"I was with Martyn Williams last week and now I'm in with Lee Mears, while Ross Ford is with the captain Paul O'Connell to help him get integrated into the squad quickly, Euan Murray is with Andy Powell and I think Mike Blair is with Tommy Bowe, though there are so many I can't quite remember right now where Mike is.

"But it's been good. I saw Euan said yesterday that there is a good club feel, and that's spot on. That's not surprising when you look at the quality of professionals here, but it's a relief. You never quite know what it's going to be like when you come together with lots of guys you have met maybe once or twice, maybe never, and have just heard or read about in the media.

"It started to come together at the beginning of last week to be honest and I think Ian McGeechan, Gerald Davies (tour manager] and the coaches have really done a great job of making sure this feels like a real Lions tour. Some of the guys that have been on previous tours, particularly the last one, say it feels very different; much better."

The squad have already been split into various committees, for music, entertainment and discipline, along the lines of traditional Lions tours, and Hines believes that has also helped players to take responsibility for the tour. Hines revealed that Lions chief executive John Feehan and media manager Greg Thomas had already been handed fines for allowing their mobile phones to ring during meetings.

His old room-mate also had a prank played on him last week, which Hines found amusing. Williams had missed the final penalty in the Heineken Cup semi-final's first 'penalty shoot-out' with Leicester and he took collection of an unexpected box from his sponsor Puma. "He was excited, saying, 'Great, some new goodies', and when he opened the box he found 15 kicking tees courtesy of Puma. The boys liked that one.

"The Welsh boys are certainly going to be entertaining on this tour. At the big official dinner before we left, with around 2,000 there, the management were asked to stand up and show themselves because they were less well-known than the players, and Andy Powell hadn't heard what was said and stood up – no-one else did and he was standing like an idiot. According to some of the Welsh boys, he does that sort of thing a lot, so he could be the most unwittingly funny tourist."

Now that they are in South Africa, Hines conceded that the mood had turned more serious, with the first game against the Royal XV near Rustenburg only four days away. It is understood that the first Lions 22 of 2009 has been picked and that it will have Scottish representation, but Hines insisted he did not know it yet. It will be announced publicly tomorrow.

"There's no doubt though that the focus has turned on to what's coming," he added. "The laughs and the bonding are important, because in rugby you have to be able to trust your team-mates, and be prepared to go a long way for them, and that's why the most successful teams tend to be ones that have been together for a long time. We don't have time, so we've had to come together quickly, but now everybody just wants to get on the field.

"The excitement of being selected for the tour has gone now to be honest; it's all about being selected to play, to put your body on the line for the Lions and to win in a Lions jersey. Then it's about winning a Test series in South Africa.

"I've come close to winning here with Scotland, but not done it yet, so I'm pretty determined to make sure I don't leave this time without knowing what it feels like to beat the Springboks on their own soil."

Royal XV team (to play British Isles on Saturday): R Jeacocks; E Seconds, D Van Rensburg, H Coetzee, B Basson, N Olivier, S Pretorius, J Mokuena, D Raubenheimer, W Koch (captain), J Lombaard, R Mathee, B Roux, R Barnes, A Buckle. Subs: P Van der Westhuizen, S Roberts, R Landman, RW Kember, J Coetzee, R Viljoen, J Bowles.