They tend to keep their heads down and come to prominence only when they start throwing the ball in like a drunken sailor, but that may all change on Saturday as two of the most exciting hookers in world rugby go head to head.

Exactly 19 years ago today, the 1989 Lions clinched a series victory over Australia thanks to a nail-biting 19-18 Third Test win in Sydney.

When the 1955 British & Irish Lions played their first game in South Africa there was a prize of £15 on offer for the first player to score a try.

With a new domestic campaign on the horizon, Ireland full back Geordan Murphy is hoping another impressive season in Leicester Tigers colours will push him towards his second successive Lions tour.

It's been dubbed as "the world champions versus the world's best team", but it won't be only 4 million long-suffering New Zealand fans who tune into Saturday's mouth-watering Tri Nations opener in Wellington.

With the All Blacks having selected their side to take on the Springboks in Wellington on Saturday, July 5, we pick our own New Zealand 22 featuring Kiwis who took on the Lions in 2005 and have since joined the European exodus.

In our first of our Springbok close up features, we profile head coach Peter de Villiers, the man charged with leading his country to victory against the Lions in June and July 2009.

Vodacom Park in Bloemfontein is the venue for the third game of the 2009 British & Irish Lions tour.

Exactly three years after claiming a First Test victory over the Lions in Christchurch, All Black centre Aaron Mauger has praised the travelling support that accompanied the tourists on their last overseas adventure back in 2005.

When Bill Beaumont describes the British & Irish Lions as "the biggest brand in world rugby" it is going to take a good argument to knock back his claim.

The memories came flooding back for the 2009 British & Irish Lions management duo of Gerald Davies and Ian McGeechan when they visited the world renowned Loftus Versveld stadium in Pretoria.

British & Irish Lions Head Coach Ian McGeechan and Tour Manager Gerald Davies locked swords with the South African media for the first time ahead of next year's tour in Cape Town today.

Ian McGeechan, the most experienced coach in the world of rugby, will lead the British & Irish Lions to South Africa in 2009 as Head Coach.

Ian McGeechan will lead the 2009 British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa, it was confirmed this morning.

Dr James Robson tells lionsrugby.com about the unique demands of keeping the squad in one piece across an arduous tour.

No-one is more steeped in British & Irish Lions history than Syd Millar. A player on the tours of 1959, 1962 and 1968, he coached the unbeaten Lions in South Africa in 1974, was a selector in 1977, manager in 1980, a committee member in 1993 and 1997, and Chairman of the last tour, to Australia, in 2001.

The vivid red of their jerseys has been synonymous with the Lions for more than half a century. But the team's colours have changed almost as much as the game itself since the first tour of 1888.