After all, the first ever international Test series in the sport saw the tourists take on the Springboks, all the way back in 1891.

[caption id="attachment_18245" align="alignnone" width="650"]

Matt Dawson and Jeremy Davidson celebrate the victory in the first Test[/caption] It all began with the appointment of 'Geech' as head coach, a man who understands the ethos of the Lions better than just about anyone. He in turn opted for Martin Johnson as skipper, a towering physical specimen who could look the Boks in the eye from the get go. But there were heroes wherever you looked, the technical brilliance of the Tom Smith, Keith Wood, Paul Wallace front row will go down in history. And the rugby-league hardened professionalism of the likes of Allan Bateman and John Bentley meant the Lions pulled away late on in the first Test to claim victory. A week later the Boks came roaring back but the unerring boot of Jenkins and then THAT Guscott drop goal entered those 1997 tourists into folklore.

This tour is the keystone from which all modern Lions Tours have descended.