Just two years after the game had turned professional - there was a lot riding on the 1997 British & Irish Lions tour to South Africa.

A three-Test series against the reigning world champions was not the only thing at stake for the squad that had been assembled by Sir Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer.

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The very future of the great touring institution was under discussion – with some believing that the Lions were inextricably linked with the amateur era.

What followed in South Africa that summer blew that theory out the water as Martin Johnson’s side battled to a 2-1 series win and into the hearts of a new generation of rugby fans across England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.

With Fran Cotton as manager alongside McGeechan and Telfer, the Lions set out their stall from the off. The first clash of that famous tour saw them take on an Eastern Province XV on May 24.

Every position was up for grabs in the Test side and as powerfully demonstrated in the legendary ‘Living With Lions’ documentary that followed, McGeechan knew how to get his troops ready.

This was after all a man who had been a key player on the 1974 Invincibles Tour to the same country.