Former Northampton Saints prop Tom Smith received his first taste of Lions action in 1997 when he was included in Sir Ian McGeechan’s squad for the tour to South Africa, despite having only three Scotland caps to his name.
Smith – who had earned his first international cap earlier that year in the Calcutta Cup match against England at Twickenham – was then selected to start all three Tests alongside Paul Wallace and Keith Wood in the front row.
Four years later, he pulled on the famous red jersey once more for the Australia Tour, where he played all three Tests against the Wallabies to become the only Scot to have played in the six consecutive Lions Test matches of the 1997 and 2001 tours.
