Later that afternoon several players offered little to the flow of the game other than the contents of their stomach. The Lions lost 3-28 and the crowd demanded a refund. Australia has her perils, but that element of slugging up and down South Island, New Zealand or being flogged across the High Veld in South Africa has been removed. On the last three tours, including the first one made exclusively to Australia in 1989, they have been shaped and guided by Ian McGeechan. Now, since McGeechan turned down the offer of a fourth tour, they have a new coach, Graham Henry.
Henry approaches the job from a different perspective.
He is the New Zealander facing the problem of mixing Irish, Welsh and Scottish players into the English hard core. There has been much debate about this racial cocktail, as if we were suddenly as distinct as the polar Inuits from the desert Bedouins. Splits only occur and cliques only form when things go wrong on the field. All the players come from clubs or districts or provinces that are cosmopolitan in composition. Integration is not an issue.