Mud and relentless rain put big damper on 1977 tour

Fran Cotton and Moss Keane at Athletic Park. Picture / Fotopress

They say you enjoy a Lions tour no matter what the outcome. Most regard it as one of the high points of their life.

But John Dawes' reflective thoughts on the 1977 tour he coached in New Zealand suggest another scenario.

"There was no pleasure in the rugby and no pleasure in the tour. The weather was awful and conditions were abysmal. We couldn't break out: it rained and rained.

"There was nothing more depressing than coming off the training ground not just wet but absolutely soaked and covered in mud. And the next day you had to go back out there in similar conditions. In the end, that got to us. The lads got fed up because there was no way to release their frustrations."

A single, famous photograph defined the difficulty and entire feeling of Dawes' class of 1977 Lions. Fran Cotton was pictured awaiting a lineout at Wellington, covered from head to toe in mud.

"That picture summed it all up," Dawes said.

"His expression, his whole body language is saying, 'What the hell am I doing here'?"

The 1977 Lions, coached by Dawes, played 25 matches on a tour lasting 13 1/2 weeks.

Relentless, heavy rain followed them the length and breadth of the country, denying them the opportunity to get away from rugby and enjoy the many outdoor activities.

They were confined to a non-stop diet of training, sitting in their hotels watching the rain fall, eating, sleeping and then going training or playing the next day.

As the dreadful weather hovered, like a constant thundercloud above them, the Lions began to squabble. They moaned at having to eat off the a la carte, pre-paid menu, but when the dispute was finally sorted, the players ordered sausage, egg, beans and chips.

Far more serious was the growing struggle to motivate players on the sodden, soaked grounds.

"Normally on a Lions tour, you don't need to motivate anyone," Dawes said.

"If you have to be motivated to play for a Lions team, there's something wrong somewhere. But it began to happen and everything I have said just chipped away at morale, it all became a chore.

"Halfway through the tour, players began to look only at the prospect of going home. The fact is, the tours in those days were too long."

In 1971, it had been a happy Lions tour with Carwyn James as coach and Dawes as captain. But six years later, Dawes found a very different scenario unfolding.

Much had changed.

"The success of those Lions and also the 1974 Lions in South Africa meant we were received in a different light when we got to New Zealand in 1977.

"Until those successful tours, there had been a view that the Lions would play some lovely rugby, be jolly good chaps and lose. Those winning tours changed all that. Their attitude to us was different."

The nuggety, tough New Zealanders of that era also did their homework on Dawes' men. They quickly targeted Lions captain Phil Bennett, a sustained physical assault spanning several matches succeeding in putting the creative Llanelli No 10 off his game.

"They knew that if they could knock Phil off his game, it would be a big plus for them. They achieved that, because Benny lost confidence and wasn't able to perform as he had done in South Africa on the hard grounds in 1974.

"But it was pretty brutal. In Christchurch, the All Black backrower Kevin Eveleigh absolutely destroyed Phil. Even the New Zealand press condemned him for his late tackles. But he had done a job knocking the confidence out of Benny."

The tale of woe had started long before a heavily Welsh dominated Lions squad (four Irishmen, five Scots, six Englishmen and 15 Welshmen) flew out.

The Lions selectors failed to persuade world-class players such as Gareth Edwards, Gerald Davies, J. P. R. Williams and David Duckham to make themselves available.

Brilliant Welsh No 8 Mervyn Davies, who would almost certainly have been tour captain, had suffered a brain haemorrhage a year earlier and been forced to retire.

Then Roger Uttley, England's highly effective forward, had to miss the tour after being selected, due to injury.

Suddenly, Dawes was without more than a third of a team, all of them world stars. It bode ill for what followed.

"We didn't have a senior citizen to grab hold of it all on the field. For sure, that is what these 2005 Lions will need on the field. In 1971, we'd had several, but in '77, there was no one of that kind, someone to dictate the course of a match.

"We badly missed Mervyn and Gareth in particular. Gareth was a very protective scrumhalf and wouldn't have allowed the New Zealanders to get at Benny. If we'd had them, I think we'd have won."

Yet astonishingly, despite all that and the fact that the '77 tourists lost the test series 3-1 to the All Blacks, Dawes insists to this day that they gave New Zealand more to worry about in rugby terms than the 1971 Lions had ever managed.

"We didn't even have parity up front most of the time in 1971, yet in '77, we dominated in the forwards to the extent that it became embarrassing for New Zealand."

That was undoubtedly true, personified by the remarkable sight of a New Zealand All Black pack putting only three forwards into scrums in a test match, because they knew they couldn't hold the Lions forwards even with eight, and deciding to concede possession.

It is doubtful whether the macho world of New Zealand rugby has ever suffered a greater indignity. Yet, equally amazingly, it didn't lead to a Lions victory as it obviously should have done. The Lions backs were so inept that they could not make the breakthrough required to finish off their foes.

Dawes will be back in New Zealand next month with the London Welsh Male Voice Choir to see the test series. But he confesses to serious worries about the health of one of Brian O'Driscoll's men, Jonny Wilkinson.

"What I am worried about is his bravery and commitment in the All Black environment where he could get hurt. He is going into the most physical rugby arena in the world.

"You can't be out of international rugby for 18 months naturally, I think something has been held back. They will hit him hard and I just hope he is not injured. But the nature of the man means he won't opt out."

He is also concerned at the size of the squad. "I find it hard to comprehend how Woodward is going to play everyone and how it is going to work. We are all puzzled. I am reluctant to criticise because I don't know what his plans are. He will either come back a hero or a villain."

Dawes believes the first test will be crucial to the Lions' hopes of success, just as it was for his men in 1971.

"I think it all depends on the first test. The Lions could win the series 2-1 or the All Blacks could take it 3-0."