Lions diary, day eight
An apology for the late delivery of Monday's installment, we shall hold our hands up and talk about dinner.
An apology for the late delivery of Monday's installment, we could claim technical difficulties but instead we shall hold our hands up and talk about dinner.
The Lions were kind enough to stick up a three-course meal for the gathered media on Monday, which also raised ZAR 7,000 (£550) for Alastair Hignell's charity – a worthier cause there could not be.
The dinner event also included a five-round quiz, testing our general knowledge on the current Lions, past Lions, some general rugby trivia and our knowledge of a quite extraordinary selection of cheesy '80s music.
So, and on the basis of clinching it with a flawless cheesy '80s music round, it is with mildly embarrassed pride that your faithful reporter can announce that he and the other five members of 'Gatsy's wigwams' scooped the spoils and the main prize on offer: a case of wine from Lions tour sponsor First Cape Wines.
However, the level of delight at the victory pales into insignificance when compared with the mirth caused by the booby prize.
The sight of Gerald Davies and His Almost All Male Voice Choir – as the team was known – being dragged up onto a stage to sing the 'Power of Four' (remember that revolting song Sir Clive spent a fortune commissioning before the New Zealand tour) will live long in the memory!
Meanwhile, a word must go to the dress sense on show as well. Most pitched up looking rather dapper – some of us had even shaved! Posh shirts, tidy shoes and stylish slacks were the norm.
But by some distance the trendiest chap on show was Ian McGeechan himself, resplendent in designer creased shirt, equally designer jeans and as trendy a pair of white trainers as you could wish for. Now we know why the team is so well-dressed all the time…
Most of the pre-quiz small talk centred on the Bath fiasco, of which the news broke shortly before the dinner started.
Brian O'Driscoll was on excellent sarcastic form at Monday's press conference. The first question from the assembled media corps: “Brian could you tell us how it feels to be given another shot at leading the Lions after your bad experience in 2005” was greeted with a suitably derisive “Well I wasn't expecting that question!”
That was followed up with a question about his return to form this season, which he promptly answered with “Boy, I must have been terrible the past couple of seasons!”
Ian McGeechan scooped the award for letting a cliche drift away from reality during the same conference when talking about Nathan Hines.
“He's a good player, he's been around, he's a hardened player, skilful player. And he'll be good to have here because he's used to playing on hard grounds with the sun on his back [and here there followed a thoughtful pause]…”
“Although it's dark on Wednesday night!”
Finally, Lions training equipment was bolstered on Monday by the appearance of hurling sticks and balls, as the Irish took it upon themselves to educate the rest of their squad members in one of few sports that could claim to be rougher than the beautiful game.
Most of the rest looked on bemused but Joe Worsley was giving it a good go, connecting with one of his first shots at the goal so hard that Paul O'Connell was forced into rapid evasive action, looking utterly stunned for a second – as did the rest of the onlooking Irish.
Journal kept by Richard Anderson