It remains a unique achievement. In 1971 the
British Lions went to New Zealand and beat the All
Blacks in a test series on their own soil. With gritty,
never-say-die forwards like Ian McLaughlan and Mervyn
Davies, and brilliant backs like Barry John, Gerald
Davies and David Duckham, and under the inspired
management of one of the finest coaches of all time,
Carwyn James, the Lions won the first match, lost the
second, and then came back to clinch the series in the
third. But this unique rugby feat also spawned a
unique book, for after the touring party had returned to
the UK, the Lions captain John Dawes had the idea of
organising an International Players' Conference, at
which he and some of the key members of his victorious
team would discuss the latest trends in rugby and offer
the fruits of their experience in how to beat the
greatest rugby team in the world. These talks and
lectures were subsequently edited into a book, The Lions
Speak by the Daily Telegraph's Rugby Correspondent, John
Reason. In the years since it was first published, it
has assumed cult status as one of the best and most
insightful books ever published about the game of
rugby. It stands as both a fascinating period piece
about a sport that was played very differently in those
days - when Bob Hiller would toe-punt penalties and
conversions from a lovingly-crafted mud tee, and scrum
halves like Gareth Edwards would launch his back-line
from the scrum with a flamboyant diving pass - and a
brilliant and witty deconstruction of the game's
strategy and psychology by some of its most greatest and
most intelligent practitioners, that is as relevant and
valuable today as it ever was. Who better to talk about
kicking and controlling the game than Barry John, or
Mike Gibson on the role of the centre, or Carwyn James
himself to reveal the secrets of his coaching methods
that brought about the 1971 Lions' historic victory and
British rugby's finest hour?
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