Where did it all go wrong? In ten places actually, says rugby writer Brian Dick, as he picks through the wreckage of the British Lions' first whitewash in 22 years.
TOO MANY PLAYERS
By the time Rico Gear skipped away from a battle-weary Lions team late in the third Test, 51 players had worn the famous red jersey - in a mere 12 matches. Modern professional rugby is a physically demanding sport and no one can be expected to play two games in less than a week, but 51? That?s more than three teams.
Is it any wonder the Saturday side looked as though they were meeting each other for the first time as they quaked before the haka in Christchurch.
There were nine different centre pairings throughout the tour making it less surprising that the backs lacked penetration than that they scored any tries at all.
ALASTAIR CAMPBELL
Woodward won?t say it, and if he did it?d probably be buried anyway, but the inclusion of one of the most unpopular men on this island was the very definition of ?PR own goal?. Quite ironic really given his brief.
Campbell?s insistence that Woodward and his players continue to whinge about the Tana Umaga clearout that ended Brian O?Driscoll?s tour, only served to galvanise an already loyal All Black squad behind one of the most under-rated players there is.
Reports that he set-up a picture of Gavin Henson having tea and scones with the man who had just shattered the centre?s Test dreams, were sadly predictable if they are proved to be true.
FIRST TEST SELECTION
Can anyone tell me why Jonny Wilkinson, a man who had not played a competitive international in more than 18 months, was chosen in a position in which he had not played for many years? Answers on a postcard please.
And while you?re at it perhaps you can explain why Jason Robinson started at full-back having had a dire Six Nations and been eclipsed on tour in the role by both Josh Lewsey and Geordan Murphy.
After that you might want to consider why Woodward picked three back row players with an aggregate age of 99.
PLAYERS? PERFORMANCES
Very few of the Test side covered themselves in glory, most of them chose a smellier substance, but it is the forwards who have got to take a serious look at themselves.
Paul O ? Connell for instance. We were told that this man was the best second row on the planet, the perfect combination of lineout jumper, ball-carrier and pack enforcer.
He stank in all three Tests, was embarrassed in the line-out in the first, let down by his discipline in the second and shoved around like a rag doll in the third.
And Julian White too. He was billed as the front-row wrecking ball who would decimate the All Blacks? scrummage. In the end he was bettered by any young Kiwi who fancied a game.
WRONG PLAYERS
Things first began to go wrong when the original squad was announced. Ryan Jones should have been selected in the first place, that?s without the benefit of hindsight, as should Jason White.
Chris Paterson was worth a place instead of Denis Hickie, if only for his versatility, he might have been a useful utility back to have on the bench for the Tests.
Wilkinson should never have gone in the first place. His susceptibility to ?stingers? and the fact that he was going to be targeted from the off did neither player nor team any favours.
TACTICS
Even now, with no more rugby to be played, I cannot discern exactly what Woodward had told his Lions to do when they had the ball.
Admittedly that didn?t happen often but when it did they cluelessly crabbed their way across the field like a blind man looking for a door on a floor, until they were penalised for holding on or were turned over.
The much feted kicking game did not materialise. Wilkinson?s work from hand was lamentable and Stephen Jones failed to provide his team with the platform their so-called pressure game required.
DIDN?T PLAY TO REFEREES
Woodward remembered to pack his pocket referee, David McHugh, but his players completely failed to comprehend what the Southern Hemisphere officials were asking of them.
Wales flanker Martyn Williams was whistled out of the tour in the early matches for infringements at the breakdown and the rest of the squad didn?t seem to realise that ?Hands off,? meant exactly that.
And when it became clear midway through the second Test that the referees weren?t bothered about blocking or obstruction, the management didn?t seem to pick up on it. Instead of fighting fire with fire, they held up their hands in outrage.
FAME OVER FORM
Perhaps the biggest legacy of the tour will be Woodward?s loyalty to fame over form. Shane Williams, Geordan Murphy, Gavin Henson, Ryan Jones, Chris Cusiter and Gordon Bulloch made the fatal mistake of not being English.
Quite what Charlie Hodgson and Mark Cueto did wrong is difficult to say. Perhaps their exclusion or late inclusion is down to the fact that their name did not begin with a J.
PRE-TOUR PREDICTIONS
Woodward made a petard on which to hoist himself even before the tour got under way when he stated boldly that his Lions were the best prepared team ever to leave these shores.
When interviewed yesterday he claimed that there had not been sufficient time to prepare properly. Something doesn?t square here unless the head coach?s disingenuous gland has gone into overdrive.
REACTION ON RETURN
As Woodrow Wilson once said: ?One cool judgment is worth a thousand hasty councils. The thing is to supply light and not heat.? With that in mind recent suggestions that the British Lion is a dying breed that should be put to sleep, are odious to anyone who cares about the sport.
The Lions can justify their existence both as a commercial entity - look at the tanker-loads of money the tours generate - and as a link to a more enjoyable, bygone age when there was less social distance between players and supporters. An anachronism they may be but in this bastardised game of ours is that such a bad thing?
