Every Lions tour embarks with a wagon-load of history attached but sepia photographs of Willie John McBride and the rest cannot intimidate the locals indefinitely. All that matters to modern-day Springboks is the outcome of the forthcoming Test matches and neither their captain, John Smit, nor their head coach, Peter de Villiers, wishes to be remembered as a man who failed to deliver victory in South Africa's biggest home series in years.
In Pretoria yesterday the scale of the challenge facing the Lions became more evident. Even in the absence of Bulls players before Saturday's Super 14 final they mustered a side of ominous ability to face a quaking Namibian Invitation XV in Windhoek on Friday while Smit suggested the Boks have developed into a stronger side in the 18 months since they won the 2007 World Cup. "I'd like to think we can pose a bigger threat than we did in 2007," he said. "We've pretty much got the same group of guys with two years' added experience. I don't think we've regressed."
De Villiers, for his part, cheerfully went one step further by suggesting the touring party were not in the same class as, for example, McBride's unbeaten 1974 Lions. "In 1974 you've got to understand you had a lot of outstanding players in the UK, guys who were in a class of their own. Sometimes you only get that once in a lifetime. That's over and done with. The guys you have got now are good but they will never be like the 1974 Lions. They won't be legends in their own lifetimes like most of those players became."
If anything, he continued, players like Smit, Victor Matfield and Schalk Burger are the modern equivalents of Gareth Edwards, JPR Williams and Andy Irvine and seeking revenge for past defeats is irrelevant. "I think we have that [calibre of player] now and, for me, that's a big difference. We're going to try and win the series for now, not 1974 or 1997."
The onus, accordingly, is on the uncapped trio of Stormers' centre Morgan Newman, Lions' full-back Earl Rose and Sharks' loose forward Jean Deysel to force their way into a squad which currently has few serious injury concerns. De Villiers will name his squad for the Lions series on Monday and competition would appear tight. "If they are good enough to play Super 14, they're good enough to play for this country," said De Villiers. "We're so blessed to have that kind of talent around; for us the challenge is to get the right blend. There are one or two positions where we struggle."
The Lions will soon be able to rate the new crop themselves as De Villiers intends to make available for the provincial games any players not required in his Test match squad of 23 the following weekend. It could make life even harder for the tourists' midweek XV but South Africa's assistant coach, Gary Gold, refuses to accept the best players of four countries will struggle to make an impact: "I don't believe any Lions team can ever go in as the underdogs. We certainly don't think we just have to pitch up and win the series."
Smit, now redeployed in "the dark, eerie pit of tighthead" after years as South Africa's first-choice hooker, is also wary. "Winning the World Cup was a wonderful feat but it counts for nothing other than to put a little more weight on our shoulders every time we prepare for a Test match. Every single one of those Lions are here to win."
He gives short shrift to the notion that South Africa need to win in style to be considered a truly great side, as opposed to a team which scraped past England in a disappointing World Cup final in Paris. "The priority is to win," retorted Smit. "It's a small person who can't appreciate the mammoth task of playing in a final and the tendency for that to push teams into a more conservative frame of mind. Whether it takes five tries or five penalties to win a game, I think we have a team who can do both."
