The Wales back-row Martyn Williams will embark on his third Lions tour claiming: "We are capable of producing something special."
The Cardiff Blues flanker heads to South Africa this month as part of a squad that has already been written off by many, but the 33-year-old is ready for anything the World Cup-winning Springboks can muster should he land a place in the Test side, something which eluded him in Australia in 2001 and New Zealand in 2005.
His one flirtation with a Lions Test came as a replacement in the dead-rubber against New Zealand at Eden Park in Auckland four years ago. And Williams, with 88 Wales caps, is not hiding from the degree of difficulty facing the 2009 Lions. "Lions tours are difficult," he said. "There is a very short space of time to prepare and try to gel. It is the ultimate challenge. But a lot of the senior players on this tour would have gone on the last one in 2005, so they will know what it is about."
The Lions assemble at their Surrey training base from 18 May, but the whole squad will not be together for another six days. The Heineken Cup final will see several of the head coach Ian McGeechan's squad playing at Murrayfield, and they are not due to report for Lions duty until the following day, 24 May, when the Lions fly to South Africa.
Some might view such disruption as the last thing McGeechan needs, yet Williams feels it could work in their favour. "There isn't going to be much preparation time," he added. "But sometimes that can help because you can't over-complicate things and you have got be very basic. I think that is what a Lions tour is about. You've got good players there and you've got to rely on them to make the right calls.
"In the past, the last two tours anyway, we over-trained and over-complicated things. There were so many coaches involved and they wanted their piece of meat. At that time of the season, with quality players, you don't need it. You don't need to reinvent the wheel.
"They are all international players who just need to be pointed in the right direction. You have got to hit the ground running and the coaches on this tour have worked together a lot. Maybe on the last couple of tours there were lots of different coaches and lots of different ideas."
Williams was just finding his feet as an international when the Lions last toured South Africa 12 years ago, having made his Wales debut in 1996. Early indications are though, that McGeechan and the tour manager Gerald Davies are looking to recapture that special spirit of 1997, when the Lions recorded a 2–1 Test series triumph.
"It's a fine balance between a tour in the professional era and also keeping that little bit of the old school about it," Williams added. "Everyone is writing us off and saying South Africa are red-hot favourites. They are world champions and they've got a pretty phenomenal squad. We are going in there as huge underdogs but looking at the talent in the squad, there is no doubt we are capable of producing something special. It was a great relief to be selected, and it feels just as special as eight years ago."
