Peter Bills: Sorry about the shambling tour

To the people of New Zealand, the All Blacks and coach Graham Henry, an apology.

True rugby lovers in the United Kingdom and Ireland wish to apologise for the erroneous claims that you would have a proper Lions tour this year.

We regret the misleading impression this may have given, that these Lions would be competitive, inventive and suitable opponents. Above all, accept our apology that what you saw bore no relation to a real Lions tour, with players of the calibre required to test your representatives.

A comment at the end of Saturday's final test in Auckland epitomised the delusions which characterised this hopeless tour. Lions coach Clive Woodward claimed the tour was a success.

It's increasingly difficult to know which world Woodward inhabits. Clearly, it is one where spin rules. But then, that summed up this whole disaster. It was based on fantasy, not fact. And it included Alastair Campbell, whose recent working life has been spent spinning news. Taking him on tour was one of Woodward's biggest blunders.

Probably you need only three words to sum up these failed Lions. Not good enough will do nicely. They were never going to be good enough..

Woodward thought he could do to the All Blacks what England had done at the 2003 World Cup. Play tight, kick for the corners, kick goals and let a powerful pack run the game.

Alas, test rugby has moved on. New Zealand's coaches, Graham Henry, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith, have all spent time coaching in the Northern Hemisphere, and it showed. They have worked hard on improving New Zealand's scrummaging and lineout skills. Now they have improved, the speed and skill which comes from playing Super 12 rugby was able to come to the fore.

But none of this required the brain of Einstein to forecast. Last year's Tri-Nations championship already included signs that the New Zealand forwards were working harder on the essentials.

The Lions were unlucky with injuries to key players Brian O'Driscoll and Lawrence Dallaglio. Dallaglio's early loss was cruel and O'Driscoll's injury, courtesy of a dangerous tackle, reflected poorly on Tana Umaga. With those two went any chance of the Lions making a contest of the series.

Woodward has to accept the blame for so much else that went wrong. The team for the first test never played together once before the international. Taking 45 players was the reason, yet it was obvious Woodward had chosen his virtual first test side even before he left home. Never again should the Lions take so many players, especially those like John Hayes, Andy Titterell, Will Greenwood, Ronan O'Gara, Denis Hickie, Danny Grewcock and Gareth Cooper, who were simply not good enough.

Yet, curiously, two-thirds of Woodward's test back row in both Wellington and Auckland (Ryan Jones and Simon Easterby), had not even been considered worthy of selection in the squad of 45 when the Lions left home. That spoke volumes about the judgment of those in charge.

With flawed selections and too many players, any chance of cohesion and team understanding went out of the window.

Yet the mid-week team, coached by Ian McGeechan and Gareth Jenkins, remained unbeaten. That told us a great deal about the coaching of the senior side. Phil Larder's much talked-up defensive alignments were blown to pieces by the cunning, slick and inventive New Zealand backs.

Several former Lions, like Willie John McBride, Gareth Edwards and J.P.R. Williams, were privately furious at the shambles this tour became. But at the end of the day, not even Woodward can be blamed for the stark fact that the Lions just didn't have the players.

Rugby in the Northern Hemisphere is again lagging way behind the Southern Hemisphere. This unhappy, failed tour confirms the point. But to spend the best part of 9 million ($23 million) to find that out, when sober observers could have told them before they even left home, was a shocking waste.

An army of back-up staff trudged around New Zealand with the Lions, flew first class and stayed at the best hotels, ate the finest food and supped the finest wines, but all for what? Most of them, like most of the players, performed well below par. It will go down as certainly the most expensive Lions tour in history and arguably the worst.

* Peter Bills is a rugby writer for Independent News & Media in London.