Stars from the memorable 1971 series winning side

The hair has turned grey or, in several cases, disappeared altogether. The slim, muscle-bulging young torsos have long since disappeared, to be replaced by expanding waistlines and aching joints.

In many cases, the 1971 Lions are now unrecognisable from the young men who dared to dream of beating the All Blacks in their own land, and achieved the feat. They remain to this day the only Lions to have won a test series in New Zealand.

Sadly, three of them are no longer with us. Coach Carwyn James, the genius behind the triumph, died some years ago, from a heart attack while on holiday in Amsterdam. Burly manager Dr Doug Smith also passed away, as did Scottish lock forward Gordon Brown, from cancer, a few years back.

But some still look remarkably well preserved. Perhaps the most dapper of all, as he always was, is former winger Gerald Davies, now a rugby writer for the Times of London, and a man with a variety of interests including television work in Wales on the Welsh language channel.

Gareth Edwards and Barry John can still be seen regularly in Cardiff, the city they graced with their wondrous halfback-five-eighths combination for so many years. Edwards has business interests with several companies and has visited Southern Africa on many occasions in recent years as a representative of a company.

John continues to write a newspaper column, which he has done for many years.

John Dawes, the 1971 captain, has retired, but flanker John Taylor continues to work in television.

Mervyn Davies, that great No 8 of Wales and the Lions whose career was tragically ended by a brain haemorrhage, does some public speaking and still lives in West Wales.

Lock forward Derek Quinnell runs a successful business near his Llanelli roots in West Wales, while fellow lock Mike Roberts, who was forced to play a few games at prop when the Lions first-choice props were injured in the notorious game against Canterb

ury before the first test, and was one of the seven-strong London Welsh contingent on that tour, ran a sports travel company for many years.

Geoff Evans, his lock forward partner for Wales and a replacement on that Lions tour, now works for the International Rugby Board, based in Dublin.

Delme Thomas, that strong, versatile forward for Llanelli, Wales and the Lions, works for the Electricity Board in Wales.

Some of the other forwards include Fergus Slattery, who has his own public relations company in Dublin with clients including the Irish Rugby Football Union. Ray McLoughlin, that renowned scrummaging technician in the front row who also toured with the Lions in 1966 in New Zealand, runs his own company in Dublin.

Scottish prop Sandy Carmichael lives in Glasgow and his fellow ex-prop Ian McLauchlan works for a marketing company whose clients have included the Scottish Rugby Union.

English hooker John Pullin still farms in the West Country, not far from his old Bristol base.

Willie John McBride, a key man in Lions history, is long since retired from his bank in Northern Ireland but does public and motivational speaking around the world, when he can be persuaded to tear himself away from his beloved garden in a country town outside Belfast.

First-five Mike Gibson, who moved to centre on that tour to help create an outstanding midfield unit, is now a senior partner in a Belfast law firm, and Irish flanker Mick Hipwell had a jewellers shop in Dublin. Also in the Irish capital, prop Sean Lynch runs a public house.

Dazzling Coventry and England wing David Duckham is still based in the English Midlands, running a company that specialises in providing speakers and entertaining corporate customers, organising dinners and events in various locations around the country.

Chris Rea, who was one of the reserve backs on that tour, is head of communications for the IRB in Dublin, while John Spencer, another reserve back, is now a senior official with the RFU in England.

Fellow wing John Bevan taught for many years back in Wales and fullback J. P. R. Williams has recently retired as a surgeon, having worked at a hospital in Bridgend, for whom he played for several years.

Their faces may no longer be familiar, in some cases. But their names live on in rugby folklore throughout the British Isles and Ireland.

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