KEY POINTS:
A smaller team, smaller management and a back-to-basics approach that takes in the excesses and lessons from the 2005 Lions tour of New Zealand are being promised by coach Ian McGeechan for the 2009 tour of South Africa.
After being confirmed as head coach of the Lions for
a record fourth time, McGeechan, 61, is determined to restore the Lions' unique ethos and reject the divisive approach adopted by Sir Clive Woodward with dire results in New Zealand three years ago.
For a start, the squad will number 35, not 45. There will be one set of "four or five" coaches, not two sets as was the case last time, and no preconceived segregation of the test team from the rest, as Woodward did. To reinforce the traditional camaraderie, in short supply last time and shorter still during the intense tour of Australia in 2001, the Lions will return to the traditional policy of two players sharing a room instead of each having his own, as happened during the All Black rout in 2005.
"We can only do what we think is right," said McGeechan, who coached the unbeaten midweek team in New Zealand in tandem with Gareth Jenkins. "The coaches will only know the players if they are coaching them every single day. There will be one coaching team and one set of players.
"It is important the team is seen as that - a team of one mind which does give you a fighting chance to get the very best out of the players.
"With the Lions more than any other team, a coach needs to keep an open mind to look at players and not work on what you saw two years previously. The challenge for a coach is not to make decisions too quickly about writing someone off or putting someone in."
In New Zealand, Woodward abandoned the dictum that had been the foundationstone of his success with England - always pick on form, never on reputation.
His pre-tour plan was based on a reversal of that policy in a forlorn hope certain players could recapture form they had shown in beating the world 18 months earlier.
Next year's tour will be McGeechan's fourth as head coach. A winner in Australia in 1989, McGeechan did the trick again when the Lions were last in South Africa in 1997, moulding a disparate group into a series-winning force against the World Cup holders under the leadership of a brooding Englishman who, at the time, had not captained his country - Martin Johnson.
McGeechan will consult England's new manager during the selection process. "Martin's appointment could not be better from my point of view," said the Scot. "The ultimate Lions captain, as I saw him, is in charge of England. What I will get from him comes from a knowledge and understanding of the game which is second to none."
The Lions coaching team will be in place early next season, with Wasps' head coach Shaun Edwards next in the chain of command alongside former Ireland and Waikato coach Warren Gatland or Cardiff coach David Young.
