The Lions' 2009: Reflections, Conclusions, and Player Ratings

(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)

"They don't give the trophy to the winners for nothing, you know"

So said Lions captain Paul O'Connell post-match after a deserved but belated third test victory which finalised an overall 2-1 series defeat; now etched in the history books for all time.

The Sky interviewer had previously pointed out that the Lions had indeed managed to beat the World Champions on the try count 7-5 and on aggregate points total over the series.

But you don't get prizes for that.

And neither to you get prizes for playing the prettier rugby sadly.

As Shaun Edwards pointed out in a column for the Guardian after the first test, scrum-half Mike Philips had seen more of the ball than the entire South African backline combined and it is no stretch to claim the Lions secured the lions share of possession in not just one but all three tests.

It was indeed a bittersweet ending of the 2009 tour for the Lions. Pride restored but the cold hard reality of losing will be hovering over the team during the long flight home.

Not that it was for lack of effort.

The initial selection of the coaching staff, a returning Ian McGeechan after an humiliating 2005 Lions tour, along with his fellow Wasp Shaun Edwards and Wales' Warren Gatland was perhaps telling of the approach the Lions would take to the series.

Gone were the days of separate Lions teams, single rooming and a bloated number of coaching staff. Returning were the values and traditions of the Lions from tours past.

The initial squad selection was strong with perhaps even the 'world-class' fly-half, Ronan O'Gara meriting a place based on Johnny Wilkinson's and Danny Cipriani's acute lack of form/fitness. In the former's case over a period of years.

I guess we'll never know how Irish Grand Slammers Quinlan, Flannery, O'Leary, and a Wales favourite of mine Tom Shanklin would have done. Quinlan's gouging was merited and inexcusable-let's be clear about that. If you think Shalk Burger merited punishment for his horrendous actions then Quinlan deserved to sit out the tour, and he did.

Of all the initial withdrawls, I think Flannery was most missed. He would have easily started ahead of Mears, Rees, and Ford, and the amount of crooked throwing from the Lions various hookers at the lineout, an elementary error to put it plainly, was disappointing.

And so the tour started with a underwhelming performance against the Royal XV followed by a complete roasting of the Golden Lions.

The Free State Cheetahs were put down at the last minute by a Hook penalty while victory against the Sharks and another close call against Western province led up to the brutal physical encounter with the Southern Kings, who clearly were only too eager to soften up the Lions before test No. 1.

By the end of the pre-series games we had found out, apparently, three things:

-O' Driscoll and Roberts were undisputed starters along with O'Connell and our best chance of toppling the seemingly unbeatable Sprinboks.

-The Lions would suffer at the breakdown unless they sorted themselves out.

-We were 'safe' at scrum-time.

Only the first proved correct and British and Irish media and pundits alike got it horribly wrong on the scrum. As we were to find out with the first test.

You're currently logged into Facebook

Do you want to share your Bleacher Report activity on Facebook?