Probyn blames Woodward for tour flop
Former England prop Jeff Probyn has absolved the Lions’ players of blame following the humiliating whitewash by New Zealand and insisted Sir Clive Woodward’s tactics meant the tour was doomed from the start.
Three successive Test maulings ensured the cream of British and Irish rugby was taught a humbling lesson by the mighty All Blacks, the clear favourites for the 2007 World Cup.
Probyn believes Woodward should take sole responsibility for only the third clean sweep of Test defeats in Lions history, highlighting his team selections and game-plans as massive blunders.
But his biggest error, according to front-row hardman Probyn who was a shock omission from the 1993 tour to New Zealand, was failing to play the Test team before the Christchurch opener.
“The Lions’ players acquitted themselves well. Given the way the tour was organised we got the best set of results we could,” he said.
“I was not impressed by the way the tour was organised. The number of players was right, but it wasn’t organised properly.
“The problem with any combination team – and I know what I am talking about because I sit on the Barbarians committee – is getting them to gel.
“When the Lions started the tour they should have decided on one team for the Tests and one for the midweek games.
“That way the players would have got used to each other and would have had a better chance.
“The reality is that if you send a scratch side out you expect to lose the match and every time they played they were a scratch team.
“It was always going to be impossible for the Lions to win with Woodward using that policy.
“He said he was going to pick on form, but opted for a pre-considered Test team.
“That in itself was not a fault, but he should have played that Test team together several times.”
The All Blacks’ stunning series victory, lit up by some fantastic skills which proved they were light years ahead of the Lions, has drawn a mass of glowing tributes from all sections of the game.
However, a more thorough examination of their pedigree will take place during the forthcoming Tri-Nations where Australia and South Africa will not prove such willing whipping boys.
Probyn said: “Going to New Zealand was always going to be difficult, especially having to mix and match players from four countries.
“But to try and pretend the All Blacks are the best team that has ever been is ridiculous.
“We don’t know how good they are. If you look at the improvement in play between the second and third Tests, we were very competitive and we won more ball than New Zealand.
“If we had continuity we would have a chance of winning.”
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