BRENDAN GALLAGHER outlines the organisational failures that conspired against the Lions in 1977

History has not been kind to the 1977 Lions and, coming after the triumphs of 1971 and 1974, they were, perhaps, on a hiding to nothing but 40 years on its still hard see how a team with such a dominant Test pack could contrive to lose the series 3-1.
It wasn’t a lucky tour and those mitigating circumstances should not be totally ignored. When John Dawes was sounded out to coach the squad back in 1976 he might reasonably have hoped to have Gareth Edwards, Gerald Davies and JPR available but...