When it comes to the lengths New Zealand will go to turn over the Lions there are none with better
first-hand knowledge than Brian O’Driscoll. The captain of the ill-fated 2005 Lions saw no more than a minute of action in the Test series after an off-the-ball incident in which he was upended and driven into the turf by All Black captain Tana Umaga and hooker Keven Mealamu, dislocating his shoulder.
He didn’t play again for five months, and, shamefully, New Zealand rugby circled the wagons so that his assailants escaped disciplinary sanction. Thankfully, O’Driscoll bounced ...