Lions tour schedule crazy says hero Fran Cotton

The Lions schedule in New Zealand next year has been condemned as ‘crazy’ by the only Englishman to win a Test series as both player and manager.
Fran Cotton fears that the Lions could be beaten before they start, handicapped by the double whammy of a punishing ten-match itinerary and a worrying lack of preparation.
“If they win the series it will be the greatest achievement of any British Lions squad,” he told The Rugby Paper.
“No Lions team has ever had to face this kind of itinerary. It’s tough even if you are properly prepared. To go there not prepared is crazy and stupid.
“It doesn’t give you a fair chance. We will be going with no preparation at all to take on an itinerary which offers the players no respite whatsoever.
“I am amazed that the stakeholders who tell us how much they value the Lions have done absolutely nothing to give them proper preparation time.   By stakeholders I mean the home Unions, the NZRFU and the Lions themselves.
“I cannot believe they have agreed to it. PRL (Premier Rugby Ltd) could have done something. They are the people with the power to have brought the end of the season forward a little but they have done nothing.
“You can do it if there is good will. New Zealand could have pushed the start of the tour back a week and we could have started our season a week earlier. I would definitely not have accepted the itinerary.   Every single match will be full-on.   It’s crazy.”
The Lions, due to name Warren Gatland as head coach this week, play all five New Zealand Super Rugby franchises – four of them in a row against the Auckland Blues, Crusaders, Highlanders and Chiefs.
A measure of what awaits them can be gauged from Wales conceding six tries to a Chiefs team minus their All Blacks in Hamilton a few weeks ago.
Cotton, a cornerstone of the invincible 1974 Lions in South Africa who made a winning return there 23 years later as manager, says: “We play the Hurricanes, the Super Rugby champions, in midweek between the first and second Tests.
“How ridiculous is that?    You are asking a hell of a lot from the players.     This will be the most punishing Lions tour of all by a mile.
“In the amateur days, New Zealand tours were always tough but the country fixtures offered some respite. There will be none next year.
“I’m afraid it’s all about money. It seems to me that some think it’s more important to have the Lions as a cash cow rather than preserve them as a unique touring team with a real chance of beating the best in the world.
“For the future of the Lions, it is important that they are seen as being really competitive.   As it stands, they are not being given the chance to be competitive.
“All the management and players can ask for is to be given a reasonable amount of preparation time. This problem has not suddenly emerged over the last few months. It’s been there for 12 years.   They’ve had that long to think about it and nothing has been done.
“It only needed a small compromise on both sides.    But nobody is willing to make one. It’s as if certain elements – and I’m not naming names – would prefer not to have the Lions.
“If we gave a week and New Zealand gave a week, the Lions would have a fortnight to come down from the end of their season and the start of the tour. For the life of me I cannot understand why that wasn’t done.
“Was one week on either side too much to ask?
“The welding of players from four countries into a Test squad is what makes the Lions unique. It is an enormous challenge, one that takes time If you don’t win the early games, losing can eat away at morale.”
PETER JACKSON