He was slipping tackles everywhere

He was slipping tackles everywhere.”You can’t be on the receiving end of rugby like that without falling off a few tackles, because you’re utterly exhausted by the end It was such a quick game They weren’t fitter than us. The performance improved a week later but the scoreline did not, the Lions conceding the most points in a Test in their 114-year history as they lost 48-18. A 38-19 third-Test loss completed the humiliation of the Lions, beaten by a combined margin of 67 points and by 12 tries to three.”We just ended up chasing shadows,” Lewsey said. “I remember towards the end of the second Test they had an overlap and they had about five people on the outside I just thought: ‘Bloody hell. What’s certain is that we had a long break in that game while Lawrence was taken off the field.

After that we never really performed throughout the tour.”A performance described as the worst by a Lions team for 22 years saw Woodward’s men lose 21-3 in the first Test. In the Heineken Cup it’s the adventurous teams who win the trophy You can’t just shut up shop You have to be bold. And I think that’s what England will have to take on board, both from last season’s Six Nations and from the Lions tour.”Lewsey’s summer had begun in a way of which he could hardly have dreamt. Within six minutes of his first appearance in a Lions jersey, in the opening match against Bay of Plenty, he had scored two tries. He might have added a third late in a game which immediately installed the Wasps player as a favourite for the Test full-back’s jersey, but chose instead to put one on a plate for the Irish centre Gordon D’Arcy.In between, however, was an incident that had major consequences as the No 8 Lawrence Dallaglio’s tour ended with a dislocated and broken ankle.”People say that losing Lawrence was a decisive factor,” Lewsey said. “He’s obviously a big difference to any team, though I don’t think his injury can explain why we under-performed so badly.

Leeds were in dire straits at the bottom of the table, but they escaped relegation by playing some very positive rugby at the end of the season. I think you’ll see teams go out this year and play some attacking rugby. “I remember Stuart Barnes saying before the tour that you have to be bold to go out and win things. He’s right, because you’re not going to win by going on the back foot.”Look at club rugby.

Leicester and Wasps, the two most successful teams, played the most attacking style last season in the Premiership Sale attacked and scored lots of tries. You can look for reasons until you’re blue in the face, but the bottom line is that we lost the Test series 3-0 and we were too talented a group of players to do that.”A major consolation for Lewsey is that the Lions were beaten by a thrilling brand of rugby. He believes, moreover, that the positives that can be drawn from the experiences of Sir Clive Woodward’s team will soon be felt both at international and club level in the new season, which begins with next weekend’s opening Premiership programme.Lewsey points out that the most successful teams of recent years have played attacking rugby: New Zealand on the Lions tour; Wales in the Six Nations Championship; Toulouse in the Heineken Cup; England in the World Cup; and his own Wasps in the last Premiership campaign.”I don’t think we were taught a lesson in New Zealand, it was more a case of our experience confirming what a lot of people knew already,” Lewsey said. “When you’ve worked all your life to get in a position to achieve something you’ve dreamt of as a child, particularly when you think of the amount of ability we had in that squad, it was hugely frustrating. His instinct is to look forward rather than back, but the scars are deep and Josh Lewsey knows that lessons must be learnt.

Thankfully, we are not talking about the shoulder operation he underwent earlier this month, but the recent Lions tour. Lewsey is a rarity, a 2005 Lion who returned from New Zealand with his reputation enhanced rather than battered, but his sense of collective responsibility is such that memories of his summer Down Under will forever be dominated by the walloping inflicted by the All Blacks.
“I’ll look back on the tour with massive frustration,” he said. South Africa: Tries Habana, Januarie, Fourie; Conversions Montgomery 3; Penalties Montgomery 2.New Zealand: M Muliaina; R Gear, T Umaga (capt), A Mauger, J Rokocoko; L MacDonald (L McAlister, 69), P Weepu; A Woodcock, K Mealamu, C Hayman (G Somerville, 67), C Jack (J Ryan, 67), A Williams, J Collins, R McCaw, R So’oialo.South Africa: P Montgomery; J de Villiers, J Fourie, D Barry, B Habana; A Pretorius (J van der Westhuyzen, 36), R Januarie; O du Randt (E Andrews, 71-74), J Smit (capt), C J van der Linde, B Botha, V Matfield, J Smith, S Burger (J Cronje, 36-42), J van Niekerk.Referee: J Jutge (France).. They showed why they are No 1 in the world.”New Zealand, keeping their nerve, took a line-out ball deep in Springbok territory, drove it forward and the hooker Keven Mealamu saw a gap and plunged over for the winning score.The All Blacks deserved it, but for those looking beyond this match, the portents may be ominous. At times, New Zealand’s most potent attacking weapon was their centre Aaron Mauger, for the way he kicked the ball downfield.New Zealand: Tries Rokocoko 2, MacDonald, Mealamu; Conversions MacDonald 3, McAlister; Penalty MacDonald. Against most sides such a revival might have sufficed.”You have to give credit to the All Blacks for the way they came back at us,” said the Springbok coach Jake White. “Their all-round game was excellent and they were more competitive at the breakdown.