Lions' honeypot Less romantic and more commercial but tours will survive if players still believe

The average worker bee, in the busiest months of the year, generally lives for up to seven weeks.

- Robert Kitson

Talk about a short and sweet existence. It is not dissimilar with British & Irish Lions tours. One moment players are winning a series, the next their team cease to exist. That's all, folks, unless you can make the next trip in four years. That is a lifetime for many professional athletes. So you would expect someone such as England's Ben Earl to roll his eyes and change the subject when asked if he would like to be involved in the scheduled next men's tour to New Zealand in 2029.

Instead, the 27-year-old flanker sounded as if he would happily jump on a plane to Auckland tomorrow morning if asked. "If someone said to me I could go on the next one, I'd do anything. Everyone talks about the aura around the badge, the honour... it has not been lost on me or anyone else. I've seen people potentially play their last game in the shirt and what it means. I'd do anything to play for the Lions one last time."

Right there, in a red-shirted nutshell, is the reason the Lions concept continues to endure. For as long as it remains a priority for the players, the old-school dream will live on. For as long as a series triumph feels like the ultimate challenge, or at least comparable with winning a Rugby World Cup, supporters will also be attracted like, well, bees to a honey pot.

Even as they fly back north people have already been scribbling down their putative 2029 team (see below) on the back of their boarding passes. And the usual banter is already starting. Will there be any more than a couple of Irish players in a mostly Welsh-dominated squad. What price Owen Farrell going on a fifth Lions tour? After all he will be only 37. And so on.