Lions get ready to roar again

AS THE season ends, so the tour begins.

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The Lions set off for Australia via Dublin, where they face Argentina on Friday night at the same time Blair Kinghorn's Toulouse engage in their Top 14 play-off semi-final.

It is becoming a tradition for the Lions to have a warm-up ahead of the main event. They faced Argentina in Cardiff in 2005 ahead of the ill-fated expedition to New Zealand in what was largely a money-making exercise with neither side anywhere near full strength.

Eight years later, they jousted with the Barbarians after stopping off in Hong Kong on their way to Perth. They won at a canter, 59-8, with three of the invitation side's points coming from the boot of Elliot Daly who will this year be on his third Lions tour.

Four years ago, the Lions defeated Japan 28-10 in Edinburgh, a match that cost them Justin Tipuric for the series in South Africa and very nearly the tour captain, Alun Wyn Jones: he withdrew after suffering a shoulder injury but joined the squad 10 days ahead of the first Test and led the side in all three.

Eight years ago, the Lions flew straight to New Zealand and played an invitation team, the Provincial Barbarians, little more than 48 hours after arriving. It was meant to be the least hazardous match of the trip, but various ingredients made it closer than it had appeared on paper it would be, although the hosts included a young Sevu Reece on the wing.

A Lions tour is a throwback. It takes in non-Test matches, and has to as players from four countries are moulded into one. There is barely space for it in the calendar, but it has become such a profitable venture, for hosts and visitors, that its future in a changing landscape is assured: no one can afford to give it up.