In an interview with David Hands in The Times, Ian McGeechan speaks about his attachment to the Lions and says that this summer's tour was the best he's been involved in.
"It is a love story, and you do not feel twee for saying so at a time when domestic rugby is examining so closely its core values. There is the love that McGeechan, a boy from rugby league territory in Leeds, has for rugby union in general and the Lions in particular, entwined with the support he has received from Judy, his wife. They met as teenagers at Allerton Grange School and this year celebrated their ruby wedding. “She has effectively put everything on the back-burner for me, all the way through,” McGeechan writes and if this book is a tribute to any individual, it is to her.
"He is an emotional man, more so than many might think. On October 19, the DVD of the 2009 tour, Living with the Pride, will go on sale and the closing sequences are as raw as sport gets. McGeechan, on his fifth tour as a Lions coach and his seventh when his two tours as a player are considered, is in tears after his final address to the players in the hotel before the third international against South Africa at Coca-Cola Park in Johannesburg.
"How do his players respond? They splatter the world champions all over the ground that has so strong a pull on the Afrikaner, they win 28-9 and provide a focus for their successors of 2013 to follow. Strong men, Paul O’Connell, Phil Vickery, Martyn Williams, Simon Shaw, players who will not appear in a Lions jersey again, are gripped by the moment and play with equal emotion, knowing that it is their role to hand down a legacy."
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