'Close Casualty'

Clearly Lawrence Dallagio and Mike Catt were never fit and had to return home, the former with a knee injury that will now keep him out for the whole of next season, a heavy price to pay for two below-par performances.

Catt never recovered from the calf injury which put his tour in jeopardy from the start, while Neil Jenkins was troubled by his knee throughout and was a pale shadow of the player he is for Wales.

On top of that, an unprecedented series of injuries hit the Lions, forcing one player out after another out of the tour, notably Phil Greening, Dan Luger and Rob Howley.

All of this misfortune was a contributory factor to the Lions losing the series and those who were carrying injuries before the tour should never have been taken.

Apart from denying other players the opportunity - even if the original choices were perceived as key men - it gave the upper hand, psychologically to the Wallabies.

Key Aussie outside half Stephen Larkham was troubled in the second Test and forced to miss the final one with an arm injury which is threatening his career.

But that apart, the world champions were unscathed (lock Justin Harrison should have been in for David Giffin from the start) which gave them a much better run.

The Lions were never able to shake off all their injury problems, and it had a detrimental effect on the tour.

Now rumours and, in some cases stories, that the tour was an unhappy one rife with problems and full of discontent, will surface, especially as it was ultimately unsuccessful.

It certainly seems a pity that little attention was given to anything off the field. Tours are all about winning, of course, and the Test series is paramount.

But nonetheless, it does appear that visits to notable war memorials, like those in Melbourne and Canberra, to shrines where thousands of Australians laid down their lives, fighting with the Allies, were ignored.

To overlook significant landmarks in a country and to be unaware of its heritage is unfortunate even if the main business does happen to be a British Lions tour Training and videos, viewing little but the inside of hotels is not only boringly repetitive, it does harbour discontent.

Nevertheless, the bonding of both tourists and supporters was the most successful part of the visit as nationalities were forgotten for the sake of the cause.

The tour party may have been dominated by England players, but the Celts made their presence felt, none more so than Ireland centre Brian O'Driscoll.

Of the Welsh players, Scott Quinnell emerged in front, especially with Rob Howley restricted by damaged ribs.

Dafydd James played in all three Tests, though not an original choice in the first, but Mark Taylor and Colin Charvis in particular suffered because of intense competition in their positions.

Darren Morris flattered to deceive while Neil Jenkins. David Young, Robin McBryde and Martyn Williams hardly featured.

Martin Johnson was a rock as captain, though struggling in the line-outs in the final Test, as did partner Danny Grewcock, though a big success.

Of the six halves played in three Tests the Lions probably won four but they failed to press home their advantage, especially in Sydney on Saturday when Australia were down to 14 men.

That proved another turning point in a tour which, though unsuccessful, will go down as the best supported in history. But the thousands couldn't quite help the Lions home.