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While Lions fans admit their squad is facing a momentous task, they’re quietly – or loudly, depending on the town and country – confident of a series win.
How do I know this? I reached out to mates in England, Ireland, Wales and Scotland and tasked them with getting opinions at their local rugby pub.
On average, eight out of ten Lions fans are sure they’ll score a big, fat upset.
The reasons for the pre-celebrations is mainly the strength and depth of their squad.
The few naysayers are mindful that the All Blacks are an established team, and the Lions are not, but that’s been brushed aside. There’s plenty of time to gel with six games before the first Test at Eden Park, the optimists claim.
But Eden Park is near-unbreachable, it was pointed out – the All Blacks have lost at the hallowed venue just once in 47 Tests.
That stat is about to change, was the cheery reply.
And the second Test in Wellington? Will the Lions master the swirling winds of the Cake Tin where New Zealand are 17 and 2? Maybe not, the Lions fans admitted, but they’ll win the third Test back at Eden Park, partly because it has room for 20,000 manic Brit and Irish supporters, who’ll vocally lift their team to victory – if they can all get tickets.
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Nobody polled had any problem naming the 15 players they’d like to see start for the Lions, but they had all kinds of trouble coming up with more than a handful of players they thought the Kiwis will field.
Many of them don’t follow Super Rugby that closely, and they’d forgotten the names of several players in the side that lost to Ireland in Chicago.
They all seemed to know the established stars – Beauden Barrett, Sonny Bill Williams, Julian Savea – but after that it got a little hazy.
So, even though many of these fans aren’t too familiar with the probable All Black starters, they still maintain that the Lions will take the series 2-1.
At least that’s what they state, pint in hand, around nine in the evening at their local.
But what do they think lying awake in the small hours of the morning? Do they admit to themselves that playing the All Blacks in New Zealand and defeating them twice within 14 days is going to be a mite difficult? That it’s wishful thinking to believe that the Kiwis will be buried in their own backyard?
I wouldn’t be surprised to find that, along with a large bump in beer sales in Britain and Ireland, there’s also a sharp increase in sleeping pill prescriptions.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.