Paul O’Connell On The Lions’ Chances In New Zealand

The Lions have not won a series in New Zealand since 1971.

Paul O’Connell has offered up his thoughts on the Lions’ chances in New Zealand this summer. O’Connell failed to defeat the All Blacks in his illustrious career and was part of the 2005 Lions squad that was humiliated by the world champions.

He also captained the Lions in 2009, narrowly missing out on a series against then world champions South Africa, before finally getting the series win he had been chasing back in 2013 against Australia.

New Zealand according to O’Connell, is an extremely difficult place to tour.

“It’s a difficult place to tour. The weather isn’t going to be amazing down there. You could say we should be used to that, but the weather isn’t great. It’s going to be quite claustrophobic from a rugby point of view,” O’Connell told RTE 2fm’s Game On.

You can be on a Lions tour in a place like Sydney and there’s a whole lot to do outside the Lions tour. You can get away from it quite easily.

The weather is really good, it’s a great city to be in; the same in Melbourne. Different places in South Africa are the same. New Zealand, from that point of view, is going to be really difficult.

It’s going to be a really, really tough tour. I think it’s probably the ultimate achievement in rugby to go and win a Test series in New Zealand.

“When I was there in 2005, I don’t think players produced their best form.

“They’re going to have to have a big group of players who produce their very best form of their career down there. If they do that they have a chance; it’s probably still only a slim chance.”

Brutally honest from O’Connell.