British and Irish Lions 2017: How Warren Gatland's side can channel the spirit of the Class of 1971

The only Lions team to claim a Test series win over the All Blacks spent three months and 24 games in New Zealand

Barry John put on a fly-half masterclass when the lions beat New Zealand in 1971 (Getty)

What do the 2017 British and Irish Lions need to do to emulate the famous class of 71, the only touring side to conquer the All Blacks?

It is an interesting question that the answer lies not on the pitch, but off it. Many of these players know they can beat New Zealand, with Ireland doing so last year and a few of the England inclusions featuring in their victory all of five years ago, while Wales have had enough near-misses to know they are not far off achieving it for the first time. Scotland have not endured much success, although in Stuart Hogg, Greig Laidlaw and Tommy Seymour, they possess three players with something of the X-factor about them.

Rugby has changed a lot since the days of Barry John and Willie John McBride, which means that Warren Gatland’s side can’t exactly take a great deal from match footage of the successful tour 46 years ago.

There is, though, one thing that the 2017 Lions can use to their benefit when they come up against the All Blacks for the first time on 24 June, and that is the culture of the Lions squad that must be formed rapidly in the next three weeks. The 1971 side had three months and 24 matches to get used to each other, whereas the Lions must form those bonds over 10 matches in just six weeks.

Great club sides are the ones that utilise these friendships and form an attitude of being ‘willing to die for each other’, so the famous phrase goes. The same can be said of the Lions, given that when the pressure is on and the chips are down, it’s the players who are willing to dig deep for the man standing in the red jersey next to them that will decide if the squad leaves New Zealand in July as the second team to conquer the All Blacks or just another squad that was swatted away.

Looking at the current Lions squad, there is certainly a number of players in the Lions side that carry the X-factor needed to match New Zealand’s star-studded line-up. Look at the team 46 years ago and you had proven finishers like Gerald Davies, the Welsh wing who scored three tries across the second and third Tests, or scrum-half Gareth Edwards, whose talents go before him.

For Davies, now read George North. The towering Wales wing reached the pinnacle of his career when he starred for the Lions against Australia four years ago, with his first Test try surprisingly not the most memorable moment of that tour. Instead, it was the moment he lifted Israel Folau, the wallabies’ full-back, onto his back while still carrying the ball and ran with him for about 10 yards.

Then there’s Jonathan Joseph, the England centre who Gatland personally vouched for as he simply had to be in the squad given is ability to create something out of nothing. The 1971 outside centre and tour captain, John Dawes, proved a key figure in dragging the Lions through the tough times, and if Joseph can tie down a place in the Test side, he too can have a similar effect.

But all of this is a tough ask inside just three weeks, and it may simply be that beating the All Blacks with such little preparation is actually impossible. Then again, confidence is much higher this time around than 12 years ago, and if you speak to any current squad members ahead of the Test series, they will tell you that nothing is impossible.