A chance of rugby immortality awaits at Eden Park tomorrow morning

There’s not much riding on Eden Park tomorrow only immortality for a group of lads from Britain and Ireland, writes Ronan O’Gara.

We are all guilty at times of over-egging the importance of one game, but in terms of putting down a marker for northern hemisphere rugby, in terms of making this part of the world the market leader for the ambitious player, in terms of the pure dollars of the thing, a Lions series win over New Zealand, the reigning world champions, would be monumental.

The 1997 Lions, with the help of the media machine that is Sky Sports, became heroes and movie stars. Living with the Lions became a brand in itself, but turning around a first Test defeat to win a series in New Zealand would be on a different level altogether. How different? Perhaps 25% bigger than winning a series in either of the other two southern hemisphere outposts.