“Alistair Campbell? A professional bully.”

It wasn’t all media spin, doom and gloom with the Lions in New Zealand. Hector Ó hEochagáin and Apres Match regular Risteard Cooper followed the tour for six weeks in New Zealand, and have produced a special ‘Chasing the Lions’ DVD. Brendan O’Brien gets a sneak preview.

Brendan O'Brien: There's a rash of Lions related products hitting the shelves leading up to Christmas. What makes this DVD stand out?

Hector Ó hEochagáin : "We'll give you a nice rash, an unofficial rash."

Risteard Cooper: "What's different about ours is that we went down there with no agenda. Any other Lions video is official and is therefore going to have some locks on it. There's only so many things you can and cannot say on those. We can say anything we want with a cynical and detached edge as well."

H Ó hE: "We weren't allowed into the press conferences. We weren't allowed access to training sessions, to pitches or the like. But we still managed to get in."

RC: "I went in as (RTÉ sports presenter) Colm Murray to one of the press conferences and I had a load of questions lined up for Clive Woodward like (in Colm Murray's distinctive voice): "Do you feel you're knighthood is in jeopardy?" after he lost the first test. It's not just about the rugby either. For a start, we've no footage of the matches. Some people would say that's bloody lucky because it was rubbish. The rugby was probably the most forgettable aspect of the tour."

BO'B: True. Most people will remember more about Alistair Campbell than any of the games. What did ye make of him?

RC: "A professional bully, is what he is."

H Ó hE: "He wore the Lions apparel but he had no more interest in being down there. All he did was sit at the back of press conferences and eyeball everybody. I'd say the players were going, 'what in the name of God is going on, why is it gone this way?' He had all his little foot soldiers checking everything out, asking questions here and there. He saw us in at a press conference and I saw Eddie O'Sullivan so I went up and gave him a hug. He's an Irish guy after all, from Mountbellew, so I said I'd see him at the Galway Races. Campbell went up to him straight away and said, 'who's your man'? The Irish guys, Paul O'Connell and Donncha O'Callaghan saw us and came up to us straight away."

RC: "Campbell was hugely suspicious. There is a shot of Campbell on the video looking at Hector. It's really with an evil eye. The decision to make Campbell the head media guru was crazy. You're talking about somebody who, instead of dealing with the media in the normal way, just bullied them. That really backfired badly."

BO'B: The one stand-out moment of the tour for people in this hemisphere anyway is THAT tackle on Brian O'Driscoll.

RC: "I was 30 yards away from it and I did see it. I had my eye on it. It's one of the strengths of O'Driscoll's game, being in that ruck position. It's clearly something they targeted and they obviously thought if they got the opportunity they'd make sure he wouldn't do it again."

H Ó hE: "The ball was clearly gone and you could hear the Lions say 'get away, leave him alone'. The amount of media coverage down there after it was unreal. There was four or five pages devoted to it in every national paper. Then they had the whole stand of 'get on with it, it happens in rugby'. We actually came up with out own version of Ireland's Call that we sung for Brian and a few of the boys at a party we organised for them near the end of the tour. C'mon Risteard H & R (Singing arm in arm): "Ireland, Ireeeland, together standing tall, Shoulder, ow me shou-oul-derrr, Umaga, you should have called."

BO'B: Ye got some very memorable t-shirts printed after the tackle down there and I hear ye're going to be selling them again outside Lansdowne before the New Zealand game.

H Ó hE: (in Ross O'Carroll-Kelly voice): "There was a couple of Leinster goys there at the time when we thought of the idea. We were all throttled like, you know."

RC: "I was just so angry when it happened. We were just having a chat over a few vinos and we decided to print these t-shirts with the words: 'Tana Umaga: Wanted for the assassination of Brian O'Driscoll'. We just thought it was at least a record of the thing actually happening and it was also the chance to make a few quid!"

H Ó hE: "When you're in Wellington there are a hundred screen printers on every corner."

RC: "The guy who was actually printing it was saying while he was doing it (in a Kiwi accent): 'Oh my God, I can't believe I'm actually printing these'."

H Ó hE: "We sold them outside the ground at the second test shouting, 'get your t-shirt of an Irish warrior cut down in battle. A man not even given a chance'. The Irish fans down there couldn't believe I was actually selling t-shirts. Some of them asked me was I stuck for a few quid. We wanted to get one to Brian at the time but it was impossible to get through this Fort Knox-type security. We weren't allowed near the hotel. There was crash barriers with security, then another level of security, then the buses, Range Rovers. On top of that, you had about 2,000 supporters waiting outside all day every day looking for pictures and autographs."

RC: "The Range Rovers had number plates with Lions 1, Lions 2, Lions 3 on them. I mean, was that really necessary?"

H Ó hE: "I tried to get into the hotel but this was like something you'd see in the White House. So, I got dressed up as a courier, full lycra, secret camera and I walked straight through the security with my package for Brian O'Driscoll, Lions captain and I leave my mobile number in it. Brian loved the t-shirt. His sisters were down there and they loved it. The rest is history. After that we started meeting players privately."

BO'B: It was the biggest Lions operation ever and Clive Woodward said it was the best prepared, but all these side issues couldn't have helped the players, could they?

H Ó hE: "I think all that added to the tension of the whole thing. They were treated like these rock stars and the rugby went out the window. When they went out they had to have these almost SAS-like chaperones. There was none of this going out for a pint afterwards. John Hayes had played on the South Island for, what, two years? He was allowed outside for half an hour to see his old team-mates. Half an hour?"

H Ó hE: "We stayed in the same hotel in Auckland as the New Zealand team and we were in the lift with McCaw and all the boys and they were freely moving around the foyer, talking to everybody who came up to them. To the Lions, it was this monster Sky Sports tour. Rugby took fifth place, never mind second place."

BO'B: "How did ye find the Kiwis because everyone says that, when it comes rugby, they're insufferably arrogant."

H Ó hE: "They're like Cork people when it comes to hurling!"

RC: I was interviewing Ian Jones (the former All Black lock who won 79 caps in the 1990s). We were talking about the O'Driscoll tackle and I said that the ball was gone when it happened and he said, 'well that's where you're wrong mate'. It got quite heated. There is just no way that they will concede any ground when it comes to any incident regarding their own players.

H Ó hE: "That's not necessarily a bad thing either and you have to remember that, to them, they were taking on 'Sir Clive and the British Empire'. They were up against everything he stood for in winning the World Cup. Plus, Sir Clive used the fact that he was a World Cup winner loads of times against (Graham) Henry in press conferences."

BO'B: "Is there still a lot of that colonial underdog attitude in New Zealand?"

RC: "Unquestionably and I think they used that to their own advantage. They psyched themselves up on that."

H Ó hE: "To see them in the flesh, they're serious men. Even the forwards, They don't just fall to the ground. They keep the ball alive with little back-handers and flicks. Then there's your man Carter who is, quite possibly, one of the most beautiful men I've ever seen. I know Beckham is a good looking man. I appreciate good looking men but Dan Carter has everything. He has the looks and then he nearly beat them on his own in the second Test. Then they bring in yer man McAllister for the last Test who's equally as good.

RC: "As one of the top New Zealand rugby journalists said to us, when you represent New Zealand at rugby, you're going to get the girls. Not a bad starting point, is it?"

*'Chasing the Lions' is out on DVD on Friday November 11th.*