This is about the game time and the cash. In the first place, Andy Farrell has 38 players he needs to use in the first three games of the British and Irish Lions tour and the first instalment will be before a less than capacity crowd at the Aviva Stadium against Argentina on Friday night. In the second place, it is about filling the coffers of the Lions machine and the four home unions who are part of the caravan.
Gate receipts from this game will yield in the region of €3m (£2.55m) after costs, which goes towards the Lions’ bottom line, with a dividend to come to the unions involved. Unlike the last time the tourists opened an adventure to Australia – with the crazy cash-grabber in sweltering Hong Kong in 2013 – this has a less manufactured look to it. Certainly, it suits the Argentinians and the Irish.
