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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Robert Kitson

The Lions will endure … but who can we expect in the squad for 2029?

Ireland's Dan Sheehan embraces England's Ben Earl
You cannot put a price on the lifelong friendships and sporting fulfilment that a Lions tour can produce. Photograph: Billy Stickland/Inpho/Shutterstock

The average worker bee, in the busiest months of the year, generally lives for up to seven weeks. Talk about a short and sweet existence. It is not dissimilar with British & Irish Lions tours. One moment players are winning a major series, the next their team abruptly ceases to exist. That’s all, folks, unless you can make the next trip in four years.

That is a lifetime for many professional athletes, particularly those who routinely operate on a week-to-week basis and are about to enjoy a long-awaited summer break. So you would expect someone like England’s Ben Earl to roll his eyes and change the subject when asked if he would like to be involved in the scheduled next men’s tour to New Zealand in 2029.

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