Writing for The Independent, Peter Bills is hoping that some of this year's Lions kick on and make a name for themselves on the world stage.
"The class of 2009 is thinly stretched in terms of resources when it comes to genuine world class talent. The acid test, painful yet always appropriate, is how many would be sure to get into a current World XV ? The brutal answer is one, Brian O'Driscoll.
"Yet having accepted the limitations of these Lions and especially those outside the top 15 – the uneven, unconvincing results against many of the below strength provincial sides in the build-up to this 1st Test has merely underlined that truth – there is now a golden opportunity for some of the chosen 15 to kick on and make their names as genuine world class talents.
"If this is a team hardly oozing world class, it is undeniably one with a strong bond, a common cause that coach Ian McGeechan and his assistants have worked hard on creating. Now comes the chance for the individuals to make their name.
"In 1997, you couldn't pretend the Lions began the Test series with a side stuffed full of legends. Martin Johnson was one, Jeremy Guscott another but not that many others came to mind. But on that tour, myriad players – the likes of Lawrence Dallaglio, Richard Hill, Neil Back and Matt Dawson - seized the opportunity to lift their games to another plateau. That triumph took those players all the way on to a World Cup win with England in 2003."
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