Catt put out of his misery

Mike Catt revealed the full extent of his troubled tour yesterday after losing the last of his nine lives as a Lion.

England's stricken playmaker, counted out of the Australian adventure following his failure to last the first half of his first match, admitted he had been lucky to get that far.

'This has been the worst three weeks of my rugby career,' he said. 'I'm glad it's over because it almost got to the stage of being embarrassing. I think some people thought I looked more like Hopalong Cassidy than an international rugby player!' Catt came close to being ruled out of the tour before the Lions left London three weeks ago and again last weekend, before making his abortive make-or-break run during Tuesday's grim failure against Australia A.

His problems started during the week between Bath's Premiership play-off blitz by Leicester and the Lions rendezvous.

'I did my back during training and took the club's advice to rest it for 10 days,' he said. 'Then I did it again with the Lions before we left and the doctor said that if he'd made the initial diagnosis, I would have been out for six weeks. 'I did my calf on the third day of the tour and that was really demoralising. Mentally, it was very difficult to keep involved without being able to train. 'After such a wonderful season with England, to have to leave the Lions before the Tests is very hard to bear. 'I've already gone through the depression stage and it's quite a relief now that the decision has been made. But if I had gone home without playing, I don't think I could have lived with myself.

'I shall stay around for the Tests because they're going to be awesome. 'I'll have a few beers and chill out with a bit of diving on the Great Barrier Reef.'