Johnson: Only total dedication will do

13 April 2012

When we click on the safety belts at Heathrow today every single Lion will know exactly what will be demanded of him from now until the middle of next month.

To a man we are prepared to sacrifice the next seven weeks of our lives, a small price to pay for the privilege of taking a shot at history. For seven days a week, every waking minute of each day will be devoted to achieving our objective because that is what it will take to win the Test series.

Let nobody be in any doubt that for everyone, from the tour manager to the baggage man, this is the challenge of our rugby lives - beating Australia, the World Cup holders, the TriNations' winners, the undisputed top dogs of the game, on their home soil. I t demands total dedication for the Lions and to each other.

Nothing less than the very best in preparation, attitude and performance will be good enough.

Relaxation and some light relief from the serious business will be important in keeping the whole squad fresh and consolidating the bonds among us so that we can really claim to be the Lions United. The stronger the bonds, the greater the desire.

After five incredibly hard days since we got together, we know that something will have to go badly wrong if these Lions are not the best-prepared, the hungriest, most motivated squad ever to be sent overseas.

Motivation comes from a multitude of sources but there is one factor which we all share. Lions' tours are there to be won and that is why I refuse to celebrate my appointment as captain and why I will go on refusing to celebrate it until the series has been won.

I fervently hope it will be a case of celebrating a job well done as opposed to celebrating the appointment itself.

Unless I do a good job, there will be no great honour in being the first player to captain the Lions on successive tours. Lose, however unluckily, and you go down as a loser.

For that reason, I have taken care to avoid being caught up in the historical perspective. Believe me, it would be very easy as one who is fully aware of the wonderful history of the Lions to do so, especially when someone like Willie John McBride goes out of his way to say some nice things.

I can't honestly say I remember too much of the famous 1974 series when he captained the unbeaten Lions to victory in South Africa because I was three years old at the time.

But I knew about these things as a kid because that's the way I was, dreaming of playing for England at football, rugby or cricket while doubting whether I would ever make the first-team at Leicester.

I do not plan to be holding any history lessons on tour but the whole mystique about the Lions and what they stand for is important in terms of appreciating exactly what you have to live up to. It's the history which makes it extra special.

Far be it for me to argue with a tribute from a legend like Willie John, but I really am fortunate to be Lions' captain - and I don't say that because it sounds politically correct but because it's true.

Four years ago in South Africa I led a squad which included two players I had watched on TV as a boy, Alan Tait and Dai Young.

Four years on, I'm more confident in my ability and pleased to have the know-how of so many international captains, like Keith Wood, Lawrence Dallaglio, Jason Leonard, Young and other experienced top-class people like Tom Smith.

I just happened to be in the right place at the right time but I had no idea who would be on the other end when the phone rang at home eight o'clock one Monday night a few weeks ago.