Lions in for 'hardest rugby of their lives'

If he could, he'd wind the clock back to his youth and do it all again in New Zealand, the highs and lows of a Lions tour, the intensity, the brutality, the ecstasy and the agony.

When Gavin Hastings says that the 2017 Lions are about to experience the "hardest weeks of rugby they will ever have faced in their lives, but at the same time, the most incredible weeks", he speaks from experience, some of it bitter, some of it glorious, all of it unforgettable.

"These guys have the opportunity to make history," he says. "Let's get it straight, this is not a question of life or death, they're not going away with Bear Grylls on an island to fend for themselves. They're going to be worshipped when they arrive, probably not by New Zealand fans, but by the 25,000 Lions fans who are going to be there.

"If you asked every person who ever played for the Lions in the past would they like to be young again and be on that plane, then most of us would say, 'Yeah, we'll do it'. Captaining the side in 1993 was the greatest honour I could have achieved."

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Meanwhile, Tommy Seymour admits the British and Irish Lions must be willing to suffer if they are to win a series in New Zealand for the first time since 1971.

The wing, 28, is one of three Scots in Warren Gatland's touring party.

And Glasgow Warriors' Seymour insists a varied and accurate game plan will be required to topple the back-to-back world champions.

"We've got to be willing to go through a lot of pain to beat this side," Seymour said of the All Blacks.

"We've just got to be at our utmost. We've got to make sure we know everything we're trying to do on the field inside and out. Everything's got to be second nature.

"We've got to be willing to be physical with them; we've got to be willing to play as well. We've got to go out there with ambition — there's no point in sitting on our heels and hoping you're going to have a physical confrontation with them.

"You've got to be willing to play and expand and really take the game to them as well.

"So I think for us it's just about getting as much detail as possible on the field, and once we've got that detail making sure it's second nature."

Only 14 of the 41 players selected by Gatland have reported to the Vale of Glamorgan for the first week of training.

"Guys have done very well at their clubs and are playing in semifinals and finals, they're rightly where they should be," Seymour said.

"You want everyone together, but we've had a really successful week, we've had enough numbers to be able to accomplish a lot of stuff. We've been able to tick a lot of boxes, and get a lot of things across that will give us a good head start going into the weeks to come.

"I think it'll help to get everyone integrated as quickly as possible because there will be guys dotted around the field that can kind of explain what's going on and point everyone in the right direction. It'll help the coaches as well to get everyone embedded as quickly as possible."