Will Greenwood affectionately remembers it as "a last hurrah of innocence and youth".

He also recalls the sight of Keith Wood downing tequilas, while a wider rugby audience will probably never forget Jeremy Guscott's Test series-clinching drop-goal, Scott Gibbs flattening giant South Africa prop Os du Randt or John Bentley's wonder try at Ellis Park.

It all contributed towards making the British and Irish Lions' 1997 tour amongthe greatest in history.

The first Lions of rugby union's professional era were given little chance against hosts who had been crowned world champions for the first time just two years earlier.

But pundits and bookmakers alike gloriously underestimated the strength and character of a squad that generated its own special bond and spirit.

Captained by Martin Johnson, and with the coaching dream team of Ian McGeechan and Jim Telfer moulding everything into shape alongside Fran Cotton's managerial skills, the Lions became winners on and off the pitch.

The tour squad comprised 18 Englishmen, eight from Wales, five Scots and four Irish, including six players who had returned to union from rugby league – Gibbs, Bentley, Allan Bateman, Alan Tait, David Young and Scott Quinnell.

"We had a cracking coaching panel in 1997," recalled former England centre Greenwood, an uncapped member of the tour party.

"From day one when everyone met at the hotel in Weybridge, every player felt he was in with a chance of making the Test team, which was hugely important."

The Lions opened with four successive wins, beating Eastern Province, Border,Western Province and Mpumalanga, although the latter game was more notable for Doddie Weir being the victim of a sickening stamping incident that ended his tour.

A first defeat arrived in match five when the Lions were edged out 35-30 by Northern Transvaal, a game in which Gibbs also received a one-match ban for punching, while Quinnell's tour was terminated by a groin injury.

And injuries were to be a repeated issue for the Lions, as by the time they arrived in first Test week, Weir, Quinnell, fly-half Paul Grayson and scrum-half Rob Howley had gone home.

Howley's shoulder injury came during a stunning 42-12 demolition of Natal, andby this time, McGeechan had pretty much formulated his Test team plans, withshocks aplenty.

Props Tom Smith and Paul Wallace got the nod for Cape Town – not Young and Jason Leonard – while Ireland's Jeremy Davidson clinched a second-row place alongside Johnson, and Tait edged out Bentley.

The combined effect was a staggering 25-16 victory over South Africa, highlighted by scrum-half Matt Dawson's try and outrageous dummy that bamboozled Springboks skipper Gary Teichmann.

A series victory now beckoned in Durban a week later, yet not before another incident-packed encounter, this time against Free State in Bloemfontein.

Bentley scored three tries, clinching a Test spot instead of an injured Ieuan Evans, but the game also saw Greenwood knocked unconscious and requiring urgentmedical treatment after swallowing his tongue.

The Lions though were on an unstoppable march to Test series glory, and an astounding rearguard action in the face of relentless Springboks pressure underpinned an 18-15 verdict.

Guscott slotted the drop-goal clincher, but Welshman Neil Jenkins' nervelesss goalkicking – five successful penalties – stunned the three-try Boks.

South Africa bounced back to win the so-called dead rubber third Test in Johannesburg, but it was already mission accomplished for the Lions and a stunning Test series triumph against all odds.

"Rugby had only just turned professional then," said Greenwood.

"You watch the 'Living with the Lions' video of that tour and you see Keith Wood downing tequilas.

"These days it would be viewed as an Andrew Flintoff 'pedalo' type of incident and be on the back page of the newspapers.

"But that was the way it was. It was a last hurrah of innocence and youth, theCorinthian spirit.

"The management won't want people doing tequilas in crowded nightclubs on this summer's South Africa tour, but on occasions the best way to bond and to get to know each other is to let your hair down and enjoy yourself.

"I think the management will be fully aware of that."

:: 1997 LIONS TOUR RESULTS

Eastern Province, won 39-11; Border, won 18-14; Western Province, won 38-21;Mpumalanga, won 64-14; Northern Transvaal, lost 35-30; Gauteng, won 20-14;Natal, won 42-12; Emerging Springboks, won 51-22, South Africa, won 25-16; FreeState, won 52-30; South Africa, won 18-15; Northern Free State, won 67-39; SouthAfrica, lost 35-16.