Lions 2013: Sir Ian McGeechan's team talk, 'If you get it right today, your lives will be different from this point on' The Crowne Plaza Hotel, as it was then called, looks out on to the Indian Ocean with the surf rolling in. King's Park Stadium is just a couple of miles away. It is an idyllic setting. But not necessarily if you are going out to face the rage of the Springboks. I do not often do big team talks. I did that day. I let everyone else get on the bus. The midweek side, the manager Fran Cotton and all the support staff. Up until then we had been as one throughout, but this was about the boys who were taking the field. It was the starting XV with just myself and Jim Telfer. I looked around the room. I wanted them to know what this match meant. I had played in two Lions series, one in 1977 in New Zealand and the one to South Africa three years earlier - Willie John McBride's tour. Tours were much longer in those days and it was a four-Test series. The deciding match was the third Test in Port Elizabeth and it was comfortably the most brutal game in which I have ever played. The South Africans were desperate, desperate men. Nobody came to their country and did what we had done. Nobody. It took the mighty All Blacks 22 more years before they managed to win a series there. It was one of those take-no-prisoners days: violent, intense, wild and intoxicating. That was headed our way again in 1997. I wanted the team not to be aware so much of that, because I think they were braced for a physical battle. I wanted them to know that if they won on that day, that it would stay with them forever. t would be inscribed in folklore. It would be there deep inside them and no one could ever take that feeling away. The room was quiet. And this is what I told them. I had come up with a phrase as I walked along the sea-front composing my thoughts. If you get it right today, your lives will be different from this point on. Every time you meet each other, no matter where it is or when it is, there will be a look between you. That look speaks volumes: of togetherness, of will, of courage, of nerve. I have had cause to use that phrase many times since to try and explain what it means to be a Lion. A winning Lion. A series-winning Lion. Warren's squad have just another eight days in the 2013 Lions jersey. When the final whistle blows in Sydney, that is it, the end of the story. The 2013 shirt will not exist any more. But if they have won the series, it will be talked about for years, it will be remembered forever. That is what it means. But mark my words, as the third Test in 1974 and Durban 1997 showed, no one is going to give it up easily. The Lions going out at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday will have an avalanche coming their way. The Australians will be so pumped up for this one. This match has been 12 years in the making. Lions cherish the moment that might come their way every four years. Imagine if you had to wait three times as long to savour that sort of experience. No, the Wallabies will not be going gently into the night. This is not just another Test match for them: this is a special moment for them as well. They will be looking to play the game of their lives. And the Lions have to match and then surpass that. These Lions are a good group of guys. I sensed that when I presented the shirts to them last week before the first Test. And they have real warriors in their ranks, men such as Brian O'Driscoll and Paul O'Connell. Paul's loss from this game is significant. He is one of those players who gets bigger in a Lions jersey and it is right that he is staying on in Australia. His off-field input and presence will be important. He was my captain four years ago. He knows that the second Test in Pretoria, when we did everything, but everything, to level the series, was one of those games, akin to 1974 and 1997. The second Test is always like that. The selection is intriguing. I am a big fan of Mike Phillips. When he is fit he is a game-changer. His combination with Jamie Roberts on the cut-back with Mike sweeping in behind was crucial for us in South Africa. The Lions will play differently with Ben Youngs there, looking to get the ball away into the centres and to let Jonathan Davies play and test the Australians there. It is a brave decision to entrust Mako Vunipola with starting on the loosehead as Ryan Grant, the Scottish prop who is on the bench, is a better technical scrummager. There is a big responsibility loaded up on Mako. He is without doubt the best of the props in open play, offering the Lions a real point of difference. But if the Wallabies manage to find an edge in the scrum then they will be delighted. Mako has to get parity at least. Geoff Parling will run the line-out and he deserves a crack at it. He is a good decision-maker, not afraid to make calls under pressure. Tom Croft was a success for us on the flank in South Africa and I have a lot of time for him. Warren wants Dan Lydiate to get at people quickly in the one-two channel near the ruck, to scythe them down. Tom operates a little bit wider out. Lydiate is there to sit on Will Genia, the Australians" scrum-half. The Lions are looking to stem the ball at source so those dangerous Australian backs are not able to play. The Lions will try to deny them front-foot ball. Tommy Bowe is back on the wing and although it may seem tough on the try-scoring Alex Cuthbert, it is the right call. Tommy is a Test-match animal and has great defensive nous as much as attacking strength. Some say the Lions were lucky to win last week. Whoever won could have considered themselves fortunate. The victory allows the Lions to be more critical, more honest about themselves. You can see that in the selection. There is no such thing as a bad win for the Lions. They are in a good place. And they are ready for the mother of all battles.