Can it really be 20 years since Martin Johnson last led a British & Irish Lions side into battle? Listening to him even now is to be reminded that great Lions never entirely hang up their body armour. “The main things don’t change, do they?” says the last Lions captain to win a Test series in South Africa, in 1997. “You’ve got a team of people who have to come together, find a common purpose and use that as motivation to overcome adversity. Everyone talks about the honour of it. The reality is that it’s a tough thing to do.” So much for sepia-tinted reminiscences of past expeditions or entertaining fly-on-the-wall documentary footage. More real, in Johnson’s experience, is the suffocating weight of pressure, the stomach-emptying tension and the extra responsibility of representing four nations as opposed to one. “It’s found out some players on and off the field. More than a few. You might not make the Test team, it might not go exactly as you want it to go for you but it’s about the team and doing your job. That might be scoring the winning points in a Test match one day, it might be carrying some kit off the training field the next. You can’t let your head go down. You’ve got to muck in and enjoy doing it. Because these tours are soon gone. It’s history very quickly.” Short of re-taping his knuckles and grabbing the nearest toy lion, the 51-year-old could scarcely sound more up for the Springbok reunion. Ask him whether he might one day manage a Lions tour and he does his best to duck the question – “I’m not going to say anything on the record. Who knows?” – but the more he chuckles the more it feels a decent bet. Why would you not tap into the hard-earned wisdom of the only northern hemisphere captain to secure the dual holy grail of a Lions series win and a Rugby World Cup? Listen, for example, to his views on the rash of red cards shown for making inadvertent or clumsy contact with opponents’ heads. Along with everyone else, Johnson wants all players to enjoy a dementia-free retirement but he is equally sure the current disciplinary framework needs reviewing. “People are looking for reasons to send people off,” he says bluntly, concerned a huge Lions series will be ruined if common sense is not shown. “A series being won on sending people off or marginal calls is not what it’s about. It’s got to be sensible otherwise it’ll be 13 versus 12. Referees should judge when someone’s taken a shot at someone’s head, rather than an accidental tackle that’s gone a little bit high.” Some may frown and start muttering about gnarled old pros and bygone eras. Not many, though, possess Johnson’s specialist knowledge. As a former national captain and head coach, he has an instinctive feel for where the line should be drawn. “You accept it’s going to be tough when you go on the field. But high tackling has never been allowed. It’s always been illegal. “You also know when someone’s taken a shot and tried to put a shoulder, an elbow or a stiff arm into someone’s face. You can sense it, you can see it, you can feel it on the field. An arm sticking out that catches someone’s throat … yes, it’s not great but I never really saw anyone really get hurt by anything like that or by an unintentional high tackle.” “With the concussion thing … I never got a head shot from someone who high-tackled me. You were more likely to be in danger when you were trying to tackle someone with poor technique. A lot of players have said it. Get your head in the wrong position and that’s when you’ve got more chance of concussion. “Sometimes trying to go too low can be the worst thing. For a guy like me it’s not healthy. I tackled a lot of guys high around the chest because that was an effective tackle. I could wrap them up and turn them over. I wasn’t looking for a high shot, it was just an effective tackle. “People start quoting textbooks. Sometimes it’s not a textbook situation. If you’re a foot taller than the guy in front of you, it doesn’t always go like it’s drawn in the coaching manual. If it’s not intentional – for me it’s a penalty and a wag of the finger. It’s like anything that is brought in, it ends up getting over-refereed. I wouldn’t want a member of the opposition sent off for that, thus giving me an advantage. I’d want to win the game 15 against 15. If we’re good enough to win the game, great. If we’re not, so be it.” Johnson is not, he is keen to clarify, blaming the match officials per se. “It’s the people above them telling them what to do; a good sensible referee will control the game, feel the mood and settle it down.” Either way, he clearly feels the fundamental nature of the game he still loves is at risk of being eroded. “A lot of sports are getting like this … everyone is looking to see if we can send someone off. If someone’s done something deliberately they’ve got to go. But if you haven’t it’s a penalty for me.” So what, if any, pre-tour tips would he give to his modern counterpart Alun Wyn Jones? Characteristically he is more inclined, speaking on behalf of tour sponsors Land Rover, to address Jones’s fellow players. “Yes, the captain is an inspiring individual but no one man is going to drag the whole thing through. “It’s up to the players now to justify their selection. It’s all about getting your feet on the ground and getting everyone up to speed. You never really know your Test team when you go out there because things change pretty quickly. They’ve got to learn a new system, new calls … there’s a big difference now, a lot more than there was even in 2001.” When it comes off, though, there is no more satisfying glow in rugby. “Winning a series in South Africa is always a heck of an achievement. The pressure in 1997 was big, South Africa was big, the nerves were huge, the feeling of jeopardy – of how we’d feel if we lost – was horrible. “But ultimately the feeling of togetherness and camaraderie was fantastic. The Test team training on a Sunday morning, 13 hours after they’ve finished a Test match, holding bags for the guys in the pouring rain. It was just a very, very special place to be.” Martin Johnson is a Land Rover ambassador. Land Rover is an Official Sponsor of the Lions Tour to South Africa. Keep up to date with Land Rover’s Lions Adventure @LandRoverRugby #LionsAdventure