Not impressed: It hasn't been plain sailing for Henry's men

A five-hour delay was the result and it was not until 3am on Monday morning that 37 bleary-eyed players finally clambered into bed.

The media cattle trucks took even longer as they were not direct flights and included switching at both Sydney and Brisbane.

Imagine flying from London to Moscow via Madrid and Athens and you get the picture.

Mind you, sometimes you can bump into someone interesting on those types of journeys.

So it was that I met England forward Martin Corry at Brisbane Airport - looking remarkably fresh after his 24-hour trip from England's tour of Canada - and was able to give him the news that he had just been named in Tuesday's starting line-up.

Surf boy

Colin Charvis has had his fair share of nicknames since breaking into the Wales team in 1996.

First he became known as Dr. Kildare after he questioned some of the alleged medical conditions through which around a dozen Welsh players cried off the 1998 tour to South Africa.

More recently, he was christened Ceefax by fellow Welsh squad members for revealing that Rob Howley, Neil Jenkins, Scott Gibbs and Dai Young were all contemplating international retirement.

Now, some of the Lions are calling him Surf Boy.

Nothing to do with his prowess on the waves, but a reference to his three and four-hour stints on the internet in the players' computer room at their team hotel.

Beer trouble

Graham Henry doesn't drink much beer. He's more of a wine man.

Perhaps that was why he was less than impressed when a couple of fans emptied the contents of their beer cans over the Lions coach's head as he was doing a post-match interview following the game in Perth.

Henry and the TV interviewer kept their cool and a towel was quickly found before they continued their chat at a safer distance.

The two guilty fans have are now understood to have been identified as England supporters.

It might be they were still miffed by the fact that the Lions overlooked Clive Woodward, but either way Henry is hoping that if it happens again it will be Aussie Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot poured down on him rather than Foster's lager.