‘There are times today you are going to have to reach into the very depths of your soul.’
Those were the words Willie John McBride, the most legendary Lion of all, said to the match-day 22 when he presented us with our Test jerseys 12 years ago in South Africa.
I remember it vividly. It was the morning of the first Test, our head coach Ian McGeechan had named the team and Willie John – captain of the 1974 ‘Invincibles’ tour to South Africa – spoke to those selected in the team room of our hotel in Durban.
Jamie Roberts playing for the Lions against South Africa during the 2009 Test series
He told us how the Lions jersey does something to you that no other does. You feel you grow immensely in it.
He was right. When I wore the Lions Test jersey I felt I was representing everyone who played No 12 in the UK and Ireland – from club to professional level.
The biggest worry is you forget to bring the shirt for match-day! After receiving it, it was our responsibly to pack our shirt to go to the ground.
I took mine up to my hotel room and had a moment with it on my own. I couldn’t stop looking at it.
It’s hard to describe the emotions you feel, it’s a culmination of all the hard work you have done, everything your family and friends have been through with you.
To reach the pinnacle is a very rewarding and unique experience.
I messaged my mates and sent pictures of the shirt to the lads.
My shirt for that first Test in 2009 is one of the first things I now see when I walk into my living-room in my house. I stuck two lines of tape down the front so that the match-day squad could sign their names neatly on it, and then had it framed.
Dan Biggar has been the stand-out No 10 in British & Irish rugby and deserves to play
The one from the Loftus Versfeld second Test is with my parents, in my dad’s little office space. I went for a drink with him the night before the first Test in 2009, savouring the moment.
Those picked will receive their special Test jerseys on Friday. It’s a very emotional moment in your career. That burden of responsibility is immense. I loved it, and I’m sure those selected this week will too.
I enjoyed listening to Alun Wyn Jones saying earlier this week that everything he has done in the past four years has geared up to this.
I felt the same. In your professional career, sure you have week-to-week club rugby, campaign-to-campaign international rugby, but you know in the back of your mind if you peak around Lions year you have a chance of going on these tours.
After 2009 the 2013 tour to Australia was in the back of my mind probably every day, rumbling in the back of your mind.
In 2011 with Wales we had the heart-ache of losing the World Cup semi-final, then in 2012 won a Six Nations Grand Slam, then the 2013 title, but the Lions was also driving me.
I love the stories of people’s paths to the Lions, whether it is Wyn Jones going from Llandovery and the Welsh Premiership to the starting shirt here in a few years, Duhan van der Merwe leaving South Africa five years ago and now playing against them, or Stuart Hogg having to go home in 2017 after a freak eye-socket injury when colliding with Conor Murray to now finally becoming a Test Lion.
When I look across the team they are all players who have delivered in the past few seasons when the stakes are at their highest.
One person I am personally delighted for is Dan Biggar. In 2013 he was the only one of our starting XV that beat England 30-3 to win the Six Nations not to make that summer’s Lions tour selected by Warren Gatland.
Lions captain Alun Wyn Jones was right to say the past four years has geared up to this
In 2017 he went to New Zealand, but did not win a Test cap as he was behind Owen Farrell and Johnny Sexton.
Here he is now, starting No 10 for
