‘I had to draw a rhino’ – Bizarre Lions team-building class left stars furious who just wanted to go out drinking

The British and Irish Lions are some of the best in the world when it comes to their rugby skills.

But with a paintbrush?

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The British and Irish Lions were brushed aside in 2005[/caption]

Far less so.

Sir Clive Woodward, who was in charge of England’s victorious squad at the 2003 Rugby World Cup, was handed the coaching reins of the Lions for the 2005 tour to New Zealand.

A new coach meant Woodward wanted to take a fresh approach to, well, just about everything.

Players were given iPods with a curation of carefully-selected tunes and sent a series of motivational cards, former Labour spin doctor Alastair Campbell was drafted in as the team’s Head of Media Relations, while a legal adviser and former referee were also drafted in to the touring party.

But when it came to team-bonding exercises, it set the wheels in motion for the disaster that was to follow in the southern hemisphere.

Woodward decided he would split his squad into teams for an activity in which players would work on a giant mural.

Campbell was taken aback by the finished product.

“There was a fair amount of grumbling, but when the whole thing was done, he had painted a giant mural with the logo and a sense of what we wanted the tour to be,” he wrote at the time.

“It was actually pretty breathtaking.”

However, the players were far less receptive.

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Woodward’s team-bonding exercises did not go down well with the players[/caption]

“It did nothing for me,” former Ireland international Donncha O’Callaghan said.

“I had to draw a rhino in my corner of the canvas and I stuck a cigarette in his mouth.

“When you’re in a Test match and the chips are down, there’s nothing to be gained from how well you dovetailed with someone on a giant oil painting.”

Welsh centre Gavin Henson was less explicit in his dislike of the activity, although he was able to acknowledge the benefits – even if minimal – from the activity.

“It was just a bit of team building stuff – painting and role playing,” Henson said.

“I wasn’t too comfortable with it all; I don’t think anyone was.

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“But it brought us out of ourselves and we mixed pretty well.”

Had O’Callaghan had his time again, perhaps he may have pitched to Woodward the only two ways he believes a team can properly bond.

The first option, according to the 46-year-old, was to ‘let them kick the s*** out of each other on the training field.’

As for the other option, O’Callaghan said: “Let them go out on the p*** for a night.”

Perhaps either of those would have proven more fruitful given the chaos that was to follow.

The Lions copped a 21-3 battering from the All Blacks in the first Test, with superstar Brian O’Driscoll sustaining a nasty injury that ruled him out for the remainder of the tour.

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Following the contest, Woodward tasked Campbell with delivering a speech to try and shake things up.

Instead, it went down like a lead balloon.

The speech evidently failed to have the desired impact, as the Lions lost their next two Tests 48-18 and 38-19 to ensure a clean sweep for the Kiwis.

It marked the first time in 22 years the Lions failed to win a single Test in a series.

As for Woodward, it proved to be the first and only time he was in charge of the Lions as Scotland’s Ian McGeechan replaced him for the 2009 tour to South Africa.