FINALLY the phoney war ended and, after what seemed like wall-to-wall coverage of previous British Lions tours, the real action began.

Only perhaps now, we wish it hadn’t.

The final margin of defeat did not reflect the gulf on the field, which was best illustrated by the way South Africa’s Tendai Mtawarira – The Beast – dominated the Lions’ so-called Raging Bull, Phil Vickery.

To cut through the absurd post-mortem masquerading as post-match analysis, basically one of their big lads was able to push one of our big lads back in a few scrums with some success. It was as simple as that.

Similarly, the Lions’ defeat was also not the result of some geopolitical, unpredictable event but a simple lack of skill.

But that doesn’t stop there being faux complex explanations of why a key tactic is kicking the ball back and forth with tedious frequency – most of it without any tactical benefit to anyone – usually until it is dropped or goes into touch.

The problem is that, with one or two exceptions, the players lack the ability to create space, draw a man, make a correct pass, swerve, dummy or, since ex-Wigan star Jason Robinson retired, side step.

Any young player who shows the slightest ability to do any of the above is immediately elevated to stardom, even if it is found to be a rather temporary phenomenon, as with Danny Cipriani, for example.

Rugby League fans like me can be over-critical of union from time to time, but one thing we are correct about is our characterisation of rugby union as kick-and-clap.

It always reminds me of everything I have read about World War I. A massive struggle, but all for a few yards of no man’s land.