Starting in 1930 the Lions have played eight Tests at Eden Park in Auckland, seven of them the last Test of the series, as is the case again in 2005.
The Lions have toured Australia, South Africa and New Zealand. If we count the Anglo-Welsh of 1908 there have been 28 series altogether. The Lions have left their opponents without a win in the series and then also suffered series when they were without victory.
The Lions play Auckland at Eden Park on Tuesday evening. It will be the 11th match between Auckland and the Lions. At present honours are even. Each has won five times.
Including the 1908 Anglo-Welsh, the Lions have toured New Zealand ten times and played in Wellington, the nation's capital ten times. The Lions have won twice, drawn once and lost seven times.
This is the 9th - or 10th if you include the Anglo-Welsh - time the Lions have been to New Zealand but only the second time they will playa against Manawatu.
The Lions have won one Test out of eight played in Christchurch - not a pass mark. Two out of nine will improve matters but still not produce a pass mark!
The Lions have played 39 Tests in New Zealand, winning six. Their average is even worse at Christchurch where they have played eight, winning just one - in 1977 the only match in the four-match series the Lions won.
The Lions, whatever their names, have not had it all that easy when they have met New Zealand in Tests. They have played in 10 series, winning just one, drawing none and losing nine times.
Southland is at the end of South Island. Keep going south and you end at the South Pole. It's not the most southerly rugby union in the world, that is at the end of South America, but it is the most southerly in New Zealand.
The Lions have headed for South Island, the mainland to South Islanders, and they are heading to the South of South Island.
Both teams have acquired the Lions tag. The touring team from the Four Home Unions did so originally as a nickname. Later the provincial team of the Wellington RFU took the tag. The teams have met down the years, before either was called or called itself Lions.
The Maori, the people who came from afar in long boats to the Land of the Long White Cloud and told stories about its otriginn to equal the great myths of the world took early to rugby football and have proved adept at it, born to play rugby it seems.
The Lions play Taranaki in New Plymouth on Wednesday, a beautiful part of the south-west corner of North Island. The Lions have been there before.
The Lions have been to Rotorua before with its geysers, steam and sulphur, Maori customs, a mixture of mud and mystique.
The Lions have been criticised for their 'poor' start against the Pumas at Millennium Stadium on Monday evening and prophets of doom have had lots of fun, not without Antipodean mockery. But things have not always gone well even with great Lions' teams.