For the purpose of this interview, Ian McGeechan has to change out of his London Wasps jersey and exchange it for the colours of the Lions. And you know what? You simply cannot mistake the notion that he loves putting on that Lions jersey. Or that he takes joy from the dawning of another Lions year. Or that he is 62 and he still wants to roar.

He tells me that when he first became a Lion, in 1974 and he rolled up to a London hotel to find Gareth Edwards and Willie John McBride checking in at reception, he felt “like a boy in a sweetie shop”. The same feelings are generated even now.

“It's always hard to build a Lions team, full stop,” he said. “But when you do get the Lions right, there is no feeling like it. That's the reason why I am doing it again. It's absolutely unique, one-off; there's nothing that compares.”

Even now, even on the eve of his seventh Lions tour, a tour that the head coach says is “the biggest challenge so far for the Lions” - one for which he believes South Africa have rightly been installed as favourites, in which the preparation time has shrunk again and professionalism has made the task even tougher - he still feels that way.

“I looked round that dressing-room in '74 [during the tour to South Africa on which the Lions won three and drew one of their international matches] and didn't think the Lions would ever lose,” he said. “That's a really good feeling and I want players in 2009 to feel the same.”

And there is the challenge. McGeechan may be paid to be positive about the Lions, but his positivity is genuine. While South Africa were romping past England at Twickenham in November, the home nations in general were being romped on, yet McGeechan declares that he is “encouraged” by what he saw.

“I was encouraged by some of the new names,” he said. “Probably eight to ten players. You want the consistency from them now. I think over the next three or four months you'll see some of the experienced players coming through. That's what you want: the experienced players playing well and the young firebrands coming on to the scene with the right energy. You need that mix.

“And you're not looking at teams or tactics, you're looking at players. I've got to keep in my mind how one player might work with a player from another country. There are a lot of good players, but often there is one you think will fit what you want to do slightly better. Those are the big calls.”

The key, for McGeechan, the Wasps director or rugby, is accelerating the processes. For some, his coaching team is open to accusations of being too rooted within Wasps (himself, Shaun Edwards, Warren Gatland, Rob Howley), with only Graham Rowntree, of the core group, unconnected past or present. McGeechan disagrees. “We all come from slightly different angles,” he said. “You've got Gatts, who's a New Zealander. And Rob and Graham have been to South Africa on a Lions tour before [in 1997]. They know what you're trying to get to.”

But more to the point, the familiarity is entirely intentional, designed to cut out as much of the “getting to know you” as possible. “If we have an understanding of each other, we can give something to the players really quickly and that will put them on track for a co-ordinated playing performance,” he said.

We are talking here about what McGeechan calls “Lions principles”, the basic tenets that he has learnt from previous expeditions, notably Sir Clive Woodward's doomed trip to New Zealand four years ago. They are: 1, “One coaching team [in New Zealand there were two] with the players all the time, because I think that's the only way you are going to get to know them.” 2, “Sharing rooms [unlike in New Zealand] - the players have to get to know each other.”

He added: “The more time you can spend together, the better, because then you can have honest conversations with each other and players can also know that they have an honest chance of a Test place. Some of them will only get two games to take it in because that's all that's available before the first Test, but they will all be given that opportunity.”

If this sounds like a criticism of Woodward's Lions, McGeechan insists that it is not, merely that 2005 provided an opportunity to learn from an experiment that did not work.

“Clive was trying to get exactly the same things out of the group of people that I'll be trying to get this year: a squad coming together, well supported, well prepared and with a clear direction to try and win a Test series,” McGeechan said. “He had his own principles. They had to be looked at. But they wouldn't have changed mine. I wouldn't have gone [to New Zealand] if I thought, 'This is wrong.' I had a specific role: looking after the midweek team. And I was very comfortable about accepting that role.”

Yet after 2005 - and the 2-1 series defeat by Australia in 2001 - there is no doubt that McGeechan feels a weight of pressure. “You are talking about responsibility here,” he said. “I want people to feel good about the Lions. No other team would have 50,000 people trying to get to South Africa to watch it.”

There is a romance here, but more. Here is how McGeechan recalls the Olympic summer of last year. “I like attitudes,” he said. “One of the best things I read was about the British cyclists. The New Zealand cycling team said they were actually intimidated just by looking at the British squad when they got on their bikes and on to the track. I love that. That raised the hairs on the back on my neck.

“Sport - I think we miss something, or our Government misses something. The feel-good factor. The Russians knew that all those years ago; the East Germans. If you want to raise people's spirits, sport does it better than anything.” And the Lions? “No other team unites people in the UK like the Lions,” McGeechan said. And he just can't wait to unite them.

McGeechan's travels

1974 Willie John McBride's last tour, as Lions captain. Ian McGeechan, aged 27, plays centre in all four matches against South Africa. The Lions win the first three before drawing the fourth 13-13 at Ellis Park in Johannesburg.

1977 The Lions are beaten 3-1 by New Zealand. McGeechan plays in all four international matches, again at centre, but as a replacement in the third.

1989 McGeechan's first tour as coach, one in which he identifies the importance of the midweek side. The Lions are well beaten in the first match against Australia in Sydney but a rousing midweek victory four days later, led by Donal Lenihan, is followed by wins in the next two internationals.

1993 Close but no cigar. The Lions lose the first international to New Zealand, but McGeechan then drops Will Carling for Scott Gibbs to level the series. The home team win the third match 30-13.

1997 McGeechan's Lions are helped hugely by the Springboks' decision to select a goalkicker only when they are 2-0 down and the series has been lost.

2005 McGeechan is invited as an assistant coach under Sir Clive Woodward and is asked specifically to run the midweek side in New Zealand. The series is lost 3-0, but McGeechan's pride is upheld by the number of players he manages to get promoted from the midweek team to the international one.

Key dates
Week beginning

April 20: Announcement of squad and captain.
May 18: Squad gathers in UK.
May 24: Squad leaves for South Africa.
June 20: First international (Durban).
June 27: Second international (Pretoria).
July 4: Third international (Johannesburg).