The British & Irish Lions 2013: Lions Raw (behind the scenes documentary) Blu Ray [Blu-ray]

Watched this last night and, although it is good, it's nowhere near up to the standards of Living with Lions.There is a focus on a relatively small number of players, with plenty of tourists - and some of the coaching staff - barely getting any screen time. e.g. there's plenty of George North, but barely any JD2, there's loads of Andy Farrell but no Jenks. Maybe inevitable given time constraints, but it can feel a bit unbalanced at times.In terms of behind the scenes stuff, there's plenty of stuff from the changing rooms and training sessions, but relatively little beyond that. My main gripe, however, is that there is nothing from selection meetings. There's a brief bit at the beginning of the squad selection, but absolutely nothing about selection on tour. The omission of O'Driscoll from the third test isn't really mentioned, apart from some footage from a press conference and a shot of O'Driscoll at the team announcement.Personally I think the whole O' Driscoll thing was blown massively out of proportion - you'd think he had a god given right to a starting place to listen to some people - but given the attention it garnered it would have been interesting to have seen how much debate there was between the coaching team.Still, it's a reasonably entertaining couple of hours, and well worth watching if you're a rugby fan.

Greatly received , told it was fantastic.

I have just watched the whole 2 dvd's. Being a rugby fan and also a fan of the first Lions film from the 97 tour, it does seem that the last couple of tours the tours have become a bit of a disappointment. Although its good to have it as part of ones collection, looking back at the first one that came out and as some other reviewers have said, we did not see much of the meetings or selection meetings. If we remember from the first one, we saw Martin Johnson and the management discussing some of the selection meetings that was had.Also there was a bit more of the players when they were at ease and during their downtime. Didn't anybody enjoy the Wonderwall song in the restaurant? Or the table tennis match!!Maybe something for future production of Lions tours to think about.This one we saw many of the match highlights but not much of the players and physios reactions on the sidelines. Like we would have liked to have been a bit up close when the injury to Sam Warburton in the second test. Remember in the 2001 tour, we were in the medical room when the irish fly half was repeatedly punched in the face against the Waratahs.Thank you.

grouchofer I am afraid you could not be more wrong. I watched both DVDs last night with a group of rugby fanatics. The production was amazing and the insight was brilliant too. This year they focused quite heavily on the preparation for the games and the back room staff; rather than the "off the field player interaction" of previous DVDs. Although I missed that as the DVD lacked the banta between the players.The DVD makes up for it with inspiring speeches, epic montages and the use of the slow motion camera. The story itself is brilliant with the win of the final test the perfect climax. I would recommend this DVD to rugby fans and people who need an adrenaline rush before a game.

It was an enjoyable couple of hours for a rugby fanatic like me, but at the end I was left feeling it was all a bit bland. We all know there were a number of contentious issues that came out of this tour, as, to be fair, there always are.But the DVD just implied that everything was wonderful with a big happy ending. The selections were obviously a source of great interest, yet there was barely anything about them in terms of how they were arrived at, the discussions involved. No reference at all about the (in my view correct) dropping of O'Driscoll. Virtually no insight regarding the selection committee.I enjoyed what there was, but it felt, well, yes, as someone else has said, sanitised.

Great footage of lions ream

I should have guessed what I would be getting when the dvd arrived still sealed, and it was very cheap. From the dreadful pun of the title to the hours of inane chat, this was probably the worst sport video I have ever seen, and it has been my misfortune to see a few. The 2013 Lions tour was quite controversial - Warren Gatland picked a Welsh-heavy squad in the first place, and the man of the series - Alex Corbisiero, for me - wasn't even originally picked for the squad. What we were exposed to was relentless pep talks from the coaching staff, employing a barrage of cliches and portentous orchestral muzak, and very little rugby. When it comes to rugby, Sky and ITV have always lagged behind the production values of the BBC, who would have made a much better fist of this. For any budding sports video directors here are a couple of hints - if the time spent on chat in the video is even half the amount of playing action, start again: and remember, sportsmen aren't "Heroes", they're just ordinary people who are lucky to be well-paid for what they do well, and winning or losing a match isn't the end of the world.

I really liked this documentary, yes there are better documentaries that have been done on lions tours. The British and Irish Lions is a tour like no other and this insight into what happens behind closed doors is unlike anything that you can experience in any other sport. George North picking up his opposite winger, two missed kicks to decide the first two tests. The drama and the reaction is all in this, and the documentary really brings this into your living room.