Ian McGeechan believes rugby fans can look forward to an outstanding season next term thanks to the major rule changes which helped the series to be a success. Most of the widely detested Experimental Law Variations were ditched in the run-up to the Lions tour, which ended on Saturday in a spectacular victory for McGeechan's men at Ellis Park.

The head coach believes the three-Test series - won 2-1 by South Africa - was the finest he has witnessed and the 62-year-old puts much of the success down to the scrapping of the year-old ELVs.

McGeechan says there are still areas of the game that need addressing, such as the controversial breakdown where the Lions struggled in the early part of the tour, but the former London Wasps coach insists the game is in rude health.

"It is the best three Tests in terms of quality that I think I have ever been involved in," he said. "This is the first Test series played under the now global laws and it shows what can be achieved when you get it right.

"Some of those ELVs were taking us into an area where the game would have been pretty ordinary and pretty average.

"This series has proved we are back to some really high-quality rugby with skilful players doing what they're best at.

"If we can all go forward as coaches, players and referees and just get the tackle area sorted out then I think the game is in great health."

McGeechan's tightly-knit squad produced a titanic performance in Johannesburg to record a deserved 28-9 win at the end of a series that saw them outscore the Springboks but fail to earn a first series triumph in 12 years.

Credibility in the brand has been restored four years after Sir Clive Woodward oversaw a spectacular failure in New Zealand when he split the squad into Test starters and midweek dirt-trackers.

"This group of players and the first five weeks really set everything down for us to be as tight a unit as I have ever seen under pressure," said McGeechan.

Another 3-0 drubbing would have led to the anti-Lions lobby, who argue there is no longer room for six-week tours in the crowded international calendar, to call for an end to the 121-year-old tradition.

"Even in a professional, business sense if you can take 40,000 people 6,000 miles to watch a rugby team then that is not a bad business model," McGeechan said.

"Just because the Lions have been around for a long time doesn't mean it's old fashioned. Speak to any of the players. There is nothing bigger than this. That includes World Cups."

Saturday's display will have gone a long way to banishing any notion of the Lions being unable to compete with the world's best.

The Springboks may have rested several of their key players in preparation for the Tri Nations but the Lions also had four of their stars, including centres Jamie Roberts and Brian O'Driscoll, sidelined after picking up injuries in the bruising Second Test.

The Springboks were also not short of motivation. They had bleated all week about the injustice of the two-week ban Bakkies Botha received for an illegal charge on Adam Jones in an attempt to deflect attention from Schalk Burger's scandalously short eight-week ban for eye gouging.

The Boks' ill-judged arm-band protest on Saturday pleading for "justice" for Botha looked even more ridiculous yesterday, when it was announced Wales prop Jones requires surgery on his dislocated shoulder and will be out for six months.

However, the disciplinary spotlight was on the Lions in the Third Test with Simon Shaw receiving a two-week ban after he was cited for dangerous play.

The lock, who will miss the start of Wasps' season, was shown a yellow card by referee Stuart Dickinson for the 37th-minute incident when he recklessly fell on top of scrum-half Fourie du Preez, leading with his knees.

The Shaw citing was the one blemish for the Lions from a match which saw Shane Williams score two tries and Ugo Monye banish memories of his First Test nightmare with a brilliant late interception.

"That win was all about leaving South Africa with our heads held high," Williams said.