Every four years the British and Irish Lions decamp to one of the former Southern colonies to play a bit of rugger. After acrimonious series in both New Zealand (2017) and South Africa (2021), it’s our turn to host them this year. Wallabies head coach Joe Schmidt recently said he’d be happy to have a beer with Andy Farrell and the lads after the First Test, regardless of the result. Many in the local rugby fraternity would view that as consorting with the enemy and have Joe shot at dawn the day after. It’s going to be a spectacle no matter what, and I bloody well can’t wait.
In the spirit of this piece being a preview, I won’t go into the specifics of squad selections. Rather, I will ruminate on the significance of Lions tours and associated tidbits.
In the time I’ve been following rugby, the Lions have toured three times. They won the 1989 series 2 -1. The Wallabies turned the tables in 2001 and took the silverware 2 – 1. Alas, in 2013, the pendulum swung back to the visitors with another 2 -1 result. Hopefully, the trend will continue with the Wallabies triumphant after the third Test in early August. While that outcome looks unlikely on current form, one can dream.
The 1989 series was played against the backdrop of a nascent bolshiness of the way the game was played in the Antipodes. After the “grand slam” tour of 1984, the Wallabies were leading the world into the era of running rugby. Icons like Campese and the Ella brothers ignited passions everywhere. It seemed the men in green and gold were everybody’s second team. Their joie de vivre was infectious.
By the time the series got underway, Campo was still on the scene but the mercurial Gary Ella had given way for a more traditional number 10 in Michael Lynagh. Lynagh would go on to be a great and enjoy a halves partnership with Nick Farr-Jones that ranks as one of the most successful of all time. The visitors were ably led by Gavin Hastings, who top-scored in the series to ensure his name is etched forever.
The disappointment of that loss would soon be erased as the Wallabies won the 1991 Rugby World Cup. The 90s proved to be the greatest era the national team would ever know. The tail-end of that boom time lingered in to the new century.
The 2001 version of the Wallabies was led by John Eales – the most complete rugby player I have ever seen. His nickname was ‘Nobody’ from the term “nobody’s perfect”, and he was as close to perfection as it comes. He was a beast in the line-out, a brilliant scrummager, superb in open player and could kick clutch goals. It almost seemed preordained that Nobody would make us all somebody and secure our first-ever Lions series win.
The Lions were led by Martin Johnson – perhaps the most inspirational captain I’ve seen on a rugby field. The sting of being the first captain to lose a series in Australia put the fire in the belly. He returned two years later and lifted the William Webb Ellis trophy as England captain, their only RWC trophy so far.
On the last tour in 2013, both squads had some great players but the stakes felt small and less consequential. Little did we realise that the two behemoths of the world game, the Springboks and the All Blacks, were going to claim mortgages on “old Bill” and win the intervening 2007 and 2011 World Cups, before then going on to claim the next three between them.
So here we are in 2025 and only that 2003 win by England has stopped the Boks and ABs from a twenty-first century clean RWC sweep. While the Wallabies will always be measured against those two, this upcoming Lions tour will give some players, and the team, the opportunity to make a statement ahead of the Rugby Championship and a home RWC in 2027.
The coaching succession is already laid out. Joe Schmidt will spend more time with his disabled son once the visitors go home. Les Kiss will take the reins thereafter. So let’s do it for Joe. Let’s do it for the long-suffering fans. Let’s not wait another 12 years in the hope we may have an Eales, or a Gregan, or a Campese by then. Let’s see our bunch of nobodies do a Nobody.
It all starts on June 28th when the Lions play their first tour game against the Force. I’ll give some updates throughout July and a wrap up in August. Get excited, folks. When we all get to heaven the added bonus is we get to play rugby.
Read more from Brian the Ruminator HERE
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thanks Brian, really enjoyed your piece
I read an ‘A-Z’ about the British & Irish Lions recently – the ‘K’ item was for SS Kaikoura, the ship that carried the first British squad to Australia and NZ in 1888.
“It left Gravesend on March 9 and returned on November 11. The ship took 46 days to reach Dunedin, with the bored players passing the time by using catapults to fire at passing albatrosses. As you do. The squad played 35 rugby matches – losing only two – and 19 Aussie Rules games.”
Haven’t things changed?!
Looking forward to the tour match at Adelaide Oval