IN ALL FAIRNESS - Does the Lions still have its roar?
The 2025 British & Irish Lions tour officially gets underway this Friday in Dublin.
As has been the case in recent editions (bar 2021 because of Covid restrictions), the Lions like to get a game under the belt before they land Down Under and just like 2005 in Cardiff, it is Argentina who get to wave them off to Australia.
It’s fair to say this Lions Tour hasn’t grabbed the publics attention, yet. Largely, it’s because of how poor Australia have been since they last hosted the Lions in 2013 when the tourists edged the series 2-1. A year ago, anything other than a 3-0 series win would have been seen as a failure for the Lions, but the appointment of Joe Schmidt as Head Coach has seen the Aussies become a lot more competitive over the last twelve months.
The fact the Lions squad is dominated by Irish players, many of whom he would have worked with, both and Leinster and with Ireland, as well as Lions Head Coach Andy Farrell who was given the chance for redemption, under Schmidt, following a disastrous spell with England at the 2015 World Cup, eventually succeeding him as Ireland’s supremo, from where he got the Lions head gig after previously being an assistant coach under Warren Gatland.
The fact that Schmidt will likely know how Farrell likes to set up his teams will help him counteract it to a large degree, and at least make the series competitive, but it would be a surprise if it is anything other than a Lions win come the end of the series in August.
The 2001 series in Australia was the first time I became engaged with the Lions, the tour of Brian O’Driscoll taking it to a star-studded Aussies and Ronan O’Gara’s bloodied eye after the assault by Duncan McCrae in the tour match against the Waratahs.
From there, I remember being in Kiely’s of Donnybrook on a Saturday morning to watch the second test of the disastrous tour of 2005 to New Zealand; then the last gasp loss to South Africa in 2009; to the return to Australia in 2013 where they overcame the first test loss to win the series, with the dropping of Brian O’Driscoll for the final test the talking point. 2017 was its peak, the drawn series with New Zealand.
It's hard not to feel that the Lions concept was damaged by playing the 2021 Series in South Africa, despite Covid restrictions. The Lions Tour is a behemoth in terms of the money it generates, particularly for the host nations, and it goes to show how much money there is in a sport where it still has to go ahead, largely due to corporate and sponsorships reasons,
However, the Lions is also about the fans and the tens of thousands who make their plans every four years to follow them, and the sight of empty stadiums showed just how far they were down the priority list. The fake crowd noise made little difference to the viewing experience, to such an extent that South Africa 2021 is largely a tour that will be quickly forgotten, bar in the record books.
Still, one wonders how long the Lions concept will remain an integral part of the rugby schedule. It is one of the last bastions of the amateur era where the best of Ireland, England, Scotland, and Wales, travelled for weeks and months on end to Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa every four years.
In the professional era, it doesn’t belong, particularly as the best of four nations should be beating the best of one nation. However, in the seven Lions Tours in the professional era, the Lions have only won two series; 1997 in South Africa and 2013 in Australia.
While it is great to see Ireland being the leading contributor of players and coaches to the tour, I do still wonder where the Lions ranks in their list of priorities. Yes, they’ll still say being selected on a Lions Tour is the ultimate honour, but would they trade it for winning a World Cup with Ireland, the last thing we have failed to achieve in the game since becoming a consistent force over the last 25 years.
I can’t help but think that Caelin Doris missing the Tour through injury is a good thing as he’ll get a period of time off and come back refreshed early next year. I can’t help but feel it would serve Ireland better in the long run if Tadhg Furlong was to sit this tour out and allow his body fully heal during the summer, after missing a lot of rugby through the course of the season. Yes, it would be great for him personally to complete the set of playing all three Lions opponents, but from an Irish point of view, the World Cup in Australia is just over two years away by which time Furlong will be 34 and still in a place to contribute hugely if near his best.