article

In 2001 the British Lions rugby union side toured Australia. The teamnwas captained by Martin Johnson, who became the first and so far only man to lead the British Lions on two tours, they were coached by New Zealander Graham Henry. After winning the first of their matches against Australia, the Lions lost the remaining two matches of the test series. This was the first time that Australia defeated the Lions in a series. The tour was noted for tension between the test squad and the midweek squad as well as a controversial newspaper column written by some of the Lions' players.

Squad

Fullbacks: Iain Balshaw (Bath and England); Matt Perry (Bath and England)

Wings: Ben Cohen (Northampton and England); Dafydd James (Llanelli and Wales); Dan Luger (Saracens and England); Jason Robinson (Sale and England); Tyrone Howe (Ulster and Ireland) - injury replacement for Dan Luger

Centres: Mike Catt (Bath and England); Will Greenwood (Harlequins and England); Rob Henderson (Wasps and Ireland); Brian O'Driscoll (Blackrock College and Ireland); Mark Taylor (Swansea and Wales); Scott Gibbs (Swansea and Wales) - injury replacement for Mike Catt

Fly halves: Neil Jenkins (Cardiff and Wales); Ronan O'Gara (Cork Constitution and Ireland); Jonny Wilkinson (Newcastle and England)

Scrum halves: Matt Dawson (Northampton and England); Austin Healey (Leicester and England); Rob Howley (Cardiff and Wales); Andy Nicol (Glasgow and Scotland) - injury replacement for Rob Howley

Props: Jason Leonard (Harlequins and England); Darren Morris (Swansea and Wales); Tom Smith (Brive and Scotland); Phil Vickery (Gloucester and England); Dai Young (Cardiff and Wales)

Hookers: Phil Greening (Wasps and England); Robin McBryde (Llanelli and Wales); Keith Wood (Harlequins and Ireland); Gordon Bulloch (Glasgow and Scotland) - injury replacement for Phil Greening; Dorian West (Leicester and England) - called up as back-up after a number of injuries to the squad

Locks: Jeremy Davidson (Castres and Ireland); Danny Grewcock (Saracens and England); Martin Johnson (Leicester and England; capt); Scott Murray (Saracens and Scotland); Malcolm O'Kelly (St Mary's College and Ireland)

Back row: Neil Back (Leicester and England); Colin Charvis (Swansea and Wales); Lawrence Dallaglio (Wasps and England); Richard Hill (Saracens and England); Scott Quinnell (Llanelli and Wales); Simon Taylor (Edinburgh and Scotland); Martyn Williams (Cardiff and Wales); Martin Corry (Leicester and England) - injury replacement for Simon Taylor; David Wallace (Munster and Ireland) - injury replacement for Lawrence Dallaglio

Results

Date Home team Score Away team Score Ground Crowd June 8 Queensland Presidents XV 6 British Lions 83 Townsville June 12 Australia 'A' 28 British Lions 25 Gosford June 16 New South Wales Waratahs 24 British Lions 41 Sydney June 26 New South Wales Country 3 British Lions 46 Coffs Harbour June 30 Australia 13 British Lions 29 Brisbane Cricket Ground July 3 ACT Brumbies 28 British Lions 30 Canberra Stadium July 7 Australia 35 British Lions 14 Telstra Dome July 14 Australia 29 British Lions 23 Stadium Australia

Tests

First

The Wallabies were the reigning World Champions, after their win at the 1999 Rugby World Cup in Wales, although, unlike the British Lions, Australia had little match exposure leading up to the first test. The Lions started the game very well, and put Jason Robinson in the corner in the third minute to score the opening try. Jonny Wilkinson missed the conversion, so the Lions led five to nil, he missed a penalty goal shortly after as well. Australia got on the board in the 18th minute, with Andrew Walker successfully kicking a penalty goal. Wilkinson missed a penalty goal in the 31st minute, but shortly after the Lions furthered their lead over Australia with a try to Dafydd James, which Wilkinson converted. The Lions entered half-time, leading the Wallabies 12 points to 3.

The scoring opened up quickly in the second half, with Brian O'Driscoll splitting through the Australian defence to score a try in the 42nd minute. Wilkinson successfully converted the try, taking the Lions to 19 points, whilst Australia were still on three. Wilkinson furthered this lead, with a successful penalty goal a few minutes later, the score now being 22 to three. Number 8 Scott Quinnell scored under the posts in the 51st minute, with a Wilkison conversion, the Lions were now leading 29 points to three. Shortly after, Matthew Burke was disallowed a try by the video referee. Martin Corry was sent from the field, which reduced the Lions to 14 men. Australia took advantage of this and Walker was able to score their first try, although Burke did not convert the try, Nathan Grey scored Australia's second try shortly after. Burke missed the conversion, and the Wallabies were trailing the Lions 13 to 29. The Lions were able to hold out Australia for the rest of the match, winning the first test.

Second

The second test was played at Telstra Dome in Melbourne with a crowd of 56,605. The Lions took an early with Wilkinson landing a penalty goal in the 6th minute and another in the 12th minute, giving the Lions a six to nil lead in just over ten minutes of play. Australia had the chance to add their own penalty a minute later, however Burke was unsuccessful with the shot at goal. He however landed the next penalty goal, that saw the score now at three to six to the Lions. Following a Lions' lineout on Australia's 5m line, flanker Neil Back scored the first try of the match, giving the Lions an 11 to three lead over Australia, as Wilkinson was not successful in his conversion. The score was narrowed in the 36th minute with Burke successfully kicking a penalty goal for Australia, the score now being 11 points to six to the Lions, with a few minutes until half-time. Wilkinson missed a penalty goal just before the stroke of half-time.

A Wallby revival marked the start of the second half, as Joe Roff intercepted a Lions' ball which led to him scoring a try in the corner. Burke missed the conversion, but the scores were now level at 11 points all. A few minutes later, a penalty went to Australia due to the Lions being offside, Burke kicked the goal, giving Australia the lead for the first time in the game, leading 14 points to 11. In the 48th minute, Australia were successful in pulling apart a Lions' scrum, with the ball loose, John Eales passed to Roff who scored his second try. With Burke's conversion, Australia where now leading 21 to 11. The score was brought up to 21 to 14, when Wilkinson was successful with a penalty goal in the 50th minute. A 54th minute try to Burke, unsuccessful in converting his own try, took Australia to 29 to 14. A successful penalty goal by Burke in the 74th minute saw Australia's lead taken to 31 points, with the Lions on 14, a comeback seemed almost impossible. Burke sealed the victory with another penalty four minutes later, giving Australia their largest win ever over the Lions.

Third

With the Lions winning the opening test, and Australia coming back to win the second, the third game at Stadium Australia in Sydney would be the decider. The scoring opened up in the third minute, with a penalty to Australia after the Lions were caught offside at a lineout, Burke was successful with the penalty goal, taking Australia to a three to nil lead. Wilkinson, who was under an injury cloud leading up to the match, leveled the scores in the 5th minute with a successful penalty goal, before Burke landed another penalty goal for Australia, taking back their thre point lead. Australia struck back four minutes later, with Burke kicking another penalty goal, giving Australia a nine to three lead over the Lions. Robinson darted down the left sideline to score the first try of the match, which was converted by Wilkinson, giving the Lions a 10 to nine lead. Both Wilkinson and Burke missed penalties over the next twenty minutes, but it was Australia that reignited the scoring, with Daniel Herbert scoring three minutes out from half-time, the try was converted by Burke, giving Australia a 16 to 10 lead. Wilkinson was successful with a penalty goal right on the buzzer of half-time. Australia led at the break, 16 points to 13.

The Lions took the lead in the second half, with Wilkinson crossing the line to score a try and then converting it, giving the Lions a 19 to 16 lead. The crowd appaluaded Wilkinson's heroics, as he had been strechered off in the previous test. The Wallabies turned down a penalty goal in the 48th miute, opting for a lineout to keep the pressure on the Lions' defence. Australia did not pull it off, as the Lions stole the ball, but after regathering a Lions' kick, Australia had another lineout 7m out from the Lions' goal line, Herbert dived over for his second try in the 49th minute, Burke converted, giving Australia the lead, 23 points to 20. A yellow card to Herbert saw him sent off for 10 minuets after a high tackle on O' Driscoll. Wilkinson kicked the penalty goal, leveling scores at 23-all. Wilkinson missed a penalty goal in the 60th minute, whereas Burke was successful with a penalty goal five minutes after. Burke kicked another in the 76th minute, Australia now leading 29 to 23. The Wallabies defence held on, and Australia won 29 to 23, winning the test series 2 to 1.

Impact

The tour broke both crowd and television rugby union records in Australia. The Austrailan victory in the third test created a new record for rugby union television, as 3 million Australians watched the match on Channel Seven and Prime Networks. The crowd at Telstra Stadium in Melbourne became the largest crowd for a sporting event at the stadium.

The Australian Hotels Association (AHA) said the thousands of supporters following the Lions around Australia had delivered a massive tourism boom to hotels, bars, taverns, restaurants and airlines. Melbourne accommodation hotels enjoyed record occupancies. AHA labelled the Lions fans as model tourists due to their exemplary behaviour.Tourism Task Force reported that the 10,000 Lions fans that travelled to Australia would have injected $100 million into the economy.

Controversey

The Lions tour was notable for an alleged rift between players and the diaries/newspaper columns that were published, some of which became controversial. A particular piece, published in The Guardian on the eve of the third test landed Austin Healey in deep water, the piece commented on a variety of Australian topics and the Wallabies - some comments were deemed inappropriate and Healey subsequently faced a fine from the RFU. Scrum-half Matt Dawson was also fined following similar media-related events earlier in the tour. The controversies did not impress England coach Clive Woodward who was vocal in his disapproval of the events.

References

External links

British and Irish Lions tours | Rugby union in Australia

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "2001 British Lions tour to Australia".

Home Page • arts • business • computers • games • health • hospitals • home • kids & teens • news • physicians • recreation• reference • regional • science • shopping • society • sports • world