The Lions History - Part 5

After the success of the first professional Lions in 1997, the excitement from fans, press and commerce was massive for the 2001 Lions tour to Australia.

After a somewhat controversial choice of coach in the shape of Wales' Kiwi import Graham Henry, the Lions committee once again turned to the experienced hands of 1997 skipper Martin Johnson to lead the initial tour party of 37 players on their 10-match tour.

In doing so the England and Leicester stalwart became the first player ever to lead two Lions tours.

An opening game against the amateurs Western Australia did little but stretch their legs, the Lions running a record score, and another mid-week game against Queensland XV provided another heavy win for the tourists.

Their next opposition were the Super 12 Queensland Reds, thought to provide the first real opposition of the tour, but an impressive performance saw them easily beaten and there were genuine signs that the squad where beginning to gel.

However, shortly afterwards rumours began to emerge of discontent within the camp, exacerbated by an apparent clear and obvious early distinction between the Test and mid-week side.

Moods within the camp were not helped by their first defeat, against Australia A in Gosford, as a team inspired by future Wallaby coach Eddie Jones.

Soon after the Lions began to suffer a spate of injuries. Probable Test winger Dan Luger fractured a cheek-bone in training, long-term injury doubt Mike Catt lost his fitness battle and in a bad-tempered game against NSW Waratahs, centre Will Greenwood limped out of the match, and the tour, after just 20 minutes.

It was to get much worse before it got better with the tragic death of the Lions' Australian-based liaison officer whilst swimming. It was perhaps unsurprising that the Lions out in a poor performance against minnows NSW Cockatoos the day after but their was a definitive sense that the tide was turning against the tourists.

And so to the First Test in Brisbane. Just hours before kick-off the UK woke-up to a storm over an article by Matt Dawson which revealed personal frustrations and apparent player discontent with the management and Graham Henry.

It was then perhaps extraordinary how the game turned out. With a packed Gabba resounding to the sounds of travelling Lions fans, a try within two minutes from winger Jason Robinson set the scene for a upset Lions win.

Further tries from Dafydd James, Scott Quinnell and Brian O'Driscoll helped the Lions to a 29-13 win and suddenly the troubled Lions of a few hours previously had ceased to exist.

The last mid-week game came against the ACT Brumbies and it required an injury-time try from Austin Healey, and a conversion from the chastened diarist Matt Dawson to effect a 30-28 win and keep the momentum going. But it was slowing, even if many Lions fans could not detect it.

On to the Second Test and it was clear the Wallabies, and the ARU who had gone to extraordinary lengths to prevent Lions' fans dominating the crowd, were not going to be caught short again. Despite trailing 6-11 at half-time, the Wallabies stormed back in the second-half to win 35-14 and set up a deciding Test in Sydney.

In the true tradition of such a see-saw tour, the game, and the series, could have swung either way, but it was the Wallabies' tenacity in the 50/50 contests which saw them edging ahead.

The scores were tied at 23-23 going in to the last 12 minutes, but Australian fullback Matt Burke stepped up and shrugged off the pressure to become the Wallabies' hero landing two penalties to fend-off a gallant, if at times headstrong Lions' challenge as they went down 23-29.

It had been a titanic Test series, one that definitively marked Australia as the finest side in world rugby but arguably threw up more questions than answers for the Lions.

In some ways the 1997 squad, whilst professional, were still pathfinders able to create their own path in the new world of the paid-up Lions. In contrast, the 2001 squad had to contend with considerably more pressure from the media, more expectations from the fans and more demands from the sponsors.

In the end, facing a top quality team, they just came up short.