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Seven British and Irish Lions who came of age on tour

Lions prop Tom Smith in 2001 /Getty

There are not many greater stages in which players can announce themselves to the rugby world than on a British and Irish Lions tour.

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Many Lions have etched their names in the history books with match, or even series, winning displays. Every series has a player that arrives in New Zealand, Australia or South Africa as a revered prospect in the Northern Hemisphere, but leaves as a global force.

Of course, the same applies on the flip side, where a player can announce themselves against the Lions. Dan Carter’s inhuman performances in 2005 are an illustration of how the series can launch a player to superstardom.

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Big Lol re-watches the 1997 tour:

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Big Lol re-watches the 1997 tour:

But here are the Lions that came of age on tour:

2017 Maro Itoje
The youngest player on the tour with only a year of Test experience in him, Maro Itoje forced his way into the starting XV for the second and third Tests after coming off the bench in the first. This was the first time he had faced the All Blacks and he acquainted himself with Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock with his ceaselessly oppressive defence and physicality. Tadhg Furlong equally proved what a force he is.

2021 Lions tour
Maro Itoje on the charge for the British and Irish Lions against New Zealand

2013 George North
With 31 caps, two Six Nations titles and a World Cup campaign under his belt, Geroge North was not an unknown quantity going into the Lions tour, but he was still only 21. If there was anyone who was not familiar with his name in June 2013, they would have known it come July after the Welshman produced some of the most iconic moments of the series.

2009 Tom Croft
This is a close call between Tom Croft and Jamie Roberts, as both were monumental against the Springboks. But the fact that the Englishman was not even picked for the tour originally (he replaced the suspended Alan Quinlan) means he just shades this one. Rob Kearney equally showed his class after replacing Lee Byrne in the first Test.

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2005 Ryan Jones
Wales’ eight-cap 24-year-old flanker Ryan Jones went from missing out on being selected for the 44-man squad to producing a man of the match performance against Otago and playing in all three Tests against the All Blacks.

Jones Wales
Ryan Jones (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)

2001 Brian O’Driscoll
The 2001 Lions squad was littered with emerging players who not only made a name for themselves in Australia, but who would go on to become legends of the game in the following years. The 22-year-old duo of Jonny Wilkinson and Brian O’Driscoll were two, as was the recent league convert Jason Robinson. The Irishman is the player who is immediately associated with this series though after his solo effort showed the world what he was capable of.

1997 Tom Smith
With only three caps to his name before the series, Scotland’s Tom Smith was a surprise selection by Sir Ian McGeechan. The loosehead started all three Tests against the world champion Springboks, and helped nullify their scrum, which was a perceived area of strength going into the series.

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Lions
Scotland’s Tom Smith get ready with Keith Wood for a scrum during the successful 1997 Lions tour of South Africa (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

1993 Martin Johnson
The Lions’ captain in both 1997 and 2001 Martin Johnson was not originally selected for the 1993 tour. But after replacing Wade Dooley in New Zealand, the one-cap Johnson started the final two Tests against the All Blacks and his career blossomed from there.

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J
JW 2 hours ago
'Passionate reunion of France and New Zealand shows Fabien Galthie is wrong to rest his stars'

Ok, managed to read the full article..

... New Zealand’s has only 14 and the professional season is all over within four months. In France, club governance is the responsibility of an independent organisation [the Ligue Nationale de Rugby or LNR] which is entirely separate from the host union [the Fédération Française de Rugby or FFR]. Down south New Zealand Rugby runs the provincial and the national game.

That is the National Provincial Championship, a competition of 14 representative union based teams run through the SH international window and only semi professional (paid only during it's running). It is run by NZR and goes for two and a half months.


Super Rugby is a competition involving 12 fully professional teams, of which 5 are of New Zealand eligibility, and another joint administered team of Pacific Island eligibility, with NZR involvement. It was a 18 week competition this year, so involved (randomly chosen I believe) extra return fixtures (2 or 3 home and away derbys), and is run by Super Rugby Pacific's own independent Board (or organisation). The teams may or may not be independently run and owned (note, this does not necessarily mean what you think of as 'privately owned').


LNR was setup by FFR and the French Government to administer the professional game in France. In New Zealand, the Players Association and Super Rugby franchises agreed last month to not setup their own governance structure for professional rugby and re-aligned themselves with New Zealand Rugby. They had been proposing to do something like the English model, I'm not sure how closely that would have been aligned to the French system but it did not sound like it would have French union executive representation on it like the LNR does.

In the shaky isles the professional pyramid tapers to a point with the almighty All Blacks. In France the feeling for country is no more important than the sense of fierce local identity spawned at myriad clubs concentrated in the southwest. Progress is achieved by a nonchalant shrug and the wide sweep of nuanced negotiation, rather than driven from the top by a single intense focus.

Yes, it is pretty much a 'representative' selection system at every level, but these union's are having to fight for their existence against the regime that is NZR, and are currently going through their own battle, just as France has recently as I understand it. A single focus, ala the French game, might not be the best outcome for rugby as a whole.


For pure theatre, it is a wonderful article so far. I prefer 'Ntamack New Zealand 2022' though.

The young Crusader still struggles to solve the puzzle posed by the shorter, more compact tight-heads at this level but he had no problem at all with Colombe.

It was interesting to listen to Manny during an interview on Maul or Nothing, he citied that after a bit of banter with the All Black's he no longer wanted one of their jersey's after the game. One of those talks was an eye to eye chat with Tamaiti Williams, there appear to be nothing between the lock and prop, just a lot of give and take. I thought TW angled in and caused Taylor to pop a few times, and that NZ were lucky to be rewarded.

f you have a forward of 6ft 8ins and 145kg, and he is not at all disturbed by a dysfunctional set-piece, you are in business.

He talked about the clarity of the leadership that helped alleviate any need for anxiety at the predicaments unfolding before him. The same cannot be said for New Zealand when they had 5 minutes left to retrieve a match winning penalty, I don't believe. Did the team in black have much of a plan at any point in the game? I don't really call an autonomous 10 vehicle they had as innovative. I think Razor needs to go back to the dealer and get a new game driver on that one.

Vaa’i is no match for his power on the ground. Even in reverse, Meafou is like a tractor motoring backwards in low gear, trampling all in its path.

Vaa'i actually stops him in his tracks. He gets what could have been a dubious 'tackle' on him?

A high-level offence will often try to identify and exploit big forwards who can be slower to reload, and therefore vulnerable to two quick plays run at them consecutively.

Yes he was just standing on his haunches wasn't he? He mentioned that in the interview, saying that not only did you just get up and back into the line to find the opposition was already set and running at you they also hit harder than anything he'd experienced in the Top 14. He was referring to New Zealands ultra-physical, burst-based Super style of course, which he was more than a bit surprised about. I don't blame him for being caught out.


He still sent the obstruction back to the repair yard though!

What wouldn’t the New Zealand rugby public give to see the likes of Mauvaka and Meafou up front..

Common now Nick, don't go there! Meafou showed his Toulouse shirt and promptly got his citizenship, New Zealand can't have him, surely?!?


As I have said before with these subjects, really enjoy your enthusiasm for their contribution on the field and I'd love to see more of their shapes running out for Vern Cotter and the like styled teams.

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