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LONG READ RugbyPass names the greatest Lions squad of the professional era

RugbyPass names the greatest Lions squad of the professional era

Which players would make an all-time British and Irish Lions XV?  Plenty no doubt from the legendary 1971 tourists, still the only Lions team to win a series in New Zealand, and the 1974 ‘Invincibles’, who completed a remarkable 22-match unbeaten tour of South Africa, winning 21 of them.

But given the vast differences between the game now and then, let alone the pioneers of 1888, when the first British Isles party took seven weeks to reach Australia by ship, we have opted to restrict our selection to the seven Lions tours since rugby went professional in 1995.

Our panel of RugbyPass writers – featuring contributions from Bryn Palmer, Jamie Lyall, Neil Squires, Owain Jones and Pat McCarry – came up with the following XV, plus eight replacements.

You may well disagree with some of our choices. If so, feel free to let us know, politely, where we have erred in the comments section below.

15 Leigh Halfpenny (3 tours – 2009, 2013, 2017)

Halfpenny’s first tour in 2009 was limited to just one match because of injury, Rob Kearney impressing at 15 against the Springboks. But four years later the Wales full-back was player of the series against the Wallabies, with a record 49 points to boot.

A perfect 11 from 11 kicks at goal against Western Force and a 30-point haul against the Waratahs, including two tries, attested to his superb form in the warm-up games.

The value of his metronomic goalkicking was amplified in the first Test by Kurtley Beale’s costly late slip for Australia. Halfpenny missed his own match-winning attempt from distance in the second Test, but recovered to nail 21 points in the decider and move past Neil Jenkins’ series record of 41 from 1997.

A peripheral figure in New Zealand in 2017, when fellow Welshman Liam Williams dazzled, but Halfpenny had already stamped his mark in Lions lore. (BP)

Leigh Halfpenny
Halfpenny was player of the series in 2013 and a peerless kicker off the deck, scoring a record 49 points in the three Tests (Photo Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

14 George North (2 tours – 2013, 2017)

Ieuan Evans was part of a second Lions series win in 1997, John Bentley’s impact in South Africa was huge, while Ireland’s Tommy Bowe started five Tests across the 2009 and 2013 tours.

But North’s impact in Australia, at just 21, demands inclusion. A sensational solo score in the first Test – fielding a Berrick Barnes kick on the 10m line, surging between two defenders, stepping round Barnes and scorching away to the left corner – was one of the all-time great Lions tries.

His ‘fireman’s lift’ on Israel Folau in the second Test – showing brute strength, while carrying the ball, to pick up the Aussie full-back and dump him on his back – was an iconic moment, and he also scored the Lions’ third try in the series decider.

Injury forced him home in 2017, and robbed him of a third tour in 2021, but his place in the pantheon is assured. (BP)

 13 Brian O’Driscoll (4 tours – 2001, 2005, 2009, 2013)

Jonathan Davies, the man who started ahead of him in the 2013 series decider, was magnificent across both the 2013 and 2017 tours, but in BOD we trust.

Selected to play full-back against Western Australia in his first Lions game in 2001, he blazed in for one try and set up Will Greenwood for another.

But O’Driscoll started at outside centre in all three Tests against the Wallabies and in a memorable opener in Brisbane, he sliced through Nathan Grey and Michael Foley on his way to a blistering, 50-metre try.

Captained the 2005 Lions but only lasted 45 seconds of the first Test before he was brutally spear-tackled out of the tour. Teamed up superbly with Jamie Roberts on the 2009 trip to South Africa before finally bowing out in 2013 with his first Test series victory. One of only four players in Lions history to have gone on at least four tours. (PM)

12 Jeremy Guscott (3 tours – 1989, 1993, 1997)

Scott Gibbs, Guscott’s 1997 partner in crime, and another Welshman, Jamie Roberts, both had major Lions contributions, but we couldn’t leave out ‘The Prince of Centres’, as his old Bath coach Jack Rowell called Guscott. The effortless, silken midfielder never looked more regal than in Lions’ red.

It is ironic, given his gifts as a broken-field runner, that the moment he will always be remembered for was a rare drop-goal that clinched the series win over South Africa in 1997.

Typically though, for this most elegant of players, the lazy swing of the right boot in Durban, with time running out, was a thing of consummate beauty.

Guscott, who oozed self-belief almost as much as he did class, was an ever-present in that series, as he had been in New Zealand in 1993, completing a full house of tours having also played a key part – with his impish try in the second Test – in the victorious 1989 tour to Australia. (NS)

11 Jason Robinson (2 tours – 2001, 2005)

A unique, unmissable box office attraction. The dancing genius’s slicing, zig-zag step off either foot and blazing acceleration could make even the best defenders look silly. Ask Chris Latham.

The Wallabies full-back was left grasping at thin air by Robinson three minutes into the first Test in Brisbane in 2001 as the Wigan rugby league great, who had only switched codes eight months previously, announced his presence to the union world with a breathtaking try to set the Lions on their way to victory.

He hadn’t even started a Test for England at that point. The electric Robinson went on to play in all three Lions’ Tests on that tour, scoring in the third Test as well, before winning two more Lions’ Test caps in New Zealand four years later. (NS)

Jason Robinson
Soon after crossing codes, Jason Robinson was a revelation on the 2001 Lions tour to Australia (Pic Nick Wilson/ALLSPORT)

10 Johnny Sexton (2 tours – 2013, 2017)

That there are now debates as to whether Sexton or O’Driscoll is the greatest Ireland player of the professional era, and perhaps ever, is a testament to the outstanding Leinster fly-half. A relative international late bloomer, Sexton made his Test debut aged 24 and first Lions tour, in 2013, aged 28.

Backed as the Lions’ main 10 for that Australia tour, he repaid Warren Gatland’s faith with three excellent outings and a try in the Sydney clincher.

Four years later he was on the bench for the opening Test loss to New Zealand but then parachuted into the starting XV for the Wellington win and closing draw back in Auckland.

Brave to the point of self-endangerment, in attack and defence, Sexton played at a high line and drew tacklers to make space for team-mates to plunder. Perfected the give-and-go loop Aussie coach David Knox introduced to Leinster’s attack, and made it his own. (PM)

9 Mike Phillips (2 tours – 2009, 2013)

Several Lions scrum-halves have impressed in the professional era, with Matt Dawson’s 1997 heroics putting him in the frame, Rob Howley excelling in 1997 and 2001 and Conor Murray featuring in eight Tests – starting all three in 2017 – across three tours.

But Phillips gets our vote for some sensational displays on the 2009 tour of South Africa, where he lifted his game to a level which made him arguably the best nine in the world at that time, standing comparison with the great Fourie du Preez opposite him.

The Welshman’s overt physicality and assuredness galvanized the Lions and his sterling service ignited the backline. Phillips started all three Tests, scoring a late try in the first, and playing another full 80 in the epic second.

While not quite at his optimum four years later, Phillips still started the two Tests the Lions won in their series victory against the Wallabies. (BP)

1 Tom Smith (2 tours – 1997, 2001)

The tributes which flooded in for Smith after his untimely death from cancer in 2022 spoke volumes as to the respect this humble figure commanded.

Smith was the prototype for the modern prop: years ahead of his time. He could pass like a centre, kick like a fly-half and run like a back-row, yet never at the expense of his core set-piece responsibilities.

Small and light, Smith wasn’t the obvious choice to face the mighty Springboks in 1997 but emerged from the tour something of a bashful hero. His intelligence and technique flummoxed much heavier opposition in the scrum, where the Boks were widely expected to steamroll their visitors.

This would be a feature of Smith’s career. He was so valuable to the Lions that he started six Tests in a row in the number one jersey. It took some 20 years, on the 2021 tour, for another Scot to start a Test match. (JL)

2 Keith Wood (2 tours – 1997, 2001)

‘Uncle Fester’ was Ireland’s shining light during their bleak 1990s. He presided over the Lions squad’s court sessions on the 1997 tour to South Africa, wielding warped power with his red gavel and natty wig. Those sessions, and some colourful turns of phrase, were Wood’s off-field highlights on the Living with Lions documentary.

The blueprint for a modern-day hooker, Wood was pure drive and athleticism, popping up all over the park like an additional loose forward.

Started the two Test wins against the Springboks and more than held his own during fearsome scrum battles. Tore his groin in the final minute of the series-clincher but described his emotions, as the clock wound down, as “happy agony”.

Wood also started all three Tests against Australia in 2001, and had somehow taken his game to another level. His performances were rewarded with the inaugural World Rugby player of the year award, later that year. (PM)

Keith Wood
Keith Wood’s energetic displays for the Lions in 1997 and 2001 have written themselves into folklore (Photo Alex Livesey/Getty Images)

3 Adam Jones (2 tours – 2009, 2013)

Tadgh Furlong has started the Lions’ past six Tests and the Irishman may add to his tally if his body gives him a break.

But Jones returned from South Africa in 2009 being acclaimed as the best tighthead in the world, having taken over from the unfortunate Phil Vickery early in the second half of the opening Test in Durban and helped to shore up a creaking Lions scrum.

His reputation was strengthened a week later when he twice forced Tendai ‘The Beast’ Mtawarira to pop out of scrums as the Lions neutered one of the Springboks’ weapons. Jones ended that game in hospital with a dislocated shoulder after a brutal clear-out from Bakkies Botha which ended his tour prematurely, but he was still in his pomp four years later, having collected a fourth Six Nations title with Wales.

He started all three Tests against Australia, the Lions’ scrum dominance in the decider a decisive factor in the final outcome. (BP)

4 Martin Johnson (3 tours – 1993, 1997, 2001)

A true Lions legend, Johnson became the first man to captain the side twice when he went back-to-back in 1997 and 2001.

Coach Ian McGeechan wanted a follow-me leader who would take the physical fight to the Springboks and even though Johnson wasn’t captain of England at the time, the 6ft 7ins second row measured up as the perfect fit.

He was a glowering colossus. The less talked-about bonus was his razor-sharp rugby brain. The series win owed a huge amount to the all-round lead he offered.

Johnson first tasted the unique Lions environment in New Zealand in 1993 when he was called up as a replacement mid-tour, making such an impression he played his way into the side for the last two Tests. His final Lions Test, the heartbreaking loss to Australia in 2001, left him “close to tears” and with a “dreadful feeling that will live with me forever”. (NS)

5 Alun Wyn Jones (4 tours – 2009, 2013, 2017, 2021)

From 1881 to his retirement in 2023, Jones had played in over 20% of all Wales matches. His record 170 international caps may never be surpassed.

Jones shot to prominence nearly 20 years ago with his all-action style and a different slant on lock play. Why couldn’t he be as skilful or industrious as a flanker? This ravenous attitude and footballing nous propelled him to greatness.

He won three Celtic Leagues in a glittering Ospreys side and three Grand Slams – five Six Nations titles in total – for Wales, earning two nominations for World Rugby’s player of the year award.

The 39-year-old is one of only four men to complete a quartet of Lions tours, featuring in every Test from 2009 to 2021, when he skippered the side in South Africa. He was also stand-in captain eight years earlier when Sam Warburton was injured for the decisive series-clinching Test in Australia. (JL)

Alun Wyn Jones
Alun Wyn Jones was a Lions tourist on four occasions, captaining them in the final Test of the 2013 series in Australia (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

6 Richard Hill (3 tours – 1997, 2001, 2005)

A tough call to leave out Lawrence Dallaglio, but Hill was a three-tour Lion whose influence as a back-row workhorse was profound.

He rarely commanded the headlines – which suited his understated personality – but McGeechan, Graham Henry and Clive Woodward knew what he offered in terms of work rate and physicality and all held Hill in the highest esteem.

Johnson judged him the most consistent player he ever took the field with. Outstanding against the Springboks in 1997, starting the first two, victorious Tests, the Wallabies dealt him a backhanded compliment by taking him out of the 2001 series.

Nathan Grey’s high tackle just before half time in the second Test left Hill concussed. Would the Lions have won that series had Hill stayed on? It is hard to say for sure, but they were weakened by the absence of the Lion’s Lion, for sure. (NS)

7 Sam Warburton (2 tours – 2013, 2017)

In Warburton’s home gym in Cardiff, the following phrase is stencilled on the wall: “everyone wants to be a beast until it’s time to do what beasts do”.

This was how the flanker trained and played; an untameable willingness to put his head and his hands where others would not, to approach his craft with a hunger to rival Michael Jordan in his Chicago Bulls pomp. Thunderous tackles and outrageous turnovers were his calling card.

Though injuries dogged him, Warburton captained the Lions in 2013 – missing the deciding third Test – and 2017, when he started the series on the bench. But coming back from a knee injury, his warrior-like influence burned bright. So did his famously effective referee-whispering, as he talked Romain Poite out of awarding a penalty which could have handed New Zealand the series at the death.

As it transpired, that was Warburton’s last act on a rugby pitch. Persistent neck and knee issues forced his retirement a year later aged just 29. (JL)

8 Taulupe Faletau (3 tours – 2013, 2017, 2021)

Honourable mentions here for Scott Quinnell, a colossus in 2001, and Jamie Heaslip, who started five Tests across the 2009 and 2013 series.

But Faletau was 34, playing in a flailing Welsh side, and had only managed eight games in 2025 before the Lions squad was named, yet there was serious momentum behind calls for his inclusion.

That’s the mark of his calibre, that no matter his physical state or injury problems – and he has endured many – he gets up to speed and hits world-class levels like nobody else.

Faletau was targeting his fourth tour, having been selected in 2013, 2017 and 2021. The New Zealand epic brought out the best in him. Nobody played more minutes and few had as telling an impact. Faletau’s muscular close-range finish inspired the Lions to level the series in the second Test and his tour was laced with quality and fire. (JL)

Replacements

16 Jamie George (2 tours – 2017, 2021)

George started all three Tests in 2017 out in New Zealand and was picked for the 2021 tour to South Africa. The Saracens and England centurion has a remarkable throwing arm and prodigious skillset that befits a former fly-half.

A hugely popular tourist, George trained with the Lions in Dublin and could yet be called up for a third tour. Honourable mention to the indefatigable Ken Owens. (OJ)

Jamie George
Jamie George was pivotal to the Lions squaring the Series out in New Zealand and he is close to a third tour in 2025 (Photo by David Rogers/Getty Images)

17 Mako Vunipola (3 tours – 2013, 2017, 2021)

Gethin Jenkins deserves a mention, having started all three Tests in 2005 and the first two in 2009 before injury intervened, and also forced him home in 2013.

But only Alun Wyn Jones has played more Lions matches (25) in the professional era than Vunipola’s 20, across three tours in which he featured in all nine Tests, a tally only eight players in Lions history have bettered. (BP)

18 Tadgh Furlong (2 tours – 2017, 2021)

Arriving after Mike Ross, who was preceded by John Hayes, Ireland has been blessed at tighthead for a quarter of a century. Furlong is the best of that trio, and Ireland’s best ever prop.

Able to lock down his side of the scrum and get through a mountain of work, Furlong also possesses a keen rugby mind and excellent passing range. Started all six Tests across 2017 and 2021. (PM)

19 Paul O’Connell (3 tours – 2005, 2009, 2013)

Maro Itoje could yet force his way into a starting XV, let alone a 23, as a stand-out in the last six Lions Tests, but O’Connell was a great Lion, starting all three Tests in 2005 and captain during the epic 2009 duel with South Africa, striking the right emotional pitch.

Chosen again in 2013, he was excellent in the opening Test win over Australia and played on despite suffering a fractured arm in the final 10 minutes, which deprived him of further involvement. James Horwill, his opposite number, observed, “Paulie was hurt and injured but he’s an incredibly tough competitor… it obviously meant a lot to him.” (PM)

Paul O'Connell
Paul O’Connell was captain on the 2009 trip to South Africa and a three-time tourist (Photo Stu Forster/Getty Images)

20 Lawrence Dallaglio (3 tours – 1997, 2001, 2005)

Charismatic and confident, Dallaglio was a born leader and a warrior to boot. An ever-present as a Test starter in South Africa in 1997, he was integral to the incredible defensive effort which saw the Lions close out the series against the world champions in Durban. Picked for two more tours but suffered bad luck with injuries on both.

Honourable mentions too for Sean O’Brien, who started the series decider in 2013 and starred in 2017, plus three-time tourist Neil Back, whose battle with Richard Hill in 1997 drove both to greater heights. (NS)

21 Matt Dawson (3 tours – 1997, 2001, 2005)

Mention Matt Dawson and the Lions and one moment springs to mind. The audacious dummy in the second Test in 1997 that bamboozled a clutch of Springboks before dotting down. During the 2001 tour he fell out with head coach Graham Henry, but deputised for Dwayne Peel on the joyless 2005 tour.

Honourable mention for Conor Murray, who steered the Lions to a creditable draw in New Zealand in 2017. (OJ) 

22 Owen Farrell  (3 tours – 2013, 2017, 2021)

England’s record points scorer was a fresh-faced 21-year-old in 2013, winning one Test cap off the bench, but his clutch kicking amid intense pressure in New Zealand four years later was crucial to the Lions sharing the series.

Less influential in 2021 but two more Test caps as a replacement and despite a bleak season at Racing, the door was left tantalisingly ajar for Farrell to be summoned for a fourth tour, if required. (JL)

Owen Farrell
Owen Farrell was a fan favourite on the 2017 tour of New Zealand and could yet make a fourth tour (Photo Stephen McCarthy/Getty Images)

23 Liam Williams (2 tours – 2017, 2021)

Williams will be indelibly remembered as the catalyst for arguably the greatest Lions try of all time, in the first Test of the 2017 tour in Auckland, stepping Kieran Read, outpacing Aaron Cruden and feeding Jonathan Davies, before Sean O’Brien dotted down 85 metres upfield.

That sense of adventure and hard edge saw Williams feature in two Tests out in South Africa in 2021. (OJ)


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Comments

17 Comments
S
SadersMan 36 days ago

Pffft. They’d get minced by the pre-professional age BILs. Men against boys.

R
Rayner 36 days ago

Based purely on their form in Red and not anything else having O’Driscoll in the teams is a travesty.


7 tests, 2 wins, 1 good game, his last test is one of the worst by a centre in history


Compared to

6 tests, 3 wins and a draw, man of the series against NZ and 5 above average at worst games


If you want to pick based on Leinster and Irish performances just admit it.


And you picked Guscott out of position to include him too.


Just absolutely insane

J
JD 35 days ago

Well that’s a ridiculous statement about his last appearance, he didn’t set the world alight, but he was solid. He had a better game in that second test than Davies. Ex players and pundits alike were universally expecting him to be named captain for the final test of the 2013 series (Warbs injured) before Gats threw that curve ball and dropped him entirely.


If the criticism is in respect of the AAC try in the second test - watch it back. Davies is the one at fault. Or was it the one loose pass Brian threw?


He was phenomenal in the 2001 and 2009 series’ as well. Very blinkered memory.


Agree entirely re Guscott. Many seem to forget he always wore 12, but played 13.

S
SG 36 days ago

I like Sexton choice at 10 but…no mention at all for Wilkinson who is usually considered second only to DC and Barry John as a flyhalf and (…eventually also to Sexton and maybe to Barrett in his prime… Players who I all consider better than him but … at least he deserved a note of explanation

I
IkeaBoy 36 days ago

Yeah, I think JD is pretty fair down below. He was top class but had a very rough time with injury and form around Lions tours. Never really got going.


I’ve a lot of time for Wilkinson. When he finally left test rugby behind and went to France he played the best rugby of his career. Exceptional tackler for a #10.

J
JD 36 days ago

This is squad based on form and performances on Lions Tours. Wilko unfortunately wasn’t at his best during his appearances in Lions shirts, so rightly isn’t in.

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