British & Irish Lions vs world champion South Africa, plus five warm-up matches between July 3-August 7 2021, all live and exclusive on Sky Sports
Thursday 16 July 2020 06:31, UK
Sky Sports Rugby commentator Miles Harrison recounts his memorable moments from the past six British & Irish Lions tours, having worked on each and recently completed 25 years of commentating for Sky.
He will be at the microphone again for tour number seven in South Africa next year, live on Sky Sports, back where it all began after taking in his first Lions series in 1997 for Sky against the Springboks - then, like now, also against world champions...
The Lions went to South Africa when the Springboks were champions of the world, sound familiar? The sport had only recently turned professional and the Lions' other major challenge was to marry the old ways with the new. The squad included six men who had experienced the professional environment of rugby league, two of whom, Scott Gibbs and Alan Tait, played major roles in the sealing of a momentous First Test win in Cape Town…
Jeremy Guscott's drop-goal in the second Test saw the Lions over the line and Wonderwall rang out on that famous night in Durban. A tour that will never be forgotten; the Lions would never be the same again.
Four years on, it was the world champions again. Professionalism was becoming more established and the Lions chose New Zealander, Graham Henry, to succeed Ian McGeechan as head coach. In the first Test, Henry's team delivered an almost perfect display in front of a sea of red in Brisbane. Another ex-rugby leaguer, Jason Robinson, who had only been selected by England at union a few months earlier, set the Lions on their way to victory…
This remains the best performance from a Lions team that I have been privileged to witness. But, Australia showed their fight and class to turn the series around.
What a disappointment for the Lions this trip turned out to be. This time, a northern hemisphere team was in possession of the World Cup but Sir Clive Woodward's England success could not be transported to New Zealand. Henry, now in charge of the All Blacks, got his Lions series win in the end. The playing highlight surely came in the second Test in Wellington as a young Dan Carter produced the most complete fly-half performance you will ever see…
Off the field, the travelling Lions fans were a hit but, on the pitch, their team went to what always seemed destined to be an inevitable clean sweep of Test match defeats.
A return to playing the world champions…the Lions gave their supporters a truly epic experience, if not the result they wanted, in the most brutal series that I've ever seen. McGeechan returned as head coach but his side lost the first two Tests - although, on each occasion, the result could easily have gone the other way. In the dying seconds of the second Test in Pretoria, with the scores level, Ronan O'Gara ignored the draw and went for broke…
To their great credit, the Lions came back and won the 'dead' rubber but it was South Africa who had won the key moments, just managing to keep the Lions at bay.
Warren Gatland, an assistant coach in 2009, stepped up to head coach. Ironically, the Barbarians 'warm-up' in Hong Kong remains the hottest, most uncomfortable rugby day I can recall. The series in Australia was initially too close for comfort too: two points in it to the Lions in the first Test and one point to Australia in the second. But the Lions blew Australia away in the third Test with Jamie Roberts' try effectively ending the contest long before the final whistle…
The following day, the Lions management were given a standing ovation in a Sydney seaside restaurant as they relaxed and dined with their families. The fish and chips weren't bad either!
Back to the world champions hosting theme but, this time, it was the 'back-to-back' world champions. For Kiwi, Warren Gatland, it was always going to be very special, but it turned out to be special for us all. First blood went to the All Blacks but they then saw red in the second Test when Sonny-Bill Williams' sending-off changed the direction of the contest. The decider at Eden Park provided the most extraordinary finish to a series that you could possibly imagine…
At full-time, it felt very strange to have no winner after all of that - but it felt appropriate too. The post-match photo, with the two squads intermingled, has become my favourite Lions' image.
Well, for now anyway...
