TALKING POINT: A mediocre Lions team was just what Australian rugby needed

Ho Hum. At the end of what promised to be a pulsating British and Irish Lions tour, the end was quite underwhelming for Andy Farrell’s tourists.

As one British scribe put it afterwards: The Lions were never as good as they promised to be, and Australia was never as bad as the Northern Hemisphere expected.

So what do we make of the 2025 British and Irish Lions tour and where will it fit in among the folklore of Lions tales that litter our rich rugby history.

Well, the first is that it just highlighted what we were robbed of in 2021 when Covid gave us the most unsatisfying of tours.

Having been on two Lions tours as a journalist, 2021 was a soulless equivalent, which was taken up way too much by Covid tests, quarantines and empty stadiums. It was a travesty. An insult to the Lions legacy and hopefully rugby bosses will learn that if ever a similar situation occurs, they rather postpone than make us endure a similar tour.

FANS MAKE LIONS TOURS

Lions tours are built around travelling fans, the intermingling of cultures and local businesses benefitting from the travelling hordes. Looking at the build up to these tests in Australia, it was clear that this was the biggest successes and while those in charge will continue to look for ways for the “brand” to make more money - like toying with a tour to France - they risk losing the entire aura of the brand if they cheapen it too much. 

But back to the rugby. From a South African point of view, the end result of the tour is simple. Australian rugby needed a mediocre Lions outfit and they got that.

After all, wasn’t this supposed to be the team that said they were trying to emulate the class of 74 and be the best ever?

Forgetting that they “started” their tour with a loss to Argentina in Dublin, the mediocre weekday opposition failed to inspire the team and thoughts that they were anywhere near the 74 side were very misguided.

We’re so used to our colleagues up north singing the praises of teams that are never nearly as good as they give them credit for. But some of the praise was overboard on this tour.

Sure they were expected to win 3-0 and they didn’t and there is an argument that after winning the second test, coming back from 20 points down they were never going to be the same side in the third game.

We saw it in 2009, where the third test was a damp squib after the Boks gloriously won that second test at Loftus through a Morne Steyn bomb from 50 metres out. Sometimes teams are just deflated and the energy is gone.

HOW GOOD WERE THE LIONS REALLY?

But just how good were these Lions tourists? Well, if you’re Australian, you can argue that had they had Will Skelton in the first test, it would have been a different test series.

Perhaps that is a bit overboard, and simplifies it just a bit too much, but Australia really missed a trick at not having an extra game or two as preparation before the test series.

The Lions caught them cold in the first half of the first test and set up the series victory with 40 minutes of clinical rugby. But from there on, the rugby dished out by the Lions in the tests was mediocre at best.

Australia should never have lost from 20 points up, but to describe that as one of the greatest tests ever is a bit far. A test series that hung on one decision at the breakdown in the second test was a good watch, but nowhere near the 2009 Loftus test.

That remains the most brutal, most absorbing game of rugby I’ve had the privilege to watch live, and it will take something to top that.

From the Australian point of view, these “all-conquering” Lions were tame at best. Joe Schmidt out-manouvered Andy Farrell in terms of tactics and finished a lot stronger, and Australian rugby got a lot of pride back.

BOOST FOR WALLABIES FOR RUGBY CHAMPS

What this means for the Rugby Championship remains to be seen, but a mediocre Lions team was what Australia needed for the next few months, and especially for their trip to face the Springboks.

They aren’t world beaters by any means, but have shown themselves to be a clever side that plays to their strengths, and can adapt pretty quickly when against the wall.

The Bok management will have taken notice, and will prepare accordingly. They won’t be caught cold.

Australia’s resurgence has ensured the World Champions won’t just look ahead to the big showdown with the All Blacks in New Zealand. They will know they need to be well prepared for the Johannesburg and Cape Town contests.

In the end the tour delivered what we thought it would. But if you look at it from a Northern Hemisphere point of view, there will be disappointment, and a sense that they never delivered what they promised.

But on the other end, that mediocrity was just what Australian rugby wanted, and relished when it came.