Admin
30 June 2025
With the 2025 Lions Tour underway, P+B Ambassador Andy Nicol reflects on the historic challenge of winning a Test Series and explains why off-field unity could be the key to success in Australia.
The 2025 Lions Tour is up and running, and it is now real! With it only happening every four years, it means the build-up lasts a long time. How many times in the last year have you been asked to ‘name your Lions Test team’?? The squad has been picked, the first game has taken place, and the Lions are now in Australia where the tour starts for real.
Who knows what is going to happen over the coming weeks but what I do know is that winning a Test Series for the Lions is tough. The data is there. Since the first tour left these shores in 1888, there have only been 5 tours when the series has been won: 1971, 1974, 1989, 1997 and 2013. That’s it!
There are many reasons why, but here are 4: –
· 4 countries coming together to form a team in the space of a few weeks
· The opposition are, usually, one of the best 5 teams in the world.
· The tour is at the end of a long season, so players are fatigued
· Injuries play a massive role.
If I look at the tours that have taken place in the professional era, so from 1997 onwards, there is a common thread. The tours that get things right off the pitch do much better on the pitch. Sounds obvious, but there is a really interesting and vital component that is often overlooked when considering the whole Lions environment. Andy Farrell has picked the best 38 players from England, Scotland Ireland and Wales and pretty much all of them are first choice for their country and every one of them key players for their respective clubs. This means that they are not used to playing second fiddle to anyone. They all expect to play in the tests. But only 15 can so how the other 23 players react when the 1st test team is announced will go a long way to decide the outcome of this test series.
If Farrell and the players manage to create a positive environment that is inclusive to everyone and all 38 players are aligned and focused on doing all they can to allow the Test team to win, then they have a chance. If players don’t feel that they have a chance and they go to a test team early in the tour, then factions can occur and they lose the squad harmony. Lose the harmony and there is every chance they lose the test series.
The good thing about this squad is that there are only a few players who I think are absolute nailed on starters for the test team. Maro Itoje, Dan Sheehan, Jamieson Gibson-Park and Finn Russell. There are others like Tommy Freeman, Sione Tuipulotu and Jack Conan that are close to being certainties, so this means there is real competition for places. Training will be very competitive, as you would want it, and this will help with keeping every player fully engaged and interested when it comes to the test series.
Happy squad means successful squad!
Andy Nicol
Lion #659
