Rugby team profile: British and Irish Lions
December 24, 2009 by admin
Filed under Tourists Attractions
The British and Irish Lions are a rugby union touring team, comprised of the best players from England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland. They usually tour every four years, with the destination country usually being one of the southern hemisphere world rugby powers.
The Lions have a long and proud history. Indeed, the first tour was as far back as 1888 to Australia and New Zealand. That must have been a long boat trip! The 1910 tour to South Africa was the first time that all four of the Home Nations’ rugby bodies were involved in the choice of players and can be seen as the beginning of the Lions as an established formal entity.
Over time the format of the Lions’ tours has evolved so that the tours tend to include warm up games against the host nation’s top provinces or club teams, followed by test matches against the host country. Since 1989’s tour to Australia the norm has been for 3 test matches to be played and the aim is to win’ the tour by winning at least two of those three test matches.
The joy of the Lions as an enduring sporting phenomenon, though, is that it’s not just about winning. It’s a rare chance for the best players from the British Isles to come together, put aside usual national rivalries and combine to produce exciting rugby.
Players still see it as a great honour to be selected for these tours and life-long friendships are forged. In an era where professionalism (and winning at all costs) have become so entrenched in sport, the Lions tours are a breath of fresh air. I think the closest comparison, in other sports, is with golf’s Ryder cup.
In recent years, the Lions have enjoyed victorious tours in Australia (1989) and in South Africa (1997). However, they’ve also been beaten twice in New Zealand (1993 and 2005) and also in Australia (2001). The 2005 tour was particularly sobering as they were comprehensively beaten 3-0 by New Zealand’s All Blacks and there were accusations that all was not well within the camp. It is to be hoped that the 2009 tour to South Africa will be more cohesive and more successful. However, the most important thing is that the British and Irish Lions tours remain an important part of the rugby calendar. Maybe by 2013 it may be time for another Lions tour to emerging rugby force, Argentina. The last Lions match there was away back in 1936!
The Battle of the Rugby Hemisphere’s
Rugby is a sport recognised around the world. Not only for it’s good looking sportsmen, tight little shorts and world class players but also for it’s excitement, skill and joy to watch. The money pulls these rugby players to the northern hemisphere. The love keeps the rugby players in the southern hemisphere and the debate begins. Which hemisphere produces the best players?
To allow you to comprehend the large number of supporters rugby union has you will be interested to know the IRB world cup is one of the largest international sporting events in the world. The only media coverage, which exceeds this is the FIFA world cup and the Summer Olympics. Audiences now reach over three billion viewers. The IRB rugby world cup be used as one of the main tools to show you the strengths of each hemisphere – The southern has won five while the Northern has won one IRB world cup. The New Zealand All Black Rugby shirt lead the charge in 1987 and unfortunately much to the disappointment of the Kiwis and the rugby world, at this stage, have never been able to achieve this again. Australia has had the honour twice in 1991 and 1999 and so have South Africa, who are the reigning world champions winning the 2007 IRB world cup and also winning in 1995. England rejoiced in a win in 2003, an estimated 750,000 people gathered in London to greet the team, making it one of the largest sporting celebrations ever to be seen by the United Kingdom. The French definitely show promise coming runner up on two occasions. Each and every team have a goal to win many come away disappointed. Each hemisphere also has a different build up. The southern hemisphere has the Tri Nations and the northern hemisphere are involved in the six nations. The main teams who make up the southern hemisphere team are New Zealand, Australia, South Africa, Fiji, Tonga, Samoa and the now highly ranked Argentina. The northern hemisphere has England, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Japan, USA and Italy. While the USA has been almost dormant for many decades however a recent rise in popularity has seen the blue and red USA Rugby shirt competing on the global stage.
It has been said that the southern hemisphere rugby players play less rugby than the northern and are then less prepared when it comes to the big tournaments such as the IRB World Cup. You will see lots of players spending time in the northern hemisphere in the off-season. The money is always the pulling factor since rugby has turned professional and also the new experiences to gain and build on there skills. At this stage the players are not making as much money as those in the football world though. The New Zealand Rugby Union has a policy that if you do not play club rugby at home you cannot represent your country. Wales has just recently adopted this idea. In regards to the coaching and support staff you will see a lot of southern hemisphere professionals working within different teams in the northern hemisphere. An example of this is the current All Blacks coach, Graham Henry who gained experience coaching the British and Irish Lions and also the Welsh Nationals.
The debate about which hemisphere plays better rugby will rage on through the lovers of professional rugby. The geography and demographics of each hemisphere are too different so for that reason I believe that the southern hemisphere will continue to dominate and produces more attractive players even though many of these players will swap to a northern hemisphere rugby shirt towards the end of their carrier. The bringing together of the two different hemispheres and the passion will continue to flow through the veins of those who love the game and will continue to help the professional game of rugby grow.
