Sunday 9 July 2017 12:03, UK
Warren Gatland has admitted he would relish a Lions rematch with New Zealand at Twickenham in November, potentially as a replacement for the Barbarians.
The Lions held New Zealand 15-15 at Eden Park on Saturday to end the series 1-1, with the tourists drawing just their second series in history.
Head coach Gatland's men rallied from their 30-15 first Test defeat to triumph 24-21 in Wellington in the second match, and edged to a gritty draw in Auckland.
The Barbarians are slated to face the All Blacks at Twickenham on November 4 and Gatland admitted the Lions would fancy stepping in instead to take on New Zealand in an unofficial fourth Test.
Gatland said of the suggestion: "That would be good, wouldn't it? You'll have to ask PRL (Premiership Rugby Limited) if they'd release any of the players."
England had already explored the possibility of pulling rank on the Barbarians to face New Zealand in that November 4 encounter but the Rugby Football Union (RFU) eventually had to give up on that idea.
The notion of the Lions stepping in for a rare home fixture would appear a long shot at this stage.
But it would not be beyond the realms of possibility for the Barbarians to look to reassemble the 2017 Lions squad, just in their black and white colours and not the red of the famed tourists.
The 1973 Barbarians were effectively the 1971 Lions reunited in different colours, and that star-studded side dispatched the All Blacks 23-11 in Cardiff in one of the classic all-time matches.
For any kind of repeat, or indeed for the Lions to take the fixture instead of the Barbarians, the English club governing body Premiership Rugby would have to agree to release their players to take part.
