Big moments from the last five Lions tours
Friday 3 June 2016 17:54, UK
We picked out five of the biggest moments in the recent Lions tours, which one was the most influential?
Many moments have defined the British and Irish Lions tours over the years, but here we pick out one from each of the last five tours. Which of these had the most bearing on the outcome of the respective tours?
1997 - Guscott and glory
As the first Test approached, the Lions were seen as outsiders against the reigning world champions. However the tourists turned in a performance in the first Test that shook the world, Neil Jenkins justifying his inclusion at full-back by kicking five penalties before an Alan Tait try and Matt Dawson's outrageous dummy gave them a 25-16 opening victory.
The South Africans were licking their wounds and came out all guns blazing in the second Test. Tries from Joost van der Westhuizen, Percy Montgomery and Andre Joubert set the Springboks up but their place-kicking let them down as they failed to convert any of the tries.
They were also failing to land any penalties, unlike the Lions who once again benefited from the perfect boot of Jenkins, who kicked five penalties for the second successive Test.
With the scores level at 15-15 late in the match, Jeremy Guscott landed a match-winning drop-goal to guarantee the series victory and write his side into the record books.
Wales head coach Warren Gatland wary of New Zealand ahead of Eden Park Test
2001 - Waltzing O'Driscoll
When the Lions headed for Australia in 2001 they were once again considered underdogs. Rumours of in-fighting within the squad did nothing to help the feeling that Graham Henry's side was in for a tough tour, but watching the first Test in Brisbane you wouldn't know it was the same team that so many had written off.
There was immediate free-flowing intent from the visitors after kick-off, and the Lions soon found themselves threatening down the left. Jason Robinson was given the ball by Matt Perry with just Chris Latham to beat, and the league convert rounded his man for the opening try of the game.
Shortly before half-time Brian O'Driscoll broke the defence off a scrum, and passed to Robinson who found Dafydd James on the right for the second try of the game. Up 12-3 at half-time, the Lions were well poised but didn't yet have the game sealed.
Immediately off the kick-off in the second half, they did. The ball was worked up the left before O'Driscoll received it in midfield, ghosted through the midfield and scored one of the great Lions tries of all time as the visitors recorded a 29-13 victory.
Australia ultimately won the series 2-1, but the sight of the Irish great dancing through the Wallaby defence lives on in every Lions fan's memories.
2005 - Masterful Carter
The 2005 Lions tour was the first series of the professional era in which the men from the northern hemisphere weren't facing the world champions.
However the All Blacks were the top-ranked team in the world, and played just like it. The first Test was a 21-3 victory in Christchurch, but it was the second Test - the series-deciding Test - that stood out, and solely for the performance of their fly-half.
Dan Carter pulled all the strings in Wellington, scoring two tries, five penalties and four conversions for a 33-point haul that sunk Sir Clive's Lions.
It was the easiest man-of-the-match award Stuart Barnes has ever handed out, saying: "I've been involved in this game for thirty-odd years, and I don't remember a more complete performance from a fly-half than this from Daniel Carter."
2009 - Steyn and O'Gara, the highs and the lows
In the 2009 series the Lions were once again facing the world champions, this time a Springbok side led by John Smit who had been move from hooker to tighthead prop to accommodate a rising star in Bismarck du Plessis.
Smit opened the scoring in the first Test in Durban, a game in which the Boks were in charge for the majority of the match before they were forced to scramble to secure the win after late tries from Tom Croft and Mike Phillips.
Starting at fly-half for Pieter de Villiers' side during the series was Ruan Pienaar, with the scrum-half asked to plug a gap in the No 10 jersey. On the bench was a Bulls player by the name of Morne Steyn, who made his Springbok debut in the Durban Test, and wrote his name in the history books a week later in front of his home fans in Pretoria.
In the second Test it was the Lions who started well before the Boks surged back, and it was replacement Ronan O'Gara who felt the full force of the fightback as Jaque Fourie bulldozed through him for a try that handed the hosts the lead with little time remaining.
Stephen Jones then levelled things with a penalty before O'Gara put in a high kick with seconds left on the clock and in chasing it clattered into Fourie du Preez in the air.
O'Gara was penalised and Steyn, in his second Test for the Boks, called for the kicking tee to send the attempt over for a thrilling end to a hard-fought series.
2013 - Folau on the North train
The 2013 was another closely fought affair, with Kurtley Beale given a chance to seal a first-Test victory with a shot at goal in the 80th minute, only for him to slip and leave the attempt short.
The tour then headed to Melbourne where the Lions fell to a narrow 16-15 defeat, setting up a winner-takes-all decider, however it was George North that set tongues wagging as he continued his battle with Australian star Israel Folau.
The cross-code international outscored his Welsh counterpart two tries to one in Sydney but it was North that had the final word in the second test.
Their head-to-head took centre stage midway through the second half, when after collecting a between-the-legs pass from O'Driscoll, the Lions winger scooped up his 6 foot 4, 16 stone opponent and marched him back towards the try-line in a statement of intent.
The moment may not have been a match-defining moment as the Lions fell victim to a last-minute penalty miss of their own, but it showed that the Lions would not take a backward step, and were not giving up on their hopes of a long-awaited series victory.
