The 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia was a

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

tour during June and July 2013. The

British & Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

played ten matches - a three-

test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

series against Australia, and matches against the five Australian Super Rugby sides, a

Combined New South Wales–Queensland Country Combined Country is an Australian rugby union team that was formed for the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia. Unlike the 2001 tour, the Lions faced a combined team made up of players representing the Queensland Country and New South ...

team, and a match en route to Australia against the

Barbarians A barbarian (or savage) is someone who is perceived to be either uncivilized or primitive. The designation is usually applied as a generalization based on a popular stereotype; barbarians can be members of any nation judged by some to be les ...

. The Lions won the test series 2–1. The first test was won by the Lions 23–21, the second by Australia 16–15, and the final test by the Lions 41–16. The victory was the Lions' first test series win since defeating

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

in 1997. Aside from the second test, the Lions' only loss was 14–12 to the

Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the brumby, feral horses whi ...

in Canberra.

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

head coach

Warren Gatland Warren David Gatland (born 17 September 1963) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player who is currently in his second spell as the head coach of the Wales national team. As head coach of Wales from 2007 to 2019, he won four Six N ...

was the Lions' head coach, and their tour captain was Sam Warburton.

Schedule

Ahead of the tour of Australia, the Lions played the

in Hong Kong on 1 June to mark the 125th anniversary of the first Lions tour. They then played the five Australian Super Rugby teams, a Combined Country team and three tests in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and Sydney. Notes: Bold denotes the winner of each match.

Test series

The Lions won the best-of-three

series 2–1, after a convincing victory in the deciding third test followed narrow victories for both teams in the preceding two matches. The teams competed for the Tom Richards Cup, which was first presented in 2001, the last time the Lions toured the country. Australia won the 2001 test series 2–1. Before the start of the 2013 series, the Lions had won 15 of their 20 tests against Australia dating back to 1899.

First test

The Lions won the first test 23–21. Australia's

Christian Lealiifano Christian Leali'ifano (born 24 September 1987), is an Australian professional rugby player. He is of Samoan heritage, and his surname is spelled Leali'ifano when using Samoan diacritics. He currently plays for Moana Pasifika in the Super Rugb ...

, making his debut, had to be replaced after just 52 seconds when he was knocked out attempting to tackle Jonathan Davies. Australia recovered from that setback to score the opening try,

Israel Folau Israel Folau ( to, ‘Isileli Folau; born 3 April 1989) is an Australian professional rugby union footballer who plays for the Shining Arcs in the Japan Rugby League One and the Tonga national rugby union team. He has previously played Aust ...

scoring on his debut with a sprint to the line after a chip through by scrum-half

Will Genia Sanchez William Genia (born 17 January 1988) is a professional rugby union player, currently playing scrum-half for the Kintetsu Liners in Japan. He had previously played Super Rugby for the Queensland Reds (2007–2015) and Melbourne Rebel ...

George North George Philip North (born 13 April 1992) is a Welsh professional rugby union player who plays for the Ospreys in the United Rugby Championship and the Wales national team. He has also represented the British & Irish Lions and currently has th ...

then added to a

Leigh Halfpenny Stephen Leigh Halfpenny (born 22 December 1988) is a Welsh rugby union player who plays as a fullback or wing for the Scarlets, Wales and the British & Irish Lions. Halfpenny is the third highest points scorer for Wales after Neil Jenkins and ...

penalty with a try of his own, evading Pat McCabe and James O'Connor on his way to the line. He might have had a second a few minutes later, but the television match official deemed him to have been in touch before grounding the ball, meaning that the Lions had to settle for another penalty. Instead it was Folau who picked up a second try, beating

Johnny Sexton Jonathan Jeremiah Sexton (born 11 July 1985) is an Irish rugby union player who plays as a fly-half for Leinster Rugby and Ireland, and he also captains both teams. He represented the British & Irish Lions in both 2013 and 2017 and has scored o ...

and Halfpenny to cut the Lions' lead to a single point at half-time. After two more Australian backs – Berrick Barnes and McCabe – suffered injuries, Michael Hooper had to move into the centres, and Liam Gill took his place in the back row. The Lions took advantage of Hooper's unfamiliar position and Alex Cuthbert scored under the posts. An exchange of penalties left Australia within two points of the Lions going into the last five minutes.

Kurtley Beale Kurtley James Beale (born 6 January 1989) is an Australian professional rugby union representative player who has made over 90 national representative appearances in a ten-year playing career at the world-class level. He is of Aboriginal desce ...

had two late penalty opportunities for Australia, but missed twice, slipping as he made his second attempt with the last kick of the game.

Second test

Australia won a close game. Leigh Halfpenny's penalty kicking gave the Lions the lead, but the Wallabies scored the only try of the game through Adam Ashley-Cooper in the 74th minute, eventually winning 16–15. In the last minute of the game, a Leigh Halfpenny penalty kick that would have won the game for the Lions dropped short of the posts, meaning that the series would be decided by the final test.

Third test

The Lions made six changes to their starting team. Tour captain Sam Warburton and 2009 captain Paul O'Connell were both injured. Pre-game controversy focused on the decision of the Lions coaches to drop experienced centre Brian O'Driscoll, who had been widely expected to take over the captaincy, in favour of the Welsh combination of Jamie Roberts and Jonathan Davies. The Lions' starting team included 10 Welshmen in all. Australia were unchanged except for the selection of George Smith, returning from international retirement, at openside flanker. Australia gave away possession at the kick-off, and Alex Corbisiero scored an early try for the Lions. The Lions extended this lead through four penalties from Leigh Halfpenny. The Wallabies conceded several penalties, as well as a sin-binning, at the scrum, although in the period either side of half-time, they recovered to trail only 19–16. The Lions, however, scored three further tries to win 41–16, thus recording the most points by a Lions side in a test match.

Squads

Lions

Tour manager Andy Irvine announced an initial squad of 37 on 30 April 2013, made up of 15 players from

, 10 from

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, nine from

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

and three from

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

' Sam Warburton was named captain; at the age of 24, he was the youngest man to lead the Lions. Warburton was captain of Wales during their Six Nations Grand Slam in 2012, and during the 2011 World Cup, where they finished fourth. Previous Lions captains

Paul O'Connell Paul Jeremiah O'Connell (born 20 October 1979) is an Irish former rugby union player and coach. When he stopped playing, he was Ireland's third most-capped player (108) and the eighteenth most-capped international player in rugby union histo ...

(from 2009) and

Brian O'Driscoll Brian Gerard O'Driscoll (born 21 January 1979) is an Irish former professional rugby union player. He played at outside centre for the Irish provincial team Leinster and for Ireland. He captained Ireland from 2003 until 2012, and captained the ...

(2005) were also chosen.

Dylan Hartley Dylan Hartley (born 24 March 1986) is a former England Rugby captain who represented England and Northampton Saints. Hartley was the captain of England from January 2016 until the end of his international career in 2019. He is England's most ca ...

was initially selected but was removed from the squad before the squad departed, after being suspended for 11 weeks for abusing a referee.

Rory Best Rory David Best (born 15 August 1982) is an Irish former rugby union player from Northern Ireland and was the captain of the Ireland national team from 2016 to 2019. He played hooker for Ulster and was registered for Banbridge RFC, having pr ...

replaced Hartley later that day, meaning that the squad that set off to Hong Kong on 27 May consisted of 15 Welsh, 10 Irish, nine English and three Scottish players.

Alex Corbisiero Alex is a given name. It can refer to a shortened version of Alexander, Alexandra, Alexis. People Multiple *Alex Brown (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Gordon (disambiguation), multiple people *Alex Harris (disambiguation), multiple peo ...

was called up to the squad to replace

Cian Healy Cian Healy (born 7 October 1987) is an Irish rugby union rugby player. He plays for Leinster, and has also won over 100 caps for the Ireland national team. He was named as part of the Lions squad for the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Austra ...

, who suffered ankle ligament damage in the match against the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competition in 2017. F ...

, while Ryan Grant was called up to replace the injured

Gethin Jenkins Gethin Jenkins (born 17 November 1980) is a Welsh former rugby union player. He won 129 international caps for Wales and five for the British & Irish Lions. Jenkins was the record cap holder for Wales until he was overtaken by Alun Wyn Jones o ...

Tommy Bowe Thomas John Bowe (born 22 February 1984) is an Irish former rugby union player from County Monaghan, Ireland. He played on the wing for Ulster, Ireland and the British & Irish Lions. In March 2012, after four years with Ospreys in Swansea, Wal ...

broke his hand against the

Queensland Reds The Queensland Reds is the rugby union team for the Australian state of Queensland that competes in the Southern Hemisphere's Super Rugby competition. Prior to 1996, they were a representative team selected from the rugby union club competitions ...

, and

Simon Zebo Simon Zebo (born 16 March 1990) is an Irish rugby union player for United Rugby Championship and Champions Cup side Munster. He is equally adept as a wing or fullback, having played in both positions often for Ireland, Munster and Racing 92 ...

was brought into the squad. England's Brad Barritt, Christian Wade and

Billy Twelvetrees William Wesley Twelvetrees (born 15 November 1988) is a rugby union footballer who currently plays centre or fly-half for Gloucester Rugby and formerly played as inside centre for the England national rugby team. Whilst playing for the Leic ...

were called in to provide further cover for the backs. Gatland made a surprise selection on 16 June, calling up former Wales wing

Shane Williams Shane Mark Williams, (born 26 February 1977) is a Welsh rugby union player most famous for his long and successful tenure as a wing for the Ospreys and the Wales national team. He also played scrum-half on occasion. Williams is the record tr ...

for the game against the Brumbies. Williams, playing club rugby in Japan, was already due to travel to Australia as a radio commentator, and was brought into the squad for only three days. Ireland prop

Tom Court Tom Court (born 6 November 1980) is an Australian-born former rugby union footballer. He most recently played for London Irish as a loosehead prop. He primarily played at tighthead in his early career at Ulster but switched to loosehead in the ...

was called up on 23 June before the final mid-week fixture against Melbourne Rebels, allowing Mako Vunipola to miss that match. Alex Corbisiero had injured his calf in the first test, so the Lions faced a shortage of props. Court was already in Australia visiting his home town of Brisbane. O'Connell and Warburton were injured in the first and second tests respectively, ruling them out of playing in any more games in the tour. Notes: Ages listed are as of the first tour match on 1 June. Bold denotes that the player was selected for a previous Lions squad.

Management and staff

Andy Irvine is the Lions' tour manager, having succeeded

Gerald Davies Thomas Gerald Reames Davies CBE DL (born 7 February 1945 in Llansaint) is a Welsh former rugby union wing who played international rugby for Wales between 1966 and 1978. He is one of a small group of Welsh players to have won three Grand Sla ...

, who became Lions chairman. Although Irvine originally stated that it was unlikely that a current coach of one of the Home unions would be appointed to coach the Lions, New Zealander

was offered the role in March 2012 with the Welsh Rugby Union's support, before being confirmed in September 2012. Gatland promised impartial selection and said he believed that

Graham Henry Sir Graham William Henry (born 8 June 1946) is a New Zealand rugby union coach, and former head coach of the country's national team, the All Blacks. Nicknamed 'Ted', he led New Zealand to win the 2011 World Cup. Henry played rugby union for ...

in 2001 picked too many Welsh players who were not good enough to go on the tour. Gatland signed a 10-month contract with the Lions, taking a sabbatical from coaching Wales, although he would coach his Welsh team against Australia and New Zealand in autumn 2012.

Australia

Australia head coach

Robbie Deans Robert Maxwell Deans (born 4 September 1959) is a New Zealand rugby union coach and former player, currently the head coach of Japanese club Panasonic Wild Knights. He was head coach of the Australian national team between 2008 and 2013. Deans h ...

selected a 31-man squad for the test series against the Lions, to be captained by

James Horwill James Horwill (born 29 May 1985) is an Australian former rugby union player, who has played for the Australian national side, with 61 caps to his name. He captained the Wallabies a number of times, including during the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Hor ...

. Luke Morahan was added to the squad following an injury

Joe Tomane Joseph Malaki Tomane (born 11 February 1990) is an Australian professional rugby union footballer. He played inside centre for Leinster in the first game of the 18/19 Pro14, and formerly played for the Brumbies in the Super Rugby competition. ...

sustained in training. Following the first test, George Smith,

Jesse Mogg Jesse Mogg (born 8 June 1989) is an Australian rugby union player who plays for the French Top 14 club Montpellier. His usual position is at full-back, though he can also play as a winger. Mogg previously played four seasons with the Brumbies ...

and Ben Tapuai were called up to the squad.

Match details

;First test

;Second test

;Third test

Attendances

The tour drew record attendances to several of the 10 matches. The Lions opened the tour in front of 28,643 for a game against the

at the

Hong Kong Stadium Hong Kong Stadium is the main sports venue of Hong Kong. Redeveloped from the old Government Stadium, it reopened as Hong Kong Stadium in March 1994. It has a maximum seating capacity of 40,000, including 18,260 at the main level, 3,173 at exec ...

. Their first game in Australia attracted 35,103 to

Patersons Stadium Subiaco Oval (; nicknamed Subi) was a sports stadium in Perth, Western Australia, located in the suburb of Subiaco. It was opened in 1908 and closed in 2017 after the completion of the new Perth Stadium in Burswood. Subiaco Oval was the high ...

for their opening match in Australia against the

, while their next game against the

Suncorp Stadium Lang Park, also known as Brisbane Football Stadium, by the sponsored name Suncorp Stadium, and nicknamed: 'The Cauldron', is a multi-purpose stadium in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, located in the suburb of Milton. The current facility co ...

attracted a record Reds home attendance of 50,136. The game against the

ACT Brumbies The ACT Brumbies (known from 2005–2022 as simply the Brumbies) is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), The team competes in Super Rugby and named for the feral horses which inh ...

attracted 21,655 to

Canberra Stadium Canberra Stadium (GIO Stadium for commercial reasons) is a facility primarily used for rugby league and rugby union games, located adjacent to the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra, the capital of Australia. It is the largest sports ven ...

for the Lions first loss of the tour. Three days before the game against the Brumbies, 40,805 saw the Lions thrash the New South Wales Waratahs 47–17 at the Sydney Football Stadium. In the only tour game played after the test series had started, the Lions attracted a rugby union record crowd of 28,648 to AAMI Park where they defeated the

Melbourne Rebels The Melbourne Rebels is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Melbourne. They made their debut in SANZAR's Super Rugby tournament in 2011. They were the first privately owned professional rugby union team in Australia, until 2017 ...

35–0. The test series against Australia was even more successful and drew the record sporting attendance to each stadium used. The first test saw 52,499 at Suncorp Stadium, the second test drew 56,771 to Melbourne's

Etihad Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England, also known as the Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., with a domestic football capacity of 53,400, making it the 6th-largest ...

, while 83,704 attended the third and deciding test at the

ANZ Stadium ANZ may refer to: People * Anz (musician), a British DJ and electronic musician Banks * ANZ (bank), Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited, the fourth-largest bank in Australia ** ANZ Bank New Zealand, the largest bank in New Zealand * ...

in Sydney.

Broadcasting

Fox Sports Fox Sports is the brand name for a number of sports channels, broadcast divisions, programming, and other media around the world. The ''Fox Sports'' name has since been used for other sports media assets. These assets are held mainly by the F ...

and Network Ten televised the tour in Australia, and in the UK and Ireland the games were shown by

Sky Sports Sky Sports is a group of British subscription sports channels operated by the satellite pay television company Sky Group (a division of Comcast), and is the dominant subscription television sports brand in the United Kingdom and Ireland. It ...

. Talksport provided live UK radio commentary of all matches. Sky Sports NZL covered the tour in New Zealand and SuperSport in South Africa. In Europe,

Sky Italia Sky Italia S.r.l. is an Italian satellite television platform owned by the American media conglomerate Comcast. Sky Italia also broadcasts three national free-to-air television channels: TV8, Cielo and Sky TG24. As of 2018, following an ag ...

showed the tour in Italy, Vatican City and San Marino while

Canal+ Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flo ...

covered it in France, Andorra and Luxembourg. The tour was covered by

Setanta Sports Asia Setanta Sports Asia was an Asian pay television sports channel operating in the Asia Pacific region owned by Discovery Communications. It primarily airs the sports of rugby union and rugby league. Setanta Sports Asia was available on TV pl ...

across most of Asia and the Pacific Islands and

J Sports J Sports is a group of four sports satellite TV channels in Japan produced and broadcast by Jupiter Sports. They are owned by Coverage Football Soccer * FIFA ** National teams *** Men's: **** FIFA U-17 World Cup *** Women's : **** F ...

showed fixtures in Japan. Gulf DTH covered the Arabic countries in Asia.

ESPN Latin America ESPN Latin America (on-air as ESPN) is the Latin American division of ESPN Inc., and broadcasts sports-related programming for the region in Spanish. It was launched on 31 March 1989. Its programming is adapted to the likes of viewers, who tend ...

showed the tour in South America and

DirecTV DirecTV (trademarked as DIRECTV) is an American multichannel video programming distributor based in El Segundo, California. Originally launched on June 17, 1994, its primary service is a digital satellite service serving the United States. I ...

in America (on Channel 490) and Setanta Sports Canada in Canada.

References

External links

Official Site
{{DEFAULTSORT:British And Irish Lions tour to Australia

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

2012–13 in British rugby union 2012–13 in Irish rugby union 2013 in Australian rugby union 2013 rugby union tours