GATLAND'S HEROES

THE LIONS' LAST VISIT TO AUSTRALIA IN 2013 WAS AN EPIC ADVENTURE. WE RECALL HOW THEY CAME OUT ON TOP

- ALAN PEAREY

DURING THE 2013 British & Irish Lions tour of Australia, scrum-half Mike Phillips was asked by an air stewardess: “Are you business class or first class?”

“I’m world class,” replied the Welshman.

The tour itself, stretching from the stickiness of Hong Kong to the sizzle of Sydney, could be bracketed in the same terms. The bare facts are that the Lions won a Test series for the first time in 16 years, only their second success in the pro era, and eight of their ten tour matches all told. But the kaleidoscopic events along the way leave an imperishable mark in the Lions’ rich history.

The tour was shaped significantly by events 11 weeks before the opening match. Super Saturday in the Six Nations saw Wales crush England’s Grand Slam hopes, by 30-3, win back-to-back titles and provide justification for Lions boss Warren Gatland to pick almost all of the players he was used to working with in his other job as head coach of Wales. Ten Welshmen were to start the third Test, matching the country’s record from the first Test in 1950.

The second foreigner to lead the Lions after fellow New Zealander Graham Henry, Gatland almost didn’t make the tour after a nasty accident the year before. He fell from a ladder whilst cleaning windows and broke both his legs. Once the plaster had come off, interestingly he chose Andy Farrell as defence coach over his trusted lieutenant Shaun Edwards, to upskill himself and add diversity to the management team.

Gatland had been an assistant on the losing 2009 tour and learned lessons around continuity in selection and giving space to players to do their own thing.