This Saturday’s ambition by the British and Irish Lions to beat the Wallabies in Sydney and complete a 3-0 Test series sweep had left Ian McGeechan recalling “an incredible request” made 28 years ago by the RFU when his Lions were looking to go 3-0 in South Africa.
Not since that 1997 trip have the Lions been in the situation currently occupied by Andy Farrell’s class of 2025 – 2-0 up in a Test series going into the final match.
McGeechan’s Lions came up short in their third encounter with the Springboks, and he has now recalled that final week of the tour in his latest Telegraph column.
Amongst the complications in trying to get the team prepared as best as possible for the series finale was having a midweek match to play.
“A week later they were starting for England…”
Another situation, one that McGeechan branded as representative of “some of the amateurish thinking” involving rugby at the time, was how the Lions series finale wasn’t the end of the season for a dozen England players he had with him at the time in South Africa.
Instead of being able to head off on their holidays with the Lions tour over, players such as Richard Hill and Lawrence Dallaglio had to jump on a plane to Sydney and pack down against the Wallabies the following weekend.
“Another issue that hovered in the background of the final week in South Africa was the fact that after the third Test, a good number of England players had to be on a plane on the Sunday morning to fly to Australia for a Test against the Wallabies,” McGeechan recalled.
Maro Itoje names ‘destructive’ area of improvement in ‘last chance’ Test
“An incredible request from the Rugby Football Union. That’s how amateurish some of the thinking was at the time. Our players had given everything in that Test series.
“Tim Stimpson, Nick Beal, John Bentley, Mike Catt, Matt Dawson, Graham Rowntree, Mark Regan, Nigel Redman, Simon Shaw, Richard Hill, Lawrence Dallaglio and Tim Rodber – all Lions and a week later they were starting for England in Sydney.”
Another example of the amateurish attitude that prevailed at the time concerned the player contracts originally offered to the players chosen by McGeehan before they travelled south to win the Test series 2-1.
“Interestingly, the bookmakers had strong odds on a 3-0 Test win for South Africa,” he remembered. “Amazingly, the initial contracts for the players said that they’d only get a bonus for winning all three Tests.
“Fran Cotton, the tour manager, managed to persuade the committee men that the challenge was to win the series and that was where the value was. The committee structures of rugby at that time still had an amateur viewpoint. Thankfully, Fran succeeded.”
Dwelling on the current tour, where the Lions clinched the series last Saturday at the MCG, McGeechan said: “I have exchanged a couple of texts with Andy Farrell this week. The dream lives on! What the Lions are, it just gets better…
“The tourists this week will aim for the first 3-0 whitewash of the professional era and are seeking to complete the first unbeaten tour on foreign soil since I was part of the playing squad in South Africa in 1974 – although, we did win 3-0 in a four-Test series – and the first Test clean sweep since 1927 in Argentina.
“Farrell and his coaches have made clear their ambition to go and win the series 3-0. They will not rest on their laurels with the series in the bag and, if achieved, it would be very special to this group of players and coaches.”
READ MORE: Michael Hooper reveals how Wallabies can avoid series whitewash against British & Irish Lions