The British and Irish Lions toured New Zealand during June and July 2017. The British and Irish Lions played 10 rugby union matches: matches against all five New Zealand Super Rugby franchises, the NZ Provincial Barbarians, the M?ori All Blacks and three test matches against New Zealand.
The test series was tied 1-1 - one victory to each side and a draw in the final match. Of the other tour matches, the Lions won four, lost two and drew one. The members of the Lions squad voted Jonathan Davies as their player of the series.
The British and Irish Lions are a composite team selected from players who are eligible to represent the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland or Wales. The Lions first toured New Zealand in 1888, but did not play against the New Zealand national team until 1904. Since then, they have won only one test series against the All Blacks - in 1971. The side undertakes tours every four years and last played in New Zealand in 2005 when they had lost the test series 3-0.
Wales coach Warren Gatland was retained as head coach, having led the Lions to victory in the 2013 series against Australia. Former Wales captain Sam Warburton was appointed as tour captain, a role he had also held in the 2013 Lions tour of Australia.
Maps, Directions, and Place Reviews
Schedule
The ten-match schedule was announced on 9 July 2015, and included matches against New Zealand Super Rugby teams for the first time. Previously in New Zealand, the Lions had played provincial sides or combined provincial selections. However this was the first tour to New Zealand where the visit fell in the middle of the Super Rugby season.
Initially, the Lions proposed a match in the United States against the U.S. national team to open the tour, much like the Barbarians match in Hong Kong in 2013. However, on 6 July 2015, the idea was dropped because of the unavailability of key American players due to club commitments. Also, a match versus the Pacific Islanders was proposed in 2014. The opening match of the tour was originally planned to be against a Provincial Union XV; however, in March 2016, this was changed to the New Zealand Barbarians following their win over the M?ori All Blacks.
In New Zealand, there was criticism that there were too many matches in the North Island with only two matches being played in the South Island. Christchurch was initially planned to host a test match but, due to the 2011 Christchurch earthquake which damaged Lancaster Park beyond repair, it was deemed that the remaining stadiums in the South Island were too small to host a test match.
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Squads
Lions
Tour manager John Spencer announced an initial squad of 41 on 19 April 2017, made up of 16 players from England, 12 from Wales, 11 from Ireland and 2 from Scotland. Player positions are per the official website.
Ben Youngs was initially selected in the squad but withdrew on 6 May due to personal reasons.
Billy Vunipola withdrew from the squad on 21 May after suffering a shoulder injury while playing for his club Saracens.
On 17 June, six players - Kristian Dacey, Gareth Davies, Allan Dell, Tomas Francis, Cory Hill and Finn Russell - were called up to the squad to provide cover during mid-week games in their respective positions ahead of the test series.
On 17 June, Ross Moriarty was ruled out of the remaining games on tour after failing to recover from an injury sustained against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians.
On 29 June, Robbie Henshaw and George North were ruled out of the remaining games on tour after sustaining injuries against the Hurricanes.
Jared Payne, initially still in contention for test match selection, was ruled out of the final game on tour after he failed to recover from concussion.
Notes: Ages listed are as of the first tour match on 3 June. Bold denotes that the player was selected for a previous Lions squad. Italic denotes a player that withdrew from the squad following selection.
Management and staff
On 30 July 2014, former English international player John Spencer was named tour manager.
On 7 September 2016, Warren Gatland retained his coaching duties from 2013 and named his assistants on 7 December 2016. Steve Borthwick, Andy Farrell and Rob Howley were named as Gatland's assistants, with this being Howley's fifth tour having both toured as a player (1997 & 2001) and coach (2009 & 2013). Borthwick was making first tour as a Lions coach, Farrell was on his second after being part of the 2013 tour coaching staff.
New Zealand
New Zealand's 33-man squad for their Pasifika Challenge match against Samoa and their 3-test series against the British and Irish Lions.
Liam Coltman, Vaea Fifita, Jack Goodhue, Akira Ioane and Matt Todd were also named in the squad as injury cover.
Following concussion to Ben Smith in the first test, Damian McKenzie was added to the squad as cover for Ben Smith.
On 3 July, Malakai Fekitoa was called up as a replacement for Sonny Bill Williams who was suspended after a red card in the second test.
All squad members play rugby in New Zealand.
Coaching team:
- Head coach: Steve Hansen
- Attack coach: Ian Foster
- Forwards coach: Mike Cron
- Defence coach: Wayne Smith
Note: Ages, caps and clubs as per first test match, 24 June 2017.
Matches
Provincial games
In preparation for the test series, the Lions played a series of warm-up matches against New Zealand provincial teams; for the first time, this included playing all five of the New Zealand Super Rugby franchises. The current form of the Super Rugby teams made this tour arguably one of the toughest undertaken by a British and Irish Lions team.
The Lions arrived in New Zealand just two days before their first match against a Provincial Barbarians team. The Barbarian team was made up of players on the fringe of New Zealand Super Rugby teams, and included Bryn Gatland, son of Lions coach Warren Gatland. Surprisingly the Barbarians led 7-3 at half time, before Anthony Watson scored for the visitors to give them the lead with 30 minutes to go. They held on to open the tour with an unconvincing 13-7 victory.
The next match was four days later against the Blues, an Auckland-based Super Rugby franchise. The Lions led 16-15 with 10 minutes remaining before a Sonny Bill Williams break and offload to Ihaia West led to the match-winning try. A try-less 12-3 victory over the Crusaders in Christchurch followed, this was the first time the Crusaders had lost in 2017. It was another close game against the Highlanders as Marty Banks from the Otago-based side kicked the winning penalty with six minutes remaining.
The next match was against the M?ori All Blacks, a team made up of players with Maori ancestry. A strong squad was named, with nine players with All Black caps selected. The Lions beat the Maori team with ease in what was predicted to be the toughest match before meeting the All Blacks. The convincing 32-10 victory was followed up three days later as they put another dominant display in against the Chiefs in Hamilton, winning 34-6. The final mid-week game against the Hurricanes was played after the first All Black test match. The Hurricanes came from behind to secure a 31-31 draw in Wellington.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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