THAT Tour that caused AN OUTCRY 😲 2005 Lions tour: Rugby's Forgotten Stories

[@callumbrown6010]

It's so cool to look back on this tour, some absolute legends on show!

[@cameronmani6277]

True💯

[@solomonenaleqwa2277]

2nd Test was the game that made Carter IMMORTAL..

[@hammerdogguprisingtangataw8528]

RIP JERRY COLLINS 😪😪😪

[@munz4413]

JC and Sione Lauaki 😢🖤

[@davsavchav]

The view on Carter's performance should be viewed no different to Simon Culhane's game against Japan, or Beauden's 30 point haul against Australia in 2018. It was a very badly coached Lions team with no gameplan. Carter didn't have the same impact in the Tri Nations games that followed, in fact the Springboks beat the ABs and the Springbok centres and pack completely shut him down. The Wallabies also dampened his attacking prowess in the game where he broke his leg. In Twickenham later that year, England majorly nerfed him as well, and probably could have won if a fit Wilkinson had been playing. In the 2007 quarter final, did Carter repeat these performances when they mattered? No. Carter was a prolific goalkicker and dexterous runner, but other than the goalkicking he wasn't really any different to your typical All Black back like Aaron Mauger or Caleb Ralph. Wilkinson, on the other hand, didn't have this strength, but had what Brian Moore dubbed, "Wilkinson steel", which was handling pressure better than DC at this time. In 2007, Wilkinson won the game for England against France in the same situations where Carter failed. Carter didn't really start to show improvement in this regard until after the All Blacks loss to the Springboks in Carisbrook, 2008.

[@huepix]

Crikey. I forget how good Dan Carter was. His poise, balance, speed, and intelligence.

[@samualloy]

Most best XVs of all time have Johnny W as their 10, yes he hardly misses splitting the posts but Carter was a better playmaker and better individual back than Johnny. Carter was dangerous from anywhere on the pitch, Mortlock used to be that for the Wallabies. I think Carter is the best 5/8 of all time.

[@Doughnut1984]

Strange watching the All Blacks without Justin Marshall bumping his gums about something, but there he is, wearing the number 9 as one of the best there has been! Had the pleasure of meeting him a few years ago while he was holidaying in my hometown of Laugharne, South Wales. What an absolute gent of a bloke, even signed my Ospreys jersey.

[@LazMan-w2g]

Great memories of the last true Lions Tour. They only play super rugby sides and a couple composite teams before the tests now, no more provincial teams. I was there for the Taranaki match, we gave em a fright that night. Remember watching the Maori game in Spotswood United Clubrooms, great memories.

[@Rotowhaka]

BOP was the opening match of the tour, at the Rotorua Stadium, after about 20 it looked as if the BOP. was in for a real hiding. BOP did come back and gave them a decent game

[@taraishot100]

That Māoris team Piri Weepu, Carlos Spencer, Leon McDonald, Rico Gear, Hosea Gear, Luke McKelister, Ross Filipo a few ex All blacks in that team I missed many more to definitely their best side of all time

[@ibomb6232]

How good was nz rugby back then man.

[@Damudean]

I keep forgetting how good Umaga was, it seems strange as every game I watched when he was playing. I was screaming U ah Umaga😂😂😂😂

[@Rotowhaka]

And he retired 2 years to early, with him the All Blacks would have been better equipped to handle the tight matches at the 2007 world cup

[@roalddahl1623]

Some people still think Jonny W is better than Dan Carter?

[@DunedinDealer]

I remember this tour, I thought it was strange that he played wilko at 12 and left hensen out who at the time was very very good, also he brough players out of retirement

[@robvanderkroft6515]

I remember watching these games live watching the lions get demolished and watching Dan carter break out and change the way new Zealand plays was a highlight for me as a kid

[@blackmettle]

That was a collective demolition of the BIL. ABs outplayed them every second.

[@roysenibici5815]

The pressure, physicality of the game, etc was just mouth watering to watch. And the physical contact rules now? 😅😅

[@bradysylvester4371]

The world is so different now

[@-NemoMeImpuneLacessit]

Some absolute legends on the field on both sides. This was the Kiwi side that always got away with bending the laws because they were so good at it. No sour grapes, when they decided to play within the laws they were still the best in the world by some distance, they just decided not to

[@joness044]

Time to move on mate

[@-NemoMeImpuneLacessit]

@joness044 forgiveness is for fools and priests

[@Holloweve]

It’s not tiddlywinks

[@-NemoMeImpuneLacessit]

@Holloweve the game has laws for a reason, if you cannot play within those rules then you have no business being on the field

[@Holloweve]

@@-NemoMeImpuneLacessit what are you actually talking about ? Who’s disagreeing about laws ? Do you need some help ?

[@Mike-vh3bd]

Why was no action taken against Mealamu and Umanga?

[@WellyCoaster]

@@Mike-vh3bd probably the same reason there was no action against Darcy spearing Tipoki

[@Mike-vh3bd]

@@WellyCoaster what was the reason for that then?

[@WellyCoaster]

@@Mike-vh3bd You need to ask the IRB

[@Mike-vh3bd]

@WellyCoaster that's the point of my comment. Rugby is supposed to be about fair play. Players don't expect to be assaulted when playing rugby and when they do the regulatory body is supposed to take disciplinary action against the perpetrators so that everyone can enjoy the game, which says it values include fair play.

[@notmyrealname7738]

The fact they blatantly did it off the ball abd were still no penalized made it worse

[@RLuke103]

Amazing what can happen in two years. England's RWC winning old guard was way too old for this tour, Woodward's coaching nosedive post-RWC just proved he was out of ideas. And this huge, bloated squad with the starting XV already chosen in his mind just killed the morale of the rest of the squad. The BIL needed a fresh coach and team to even stand a chance against this ABs side but unfortunately we were just fed to them by bad decision after bad decision.

[@mikegreen6698]

Blame Beaumont!

[@RatelHBadger]

The infamous 02 tour. 0 wins, 2 tries

[@ronnievanheerden8783]

Love to watch some really cool footy

[@sandorclegane3658]

R.I.P John Drake and Jerry Collins.

[@cbachinger]

Apart from odriscolls injury...which is sadly a part of rugby, what 'outcry' was there?

[@lunny2230]

Just amazing how much rugby has changed in less than 20 years. I think all of these games would have ended with less than a football teams worth of players on each side under modern laws and TMO pushed yellow/red cards..... 😂😂

[@seamus9750]

1997 is the best version of the Lion's to date !!

[@St_AngusYoung]

The 1971 & 1974 Lions would beg to differ.

[@apexit1]

Great watch. A v v good all black team here.

[@colinjones7741]

Those refs must have had crap in their eyes to see what the alblacks got away with.

[@nickgoulden6787]

Put the bloody time up please

[@andrewbiggins9404]

Nicely glossed over the spear tackle, clearly premeditated tactic to target O'Driscoll. Umaga complained in later years of the "stress" he was under after taking flack for his part. What a melt.

[@LJFN213]

It was shown repeatedly. It was unfortunate but likely an accident that was more Mealamus fault than Umagas and for all the huffing and puffing all BOD suffered was a dislocated shoulder. Did you see JWs WWE style high shot? Hb Paul O’Connells flying elbow? He also headbutted someone on the tour. But keep complaining about BOD.

[@JTAIT-b7g]

How do you know it was "clearly a premediated tactic"? There have been literally hundreds of spear tackles, clumsy clean-outs etc in test rugby, are they all premeditated tactics? What evidence do you have to support your accusation?

[@bryanlalor722]

Standard All Blacks. This was at a time where they wouldnt even be carded for decapitating people. Thankfully in modern years they are finally being reffed properly

[@cormacmonaghan2239]

I remember this well. We had Irish flatmates staying with us in NZ and they wouldn't stop talking about it. This was my view on it - 1) Nobody said it was too serious during the game. 2) At the end of the game my Irish flatmate's only comment was "oh well I guess the Lions were overhyped and overrated." 3) Nobody said anything about it during the post-match press conferece. 4) The first time it became an issue was on the Monday when Alastair Campbell got out his pointy stick and said "oooh this looks bad". They brought a spin doctor on tour with them, just in case they needed to distract people from the fact that the Lions were crap. It certainly worked.

[@andrewbiggins9404]

@cormacmonaghan2239 interesting perspective.

[@Olm9]

How come DC didnt play the third test?

[@Gallazz]

How'd Kevin get away with that 😂

[@nickcrosby9875]

Went to NZ to follow that tour. Huge disappointment. Was expecting gr8 things following Eng World Cup win. But truth was many of that Eng squad already ageing in ‘03 and by ‘05 just not there. Woodward picked on sentiment not form, Plus he failed to integrate Lions squad

[@rehanawebster4439]

Awesome

[@AlexKing-qn8ri]

A series of shame and infamy for New Zealand and the New Zealand people.

[@parkerhal]

That series was over when the Moari out muscled them. Apart from the soft try he got he made little impact in that game. Pretty rough for him I agree.

[@mikegreen6698]

No shame in New Zealand. Kia Kaha Aeotearoa

[@AlexKing-qn8ri]

@@mikegreen6698 That's because you're shameless

[@parkerhal]

@@AlexKing-qn8ri what actually is shameful is crying for 20 years.

[@icefarrow7959]

McCaw with a scrum cap does not look right 😅

[@xpat73]

An abysmal tour form the Lions. I watched the first test and after 15 minutes it was obvious that are forwards were seriously underpowered compared to the All Blacks. The All Blacks had a good team though and deserved their 3-0.

[@andyhunter5869]

What Tana says a 20:40 summed up the entire series

[@MeiA-h9r]

It’s still would’ve finished 3-0 mate😂😂😂 And BOD grass flick after the haka??? What goes around comes around

[@Olm9]

King Carlos as Maori ABs

[@fidget2020]

Sorry to say but our current crop of ABs can’t hold a candle to many of these 2005 boys….

[@adipnz]

well... the current crop just beat the world number 1 ranked team.... AND they didn't even have Dan Carter

[@joedennehy386]

I was at the maori game

[@roalddahl1623]

And ....

[@neilbe7118]

Brian odriscoll was the best player in the world at the time, the blacks seemed to do that on purpose, wish the players involved had owned up. however i dont think they needed to injure him as the lions were rubbish and the all blacks were brilliant all tests

[@taraishot100]

I’m Māori but I would like to see a New Zealand pakeha team with a 3 game series against the Maori how epic would that be

[@haydengoodall6767]

But literally every NZ citizen carries Pakeha and Maori heritage in their bloodline. ( excepting more recent migrants to the country of course).

[@sandorclegane3658]

​@@haydengoodall6767this couldn't be more wrong if you tried.

[@sidney8680]

This was the weakest lions team ever

[@hamishhunter2118]

The whitewash meted out by the All Blacks was magnificent. The whitwash of the O'Driscol incident remains a mark of shame on both the perpetrator and the disciplinary officials who chose to do nothing. If they had acted with any guts the indicent would probably have been forgotten.

[@redsidebiker]

They should have been banned sine-die as we say in Wales, as should any naysayer that says that it wasn't pre-empted. They had it in for him and the officials were paid off.

[@andrewgroom2924]

Lions werent good enough but im afraid a spear tackle by two on one is eactly that… i went on this tour and the spectacle was ruined by the ABs needless dark arts. Result wouldnt have been different but the tour more worthwhile…

[@donnysmith5242]

As usual dirty lions

[@liamwilliams6651]

O'Driscoll was purposely targeted, first test, first chance they got.

[@lastpenny849]

I spoke to Brian, and his Dad on the Wednesday and Thursday before the second test. Both were disappointed but considered it a heat of the moment incident. Btw, his Dad is a bloody hoot.

[@BBB-iv1uk]

No.Just a clean out by two players that didn’t know what the other was doing and it all went wrong.

[@huepix]

Ye. Footy is tough and these things happen. O'Driscoll is brilliant.

[@Doughnut1984]

Wrong place wrong time, I don't think he was specifically targeted, they would have f'd any other player in the same spot, just a case of go hard or go home

[@joness044]

Not another whinging Irishman surely? Sexton all over the news having a cry aswell now

[@galinor7]

Why do we obligatorily have to watch the hokey pokey before every New Zealand match? All countries have a culture, why is only their respected?

[@billb8210]

The problem is the team you support don't have that type of culture to give it a unique identity

[@MeiA-h9r]

OUTCRY = WHINGE

[@tvpc3194]

this is why nz want to get rid of reds

[@David-ud9ju]

Why were so many white guys playing for the Maori team? What's the criteria - like 1/16th Maori or something?

[@rugbymad-r1y]

O'Driscoll crying like a little b..... n.....

[@MeiA-h9r]

It’s still would’ve finished 3-0 😂😂😂 And BOD grass flick after the haka??? What goes around comes around Only the North can turn being whitewash into something else

[@zworm2]

Woodward such a poor self interested coach. O'Driscoll was simply a collision on the field int a harder man. Glad O'Connell grew a rugby brain!

[@martinroffey309]

What utter rubbish - I was there and saw the spear tackle off the ball .The All Blacks were the better team but don’t pretend that was legal please ..

[@spencergay8283]

Sick of Haka's and war dances in general. Any significance to them is a purely commercial interest these days. It's like when you play your favourite song too much.

[@Olm9]

Go rub one out then. There's a favourite song, you play too much, but never tire of..

[@westsideAUKILANI]

BOD cheeky grin and then his flicking of the grass in the air during the haka. He was alwayd going to get treated like a bag of rubbish and tossed out of where he dhould never have been