2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia

2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia
2001 tour badge
Date	8 June  – 14 July
Coach(es)	Graham Henry
Tour captain(s)	Martin Johnson
Test series winners	Australia (2–1)
Top test point scorer(s)	Jonny Wilkinson (36)
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2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia
Summary	P W D L
Total	10 07 00 03
Test match	03 01 00 02
Opponent	P W D L
Australia	3 1 0 2

The 2001 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia was a series of matches played by the British & Irish Lions rugby union team in Australia.

The Lions squad was captained by Martin Johnson, the first player to lead the Lions on two tours. The head coach was New Zealander Graham Henry. After winning the first of their matches against Australia, the Lions lost the remaining two matches of the test series. This was the first time that Australia defeated the Lions in a series. The tour was noted for tension between the test squad and the midweek squad as well as controversial newspaper columns written by scrum-halves Matt Dawson and Austin Healey, accusing the coaching staff of poor scheduling and training regimes and lack of team spirit.

Squad[]

Name	Position	Club	Home Nation	Notes
Iain Balshaw	Full-back	Bath	England
Matt Perry	Full-back	Bath	England
Ben Cohen	Wing	Northampton Saints	England
Dafydd James	Wing	Llanelli	Wales
Dan Luger	Wing	Saracens	England
Jason Robinson	Wing	Sale Sharks	England
Tyrone Howe	Wing	Ulster	Ireland	Injury replacement for Dan Luger
Mike Catt	Centre	Bath	England
Will Greenwood	Centre	Harlequins	England
Rob Henderson	Centre	London Wasps	Ireland
Brian O'Driscoll	Centre	Leinster	Ireland
Mark Taylor	Centre	Swansea	Wales
Scott Gibbs	Centre	Swansea	Wales	Injury replacement for Mike Catt
Neil Jenkins	Fly-half	Cardiff	Wales
Ronan O'Gara	Fly-half	Munster	Ireland
Jonny Wilkinson	Fly-half	Newcastle Falcons	England
Matt Dawson	Scrum-half	Northampton Saints	England
Austin Healey	Scrum-half	Leicester Tigers	England
Rob Howley	Scrum-half	Cardiff	Wales
Andy Nicol	Scrum-half	Glasgow	Scotland	Injury replacement for Rob Howley
Jason Leonard	Prop	Harlequins	England
Darren Morris	Prop	Swansea	Wales
Tom Smith	Prop	Brive	Scotland
Phil Vickery	Prop	Gloucester	England
Dai Young	Prop	Cardiff	Wales
Phil Greening	Hooker	London Wasps	England
Robin McBryde	Hooker	Llanelli	Wales
Keith Wood	Hooker	Harlequins	Ireland
Mark Regan	Hooker	Bristol	England
Gordon Bulloch	Hooker	Glasgow	Scotland	Injury replacement for Phil Greening;
Dorian West	Hooker	Leicester Tigers	England	Called up as back-up after a number of injuries to the squad
Jeremy Davidson	Lock	Castres	Ireland
Danny Grewcock	Lock	Saracens	England
Martin Johnson (c)	Lock	Leicester Tigers	England
Scott Murray	Lock	Saracens	Scotland
Malcolm O'Kelly	Lock	St Mary's College	Ireland
Neil Back	Back row	Leicester Tigers	England
Colin Charvis	Back row	Swansea	Wales
Lawrence Dallaglio	Back row	London Wasps	England
Richard Hill	Back row	Saracens	England
Scott Quinnell	Back row	Llanelli	Wales
Simon Taylor	Back row	Edinburgh	Scotland
Martyn Williams	Back row	Cardiff	Wales
Martin Corry	Back row	Leicester Tigers	England	Injury replacement for Simon Taylor
David Wallace	Back row	Munster	Ireland	Injury replacement for Lawrence Dallaglio

Results[]

Tests[]

First Test[]

Jason Robinson scored the first try of the match, putting the Lions up 5–0. Andrew Walker successfully kicked a penalty goal for Australia's first points. The Lions scored through Dafydd James, which was converted by Wilkinson. The score at half-time was 12–3.

Brian O'Driscoll scored for the Lions in the second half. Wilkinson converted the try before kicking a penalty goal to make the score 22–3. Scott Quinnell then scored for the Lions, with Wilkinson converting. Walker then scored a try for Australia. The Lions won the first Test.

30 June 2001 19:00

Australia	13–29	British & Irish Lions
Try: Grey Walker Pen: Walker	Report	Try: Robinson James O'Driscoll Quinnell Con: Wilkinson (3) Pen: Wilkinson

The Gabba, Brisbane Attendance: 37,460

Teams[]

Lions: Perry (Balshaw h-t); James, O'Driscoll, Henderson, Robinson; Wilkinson, Howley; T Smith (Leonard 74), Wood, Vickery, Johnson (capt), Grewcock, Corry, Hill, Quinnell (Charvis 61).

Australia: Latham (Burke h-t); Walker, Herbert, Grey, Roff; Larkham (Flatley 52), Gregan; Stiles, Paul (Foley 52), Panoho (Darwin 61), Giffin, Eales (capt; Cockbain 61), Finegan (Lyons 72), G Smith, Kefu.

Referee: A Watson (South Africa)^[1]

Second Test[]

The second test was played at Colonial Stadium in Melbourne. Wilkinson was successful with two penalty goals, giving the Lions a 6–0 lead. Burke then kicked a penalty goal for Australia. Neil Back scored the first try of the match, giving the Lions an 11–3 lead over Australia. Burke kicked another penalty goal to make the score 11–6 to the Lions.

Joe Roff scored a try for Australia in the second half, making the score 11–11. Burke kicked a penalty goal to give Australia the lead. The score became 21–11 when Roff scored his second try. Wilkinson then kicked a penalty goal to make it 21–14. Burke then scored a try for Australia, making it 29–14. Burke kicked another two penalty goals. Australia won the second Test.

7 July 2001 19:00

Australia	35–14	British & Irish Lions
Try: Roff (2) Burke Con: Burke Pen: Burke (6)	Report	Try: Back Pen: Wilkinson (3)

Colonial Stadium, Melbourne Attendance: 56,605

Teams[]

British Lions: Perry, James, O'Driscoll, Henderson, Robinson, Wilkinson, Howley, Smith, Wood, Vickery, Johnson, Grewcock, Hill, Back, Quinnell. Replacements: Leonard, West, Corry, Williams, Dawson, Jenkins, Balshaw.

Australia: Burke, Walker, Herbert, Grey, Roff, Larkham, Gregan, Stiles, Foley, Moore, Giffin, Eales, Finegan, G. Smith, Kefu. Replacements: Cannon, Darwin, Cockbain, Lyons, Whitaker, Flatley, Latham.

Referee: Jonathan Kaplan (South Africa) ^[2]

Third Test[]

With the Lions winning the opening test, and Australia coming back to win the second, the third game at Stadium Australia in Sydney was the decider and was refereed by New Zealander Paddy O'Brien. The scoring began in the third minute with a penalty to Australia – Burke was successful with the penalty goal, taking Australia to a 3–0 lead. Wilkinson, who was under an injury cloud leading up to the match, levelled the scores in the fifth minute with a successful penalty goal. Burke then landed another penalty goal for Australia. Four minutes later, Burke kicked another penalty goal, giving Australia a 9–3 lead. Robinson scored the first try of the match, which was converted by Wilkinson, giving the Lions a 10–9 lead. Daniel Herbert scored Australia's first try which was converted by Burke, giving Australia a 16–10 lead. Wilkinson was successful with a penalty goal that made the score 16–13.

The Lions took the lead in the second half, with Wilkinson crossing the line to score a try and then converting it, giving the Lions a 20–16 lead. Herbert scored his second try in the 49th minute, Burke converted, giving Australia a 23–20 lead. Wilkinson kicked a penalty goal, levelling scores at 23–23. Burke was successful with a subsequent penalty goal five minutes after. Burke kicked another in the 76th minute, to make the score 29–23.

14 July 2001 19:00

Australia	29–23	British & Irish Lions
Try: Herbert (2) Con: Burke (2) Pen: Burke (5)	Report	Try: Robinson Wilkinson Con: Wilkinson (2) Pen: Wilkinson (3)

Stadium Australia, Sydney Attendance: 84,188

Television coverage[]

In Australia, Seven Network and Fox Sports jointly televised the British & Irish Lions matches. In the United Kingdom and Ireland, matches were shown on Sky Sports.

References[]

External links[]

• Australia 2001 on lionsrugby.com – official website
• Australia 2001 on lions-tour.com