The 2001 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia was a series of matches played by the British Lions rugby union team in Australia.
This tour followed the Lions' 1997 tour to South Africa and preceded the 2005 tour to New Zealand.
The team was captained by Martin Johnson, who became the first and so far only man to lead the British Lions, or British and Irish Lions, on two tours. The 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 a controversial newspaper column.
Read more about 2001 British And Irish Lions Tour To Australia: Squad, Results
Famous quotes containing the words british, irish, lions, tour and/or australia:
“A girl? Hey, that’s better in a way. A boy needs more from a father.”
—Margaret Forster, British screenwriter, Peter Nichols, and Silvio Narizzano. Jos (Alan Bates)
“The Irish are often nervous about having the appropriate face for the occasion. They have to be happy at weddings, which is a strain, so they get depressed; they have to be sad at funerals, which is easy, so they get happy.”
—Peggy Noonan (b. 1950)
“Sure, you can love your child when he or she has just brought home a report card with straight “A’s.” It’s a lot harder, though, to show the same love when teachers call you from school to tell you that your child hasn’t handed in any homework since the beginning of the term.”
—The Lions Clubs International and the Quest Nation. The Surprising Years, II, ch.3 (1985)
“Left Washington, September 6, on a tour through Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia, and Virginia.... Absent nineteen days. Received every where heartily. The country is again one and united! I am very happy to be able to feel that the course taken has turned out so well.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“It is very considerably smaller than Australia and British Somaliland put together. As things stand at present there is nothing much the Texans can do about this, and ... they are inclined to shy away from the subject in ordinary conversation, muttering defensively about the size of oranges.”
—Alex Atkinson, British humor writer. repr. In Present Laughter, ed. Alan Coren (1982)