2005 Maori All Blacks v British and Irish Lions ‘flashback’
Today we look back at the historic 2005 tour that saw the Maori All Blacks take on the mighty British and Irish Lions. This is ahead of their ‘rematch’ under head coach Warren Gatland in 2017.
From wikipedia: “In 2005, the British and Irish Lions rugby union team toured New Zealand for the first time since 1993, playing seven matches against first and second division teams from the National Provincial Championship, one match against the New Zealand Maori team, and three test matches against New Zealand (the All Blacks). The Lions lost the test series 3-0, the first time in 22 years that they lost every test match on tour.
The team was managed by former England and Lions player Bill Beaumont, coached by former England coach Sir Clive Woodward, and originally captained by Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll. O’Driscoll suffered a controversial tour-ending injury two minutes into the first test, and Wales captain Gareth Thomas took over as captain for the final four games of the tour.
The poor test results of the 2005 Lions, despite having one of the most experienced playing squads and the largest management team of any Lions tour, led to criticism of Woodward, particularly his selection policy, and prompted commentators to question the future of the Lions.
This tour followed the Lions’ 2001 tour to Australia and preceded the 2009 tour to South Africa.
The Lions’ campaign involved a warm-up match against Argentina (which was retroactively awarded Test status by the International Rugby Board in March 2008) before the departure for New Zealand, three Tests against the All Blacks, and several tour matches, where the quality of the opposition was expected to be high. This proved to be the case against New Zealand Māori and Auckland, and most of the other tour matches were close for at least the first half. But the match against Manawatu (the Lions’ only opponent from the second division of New Zealand’s domestic league, the National Provincial Championship) was a one-sided affair, the Lions winning by a score of 109–6.”
The video at top of the page tells the story. One of the many that make every British and Irish Lions tour of New Zealand memorable. Especially, this 2005 Maori All Blacks classic.
