Every Lions tour is more than a little unfair in that the Lions never get to play at home. All their matches are on the road, and a long, long road it is.
When the Lions visit South Africa, they’re in for a 12-hour flight for a start. Then they roam the Republic playing at venues with vastly different atmospheric profiles, like sea-level Capetown and Jo’burg at 1,700 metres.
When they go to New Zealand, a 12-hour flight is just the first part. They spend two and a half hours on the ground in Singapore, then have to endure another nine-and-a-half hours to Auckland (Then they have to endure Auckland). But they get a break touring NZ as the country’s less than half the size of South Africa.
But playing a series in Australia’s a rugby ball breaker.
In a few weeks time, the Lions will fly to Hong Kong, 12-hours non-stop, and take on the latest edition of the Barbarians, June 1 – the Baa-Baas’ squad has been announced and is included below.
In Hong Kong the Lions will run smack into temperatures as high as 28 degrees and a humidity count of over 80%. Not nice.
A day later, they’re in the air again for another four hours, on the ground in Singapore for a plane change, then it’s an additional five and a half hours to Perth. Here they play the Force, June 5.
They fly clear across the country for their next match, against the Reds in Brisbane, June 8.
Three days later they’re in Newcastle, NSW, up against a NSW-Queensland Country team. Then they take on the Waratahs in Sydney on the 15th.
Three days after that they’re in Canberra facing the Brumbies.
Then back to Brisbane for the first Test on the 22nd, and down to Melbourne to play the Rebels three days later.
The second Test follows, in the same city, on the 29th. Finally, they trek back to Sydney for the third and last Test, July 6.
That’s a lot of airport time, flight time, road time, hotel time and pub time to cram into five weeks, and there’s no way it’s not going to take its toll.
So the question has to be asked: is playing away from home, and having to endure such a punishing schedule, partly – I stress the word partly – the reason why the Lions’ record against the three countries, stretching back 125 years, stands at won 38, lost 57?
Could be. And if it is, the Wallabies might well win the coming series partly because of the travel fatigue factor.
Barbarian squad:
Backs: Jared Payne (Ulster), Rowan Varty (DeA Tigers and Hong Kong), Takudzwa Ngwenya (Biarritz Olympique and USA), Joe Rokocoko (Bayonne and New Zealand), James Hook (Perpignan and Wales), Nick Evans (Harlequins and New Zealand), Kahn Fotuali’i (Ospreys and Samoa), Dwayne Peel (Sale Sharks and Wales), Dimitri Yachvili (Biarritz Olympique and France).
Forwards: Duncan Jones (Ospreys and Wales), BJ Botha (Munster and South Africa), Paul James (Bath Rugby and Wales), Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester and Italy), Matthew Rees (Scarlets and Wales), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Benetton Treviso and Italy), Marco Wentzel (London Wasps and South Africa), Jim Hamilton (Gloucester Rugby and Scotland), Francois Louw (Bath Rugby and South Africa), Sam Jones (London Wasps), Alessandro Zanni (Benetton Treviso and Italy), Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais and Italy), Imanol Harinordoquy (Biarritz Olympique and France).
AdamS
Roar Guru
What does what happened in 1950 have to do with what happens this year? Stats are fun, but often misleading in their own right.
Gavin Melville
Roar Pro
Yeah that seems about right. The Lions have only ever lost a series to Australia once (last time out). But they've only ever won one series in NZ (1971). In Tests, that is. They hardly ever lose a non-Test. Since WW2, then, seems a sensible way to go: Year Lions record versus (w-d-l) 1950 New Zealand 0-1-3 Australia 2-0-0 1959 Australia 2-0-0 New Zealand 1-0-3 1966 Australia 2-0-0 New Zealand 0-0-4 1971 New Zealand 2-1-1 1977 New Zealand 1-0-3 1983 New Zealand 0-0-4 1989 Australia 2-0-1 1993 New Zealand 1-0-2 2001 Australia 1-0-2 2005 New Zealand 0-0-3 So, total is Australia 9-0-3 for a win percentage of 75% New Zealand 5-2-23 for a win percentage of 22% (but, given 2pts a win, 1 for a draw that's 12 pts out of 60 max, or 20%)
allblackfan
Guest
Another factor to consider (travel not included): Playing rugby in SA/NZ is a much harder task. In SA, its as much geography as the rugby required to play. In NZ, its the rugby required to play. That win/loss ratio is very heavily influenced by considering SA and NZ tours. That ratio could change this tour because of the involvement of the Super Rugby franchises but we will see! Another stat I saw was that the Lions have won 75 % of all their games against Australian teams yet only 15 % against NZ teams. (Somebody correct me if I'm wrong!)
madrid john
Guest
What are you smoking Miglia? Have a guess how many players they have to pick from? Take 50 of Australia´s best rugby talent to tour in Britain and some of the names way down the bottom, well, some of them would be less than 5 stars...
madrid john
Guest
I agree Moaman, I live in Madrid, but my family is in Brisbane. The flight is inhuman, how unfair that all these young fellas have to make the trip to foreign lands, many had never seen before, play rugby on perfect pitches with real grass and do it all for free. Oh hang on....
Bob
Guest
What?? playing a few games and then then playing 2 or 3 at home followed by a bye is the same as playing 6 weeks on the road and games every 4 days. Silly comment
AdamS
Roar Guru
I questioned the viability of the Lions schedule, particularly the rapid turnaround and the effects of playing the SuperXV sides in another place and the response was along the lines of "Well, it's the support players who do most of the tour matches and it has never effected the Lions before has it?" Well, given the Lions ain't won much of late, maybe it does effect them.
Atawhai Drive
Roar Guru
The Lions travel a lot and play a lot, but it's all a lot more luxurious and compressed than it used to be. The 1950 Lions left England by ship in late March and did not get back to the UK until October. They played 23 matches in New Zealand, including four Tests against the All Blacks, six in Australia (two Tests) and an unofficial match against Ceylon (Sri Lanka) on the way home. The 2013 Lions will fly out and back in business-class comfort in a tour that lasts about five weeks. The hotels they stay in will be considerably more comfortable than what was available in 1950. Today's Lions tour is a brief and intense affair. Injuries are almost inevitable. But the brevity and intensity makes it easier for the Lions to perform, in my view. There will be scarcely be enough time for homesickness to set in.
Bakkies
Guest
The Wallabies were poor against the All Blacks in the first Bledisloe test too. The Lions have gone for combinations in the squad to counter travel. Murray-Sexton, Warbuton-Tipuric, Roberts- O'Driscoll (the centre pairing on the last tour), North-Cuthbert-Halfpenny. Will expect to see those combos in the warm up games. In the 2001 tour the Henderson-O'Driscoll centre combination did real damage in the 1st test. The Lions attack fire when the centres do. Same happened on the last tour.
Miglia
Guest
This post is spot on - the Lions never get the advantage of a home park and that does make the contest unfair. They have to come from the other side of the world then slog around the country for three weeks while the host team, Wallabies, ABs or Boks, simply have to wait in one place for them. A reverse Lions tour would work and really bring in big bucks. Once every four years, one of the three SH squads travels overseas and plays a Lions team in London, Cardiff and either Dublin or Edinburgh.
moaman
Roar Guru
I think,after reading this article,that it is inhumane to expect these poor guys to shoulder such an onerous burden.All tours that entail more than 1 hour's travel should henceforth be banned.
kombiutedriver
Guest
What about the travelling over the Super Rugby season before the Lions Tour starts?
Gene Sayers
Guest
EXPATHACK - You're right about that, or mainly so. The fact remains that the entire Lions squad has to travel whether a player is due for a run or not. Everybody has to fly, ride, check in and out of hotels, acclimatize to different food (and different brands of beer) in different parts of Oz, so from that angle, depth enters into it only on the field, not off it. And you're right that the Ws will lack match practise going into Brisbane. That's the worrying thing for Oz fans as victory in Brisbane is vital. I doubt we have the team to come from behind as the Ws did the last time around. We had a great squad then. This year, we have only a sprinkling of talented guys. Another advantage in being the home team is that if injuries come along, as they will, we've got players at hand. The Lions, specially in the case of problems at 10, will have to send an SOS to Britain or Ireland.
expathack
Guest
Definitely a lot of travelling for the Lions, but the size of the squad and the natural depth that comes from being able to pick from 4 nations should more than make up for it. The flipside of playing so many games beforehand is to be like the Wallabies and play none. And given their first up games over the last 2 years have resulted in losses to Scotland and Samoa, that's a distinct disadvantage for Oz. At least for the first test. Come the third test it could be a different story and travel fatigue might become a factor. But even if Australia's players get to the last test in fresher shape, the inevitable injuries on both sides will seriously test squad depth, and the Lions are clearly superior in that regard.