When The Lions Roared

The lions have enjoyed one series win in New Zealand. It was in 1971 when they brought a magical team and one of the greatest coaches in history.

- Lynn McConnell

Put simply, the success of the 1971 British & Irish Lions tour of New Zealand was down to the fact that for once the All Blacks were out-thought.

Much of the revisionist rugby history would have you believe that the Lions wrought a revolution of the game in New Zealand in winning their first and only series to date over the All Blacks and going unbeaten through the provinces.

Yet, this was a country who two years earlier had completed a 17-test winning streak during one of the great eras of the game, and which under Fred Allen in 1967 had demonstrated to British and French rugby people the way rugby could be played when it was viewed with positive intent and involving 15 men.

It could be said that the humiliating 0-4 loss to the All Blacks in 1966, and the subsequent 1967 tour, was the wake-up call which was the genesis of the 1971 Lions’ game.

Alongside that realisation were some significant changes in laws which freed up backlines. These included what was known as the ‘Australian dispensation’ by which teams could only kick directly to touch from within their own 22m area.

They also included the notion of backlines having to stand 10 metres from lineouts and behind the hindmost foot of scrums. 

After years of tests that involved around 100 lineouts a game as halfbacks and first five-eighths kicked the ball down the sideline relentlessly, in the face of defensive backlines standing up to them, life was breathed into the game. As the legendary Tottenham Hotspur coach Bill Nicholson had observed of rugby, there must be something wrong with a game where players made progress by actually kicking the ball off the field.