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Good craic, banter and beer – oh, and rugby – draw Lions fans to Melbourne game

Good craic, banter and beer – oh, and rugby – draw Lions fans to Melbourne game

The Age20-07-2025
For many fans, the Lions' first Australian tour in 12 years is the catalyst to sight-see and reunite with relatives.
Joining Watkins at the MCG will be his uncle Kevin Adams, cousin Kevin Lloyd and godson Morgan Lloyd, 15, who are visiting from Wales.
It will be the first holiday since Christmas for Watkins, who, as a publican, works seven days a week.
The quartet will reserve extra cheers for the Lions' only Welsh player, Jac Morgan.
They won't need much persuasion to gather with fellow spectators and sing the Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers).
'Crowd singing is part of our Welsh heritage,' said Watkins, who pointed to a YouTube clip of a stirring mass rendition of the anthem before a 2013 Wales versus England match in Cardiff.
Saturday's MCG match against the Wallabies and this Tuesday's game against a First Nations and Pasifika team at Marvel Stadium are the Lions' first matches in Melbourne since 2013. Lions matches during this tour are being aired live on Channel 9 (Nine is the owner of this masthead).
The Lions team, which was first formed in 1888, includes top players from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
In 2001, its name was changed from the British Lions to the British and Irish Lions. It 'doesn't roll off the tongue' says Irish-born fan Dave Dillon, but he says the team is usually just called 'Lions'.
Dillon, from Wellington in New Zealand, will go to the MCG match with three of his brothers — Barry, from Kildare in Ireland, and Liam and Neil, now of Cape Cod, in the US.
'The games are great, but I'm looking forward to going for a pint with my brothers, and hanging out,' Dave said.
Dillon says there's nothing like watching the best players, in an electric atmosphere at a big match.
'The craic and the banter is brilliant,' he said.
'Everybody's having a laugh, you're singing songs, you're making fun of each other,' Dillon says. 'It's always good-humoured.'
Rebecca Grice, a Lions fan visiting from Lincolnshire, England, is going to the MCG test with her friend Georgia King, a Wallabies supporter from Sydney.
They've been close since being pen pals as 11 years olds, 20 years ago.
Grice, who played rugby union for nine years, and who supports Leicester Tigers, recently converted King, and King's four-year-old son, to the sport.
'Her enthusiasm is very contagious,' King said. 'Rebecca knows every player. She can answer every question.'
Grice is a big fan of Lions player Ollie Chessum, who is from Lincolnshire, like her.
On July 5, Grice, King and King's nan, Jill Wilkinson, watched the NSW Waratahs rugby union team play the Lions at Sydney's Allianz Stadium.
'The atmosphere was so great. I loved it,' said King.
Earlier that day, in Sydney's George Street, Grice spotted Chessum and four other Lions players, and rushed up to take a selfie with them. 'It was very exciting,' Grice says.
'But I was so nervous and all I could think to say to them was: 'Are you having a good day off?' And they were playing that night! I'm mortified by that!
'One day I hope I'll meet them again and actually have a conversation with them.'
While Grice has travelled to Paris, Wales, Ireland and Twickenham in England to watch England play, she will watch her first live Lions match at the MCG.
King and Grice along with King's husband and father-in-law will drive to Melbourne from Sydney, and stay with King's relatives.
On Saturday, they will get to the MCG early to 'soak in the atmosphere', Grice said. 'I'm so excited.'
Lions games are held every four years in different countries.
'And that's what makes this so special. It's an occasion that brings everyone together, to experience something that you might never get to experience again.'
King says Grice has been raving about the event for years.
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‘It's a huge upset': Beating the USA in a relay is sweet. Australia's underdog swimmers just did it twice in 15 minutes
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‘It's a huge upset': Beating the USA in a relay is sweet. Australia's underdog swimmers just did it twice in 15 minutes

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‘It's a huge upset': Beating the USA in a relay is sweet. Australia's underdog swimmers just did it twice in 15 minutes
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Double golden joy as Australia triumph at world champs
Double golden joy as Australia triumph at world champs

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Double golden joy as Australia triumph at world champs

Australia have ended the opening night of the swimming world championships with a dose of double golden joy after the country's men and women prevailed in the 4x100m freestyle relay events. The night started with heartbreak, with Australian Sam Short falling agonisingly short of adding a second world title to his name when pipped by German world record holder Lukas Maertens in a thrilling 400m men's freestyle showdown in Singapore. But the relay events proved to be Australia's saviour. First, Olivia Wunsch pulled off a huge late comeback to fire Australia to an upset victory over the US in the women's 4x100m freestyle relay. Then Kyle Chalmers achieved the same result for Australia's men, reeling in a sizeable lead from the US to snare gold. The Australian coaching staff celebrated wildly upon each victory. Australia entered Sunday night's 4x100m women's relay with a new-look team featuring Mollie O'Callaghan, Meg Harris, Milla Jansen and Wunsch. The US were favourites to win, but Australia threw a spanner into the works by clawing their way into the lead by the time Wunsch dived into the water for the final leg. American Torri Huske quickly re-took the lead and held a half length margin with 50m remaining before Woods came storming home to snatch victory. Australia finished in a time of 3:30.60, with the US (3:31.04) in second. Earlier, in the first medal event of the championships, Short overcame an early deficit to hit the lead with less than half the race remaining. The 21-year-old still led by a fingernail with 50m to go, and was neck-and-neck with Maertens right until the end. Short, the 2023 world champion who finished fourth at the Paris Olympics, couldn't hide his disappointment upon touching the wall and seeing he lost by two hundredths of a second. Maertens, the Olympic champion, posted 3:42.35 to narrowly beat Short (3:42.37). South Korea's Kim Woomin finished third in 3:42.60. "I won two years ago by 0.02 and today I just lost by 0.02," Short told channel 9. "I'm happy to be back on the podium after a hard last year. So, you know, I can't complain. "I just want to dedicate that performance there to my auntie who passed away a couple weeks ago, "As bad I was hurting there, it's nowhere near as bad as her battling cancer for 10 years. "So I had to toughen up and get it done." Australian Olympic silver medallist Elijah Winnington failed to qualify for the final of the 400m freestyle after posting a time of 3:46.37 to finish 10th overall during the preliminary sessions earlier in the day. In a stacked women's 400m freestyle field, Australian Lani Pallister (3:58.87) produced a personal-best effort but it was only enough to finish fourth. Canadian world record holder Summer McIntosh (3:56.26) blitzed the field to win gold, China's Li Bingjie surged late to finish second, while the legendary Katie Ledecky had to be content with bronze. Australia's 400m Olympic champion Ariarne Titmus didn't feature after deciding to skip the world championships to give herself a mental and physical breather.

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