Five takeaways from a British and Irish Lions series win in Australia

RTÉ News​

a day ago

After eight weeks and 10 games, the British and Irish Lions is over for another four years.
A tour which was dominated by Ireland, both in the squad of players and the management, Andy Farrell's side got the win the Test series win they wanted against the Wallabies, although they fell short of a famous whitewash as the hosts showed up with a win that they hope will spark a revival in Australian rugby.
Here are some of the big discussion points from the 2025 tour.
The Lions will return to Australia
One of the stranger narratives of this summer has been the suggestion that the Wallabies will soon get bumped from the British and Irish Lions rotation.
Granted, the Lions have a far greater record in Australia compared to New Zealand or South Africa, but that's not really the point. On the other side of the same coin, should we be calling for the Lions to stop touring New Zealand because they've lost 10 out of their 12 series?
The Wallabies may no longer be the force they once were, but by the time the Lions return in 2037, things may well be different. Rugby Australia will have profited from this tour to the tune of more than €50m, and with a World Cup due to return here in two years' time, there is a real drive to use that as a vehicle to put rugby union back on the map in the Australian sporting landscape.
Just under 225,000 people have come through the gates for the Test series alone, and the way the second and third Tests, in particular, played out, show there's plenty of life in the Wallaby yet.
Andy Farrell summed up the argument, or lack of an argument, well this week.
"It would be tragic not to tour here," Farrell said on Thursday. "We've had a blast. To me it's insulting to talk about it in that kind of way.
"I don't think it was ever off the agenda in my opinion. Every single team, country, province, has their ups and downs but Australia – the sporting nation that they are – are always going to come back."
12 Test Lions from Ireland, but should we have had more?
Yes, we're being greedy here, but with good reason.
Twelve Irish players have featured in the Test series, and six of them started all three, but there are some obvious names that jump out of the squad who missed out on any Test time.
Garry Ringrose (above) is the most notable. The centre was the form player in the warm-up games and was likely to start the first Test but for concussion. Named in the starting team for the second Test in Melbourne, his concussion symptoms returned two days before the game and he was subsequently sidelined for the rest of the tour.
Similarly, Mack Hansen had been tracking for a place in the Test squad, before picking up a foot injury a week before the first Test which never fully healed. It speaks volumes that Farrell kept him in the squad right through for the rest of the tour in the hope he'd be fit to play.
Then there's Josh van der Flier. One of Farrell's most trusted and consistent players in an Ireland shirt, he's played 41 of the last 44 Ireland internationals, and started 39 of them, but has had to watch on as Tom Curry, Jac Morgan and Ben Earl edged ahead of him in the depth chart.
Missing out on the third Test, with the series already sewn up, will surely have hurt. How he reacts next season will be fascinating to see.
Farrell to return in 2029?
He may not have delivered the 3-0 series win which would have put the Lions up there with the great touring sides, but the general sense remains that the head coach job for 2029 is his, if he wants it.
Farrell has twice been asked in recent days if he would like to have a shot at the All Blacks in four years time, and while he's done his best to swivel around answering it, the way in which he's spoken about the British and Irish Lions indicates he still has unfinished business in this job. Becoming just the second coach to lead a Lions team to a series win in New Zealand would do just that.
Lions chief executive Ben Calveley was asked about the possibility of running it back with Farrell in 2029, and he was also non-committal.
However, it's clear the Ireland coach has made a lasting impression.
"When it comes to our appointments for future tours, so you mentioned 2029, we will start the process in about two years and I don't think it would be right to comment on where it ends up, let's see," the CEO said in a tour debrief on Sunday.
"But, certainly you're right, he has put himself in a very strong position hasn't he, let's put it that way."
Should there be a squad size limit?
It's not just a 2025 issue, but there has been a sense on recent tours that the Lions have been allowed to pick and choose the elements of touring rugby that they want to follow.
At one stage, the 2025 squad had swelled to a whopping 45 players ahead of the final midweek game against the First Nations and Pasifika XV, with several players flown out specifically to feature in that game and protect the frontline stars for the second Test in Melbourne.
Not including Darcy Graham, who likely would have stayed with the group had it not been for his ankle injury, Scotland's Gregor Brown, Ewan Ashman and Rory Sutherland were in Australia for just a few days before heading back home again. For similar, see the 'Geography Six' in New Zealand in 2017.
It may be facetious to compare now with then, but jettisoning in extra bodies wasn't an option for Carwyn James when the Lions were in New Zealand in 1971.
Obviously the game is much different now, and the rate of attrition is far higher, but if the Lions want to embrace the touring traditions, how about a size limit on the touring squad? Injured players can still be replaced, but a one-in and one-out system would be bring a greater sense of jeopardy, and even spice up the midweek fixtures which have become less competitive in modern years.
Referees have an impossible job
It wouldn't be a Lions tour without a refereeing drama, and while 2025 didn't live up to the high bar set by Rassie Erasmus four years ago, big decisions dominated the narrative of this series.
The Australian media have been chewing on Andrea Piardi's ankles since he refused to overturn Hugo Keenan's winning try in the second Test at the MCG, and after the Wallabies claimed Saturday's third Test, it was inevitable he would be asked about 'The Incident'.
"Does it now feel, Joe, like you were one decision away from winning the series?" a reporter asked at Accor Stadium. To Schmidt's credit, he took the dignified route and let the flames die out.
Piardi drew a lot of criticism earlier in the season after he and his officiating team briefly and incorrectly forced Munster to play with 14 players in their URC defeat to the Bulls in April, which prompted his unfortunate "this game has too many rules" line.
He may have been thinking the same when he had to deliberate on that late Jac Morgan clearout at the MCG, or Dan Sheehan's try earlier in the game.
In both instances, rugby's open-to-interpretation lawbook ensured that whichever team he gave the call to, he'd be catching fire from the other.
The best he could do was be decisive, and that's what he did.