‘Austin Healey called me a plank and an ape, and there I was eating a banana'

Times

15-07-2025

Twenty-four years on and the memories are still strong as Justin Harrison and Owen Finegan regale their tales of beating the British & Irish Lions.
Australia have emerged victorious from only two series against the Lions in 137 years of meetings: a 1-0 win in a one-match series in 1930, and a 2-1 victory in 2001.
No wonder then that Finegan, the flanker who has scored a try in a World Cup final win, ranks the triumph over the Lions as his greatest achievement in rugby. 'I put it ahead of the World Cup,' he says, as we relive 2001 for an episode of The Ruck, The Times's rugby podcast, before Saturday's opening Test of the 2025 series.
'It's that once-in-12-years opportunity,' Finegan says. 'I have Irish heritage and was the only one in my family that was born in Australia, so I get it.' The difficulty for Finegan was finding tickets for 46 of his cousins that year.
'My mum's got 14 brothers and sisters and my dad's got 13 brothers and sisters. I've got over 100 first cousins!'
'On the bus, they used to go through the team alphabetically asking how many tickets you wanted — [Matt] Burke, [John] Eales, and eventually get to Finegan. And everyone was like 'four, two, three' and the manager goes, 'Finegan?' and I'd go '46'.
'I used to dread the phone call on Monday afternoon to tell me how many tickets they wanted.'
What about Harrison? He made his Test debut in the third match of the 2001 series and, having been a regular subject in Austin Healey's newspaper column, he had the last laugh and stole a crucial lineout from Martin Johnson in the decider to help secure a 29-23 win in Sydney.
How fondly does he remember it all? 'Well, when you've got a room dedicated to that series…' the former lock jokes. 'There's a screensaver and my children have to pay homage to my statue every night before they go to sleep.
'There are landmark victories that you remember. That's absolutely a huge event in anyone's rugby calendar. I've been on both sides of the story, I lost the World Cup [in 2003]. So you don't only remember it because of the victory. It was a once-in-a-career opportunity and the timing of it for me was outstanding.
'Coming into a world-champion Wallaby outfit that had every trophy in the cabinet at the time. It's a pinch-me moment just to be entering the changing rooms and training with this team, let alone participating in a Lions series and winning it.'
Brisbane, banter and the sea of red
The Wallabies did not have much preparation for the Lions series of 2001; just one match against the Maori All Blacks — which Finegan was banned for, having 'accidentally trod on someone's head' playing for ACT Brumbies in the Super 12 semi-finals.
They had won the 1999 World Cup and held the Bledisloe Cup since 1998. It was Australian rugby's most dominant era; an unmatched peak.
So when the Lions walloped them 29-13 at the Gabba in Brisbane, with Jason Robinson and Brian O'Driscoll waltzing around and through them for two of the great Lions tries, they were shell-shocked and embarrassed. 'We turned out at the Gabba and it was like you were playing in Cardiff,' Finegan says. 'You just walked out and everyone was in red.'
Harrison was not playing in Brisbane, but still remembers the sea of red supporters. 'I remember feeling the physical assault of the wave of sound as you ran out onto the stadium,' he says. 'There's still a record at Caxton Street for consumption on the 2001 tour. They drank them out of beer in the pubs. It's a challenge for the supporters this time, right? Us and Owen's 46 cousins will help!
'For the first time in this tour, we heard the 'Lions, Lions, Lions' chant going up at the Waratahs game in Sydney the other day… it's taken a while.'
Finegan adds: 'There's not been enough of that yet. I'd say the Lions fans are a bit embarrassing at the moment.'
Despite the Gabba defeat, Finegan loved the atmosphere. It was like nothing he had ever experienced. 'The banter's unreal and the people that come in are passionate rugby people,' he says. 'We felt like we let ourselves down and the team. We were hoping to turn that around in Test two and three. That's what we talk about.'
Roff's intercept and the revenge of 'the ape'
In the second Test in Melbourne, the Lions led 11-6 before the wing Joe Roff nicked an interception from Jonny Wilkinson to level the match just after half-time. Roff scored a second and the Wallabies levelled the series with a 35-14 win.
'There's two blokes that I played with at the Brumbies, and they both claim winning the series,' Finegan says. 'Joe Roff turned the second one by himself, but he doesn't remember that I was putting pressure on Jonny Wilkinson and made him throw the bad pass. And then Justin won one lineout that third game. The blokes that lifted Justin Harrison did a great job, because I know it's very difficult!'
Harrison had battled with Healey when Australia A beat the Lions 28-25 earlier in the tour and when the tourists sneaked past the Brumbies in Canberra with a last-minute penalty from Matt Dawson, winning 30-28. Healey, in a ghostwritten Guardian column penned by the late Eddie Butler, the former Wales captain, had targeted Harrison. Water off a duck's back to the 6ft 8in second-row forward.
'It was a sideshow,' Harrison says. 'He [Healey] is a big character. He's a sport jock, really. I just didn't like him. Since, I think I've been validated by British & Irish Lions fans and his own team-mates. He's hard to avoid, but worth the effort.'
Harrison had been told he was not playing in the third Test by the Australia coach Rod Macqueen — but would be the water-carrier — until David Giffin pulled out late with a hamstring issue.
'He had literally just finished telling me, 'it's a very important job. We're really proud, you've done well with Australia A, the Brumbies, you've been a good member of the squad,' ' Harrison says.
'Giff then tells me that he's injured. And Rod panics and runs up to his room — ten minutes later, I get a phone call, it's the same story, except the end is, we've actually had to think about it. And you're going to start with John Eales.'
Then before the final Test Healey wrote of Harrison: 'The plod from the second row. And what do you know, he's in the team to face us. Me and the plank. Do you think one of us will have the final say? I'll say so.' He also labelled Harrison an 'ape'.
'The morning of the Test, I opened the door and there's a hand of bananas at the foot of my door. And I thought, this must be a Wallaby protocol,' Harrison remembers. 'I walked down to the breakfast hall eating a banana — and something's off, I noticed Joe Roff, Matt Burke, sitting there laughing.
'I pivot right and there's a table with all of the papers spread out with Austin Healey's column calling me a plod, plank and ape, and I'm standing there eating a banana. The whole team laughed their heads off. So that was my Test morning to settle my nerves. I'm getting shit put on me by my team-mates.'
Harrison, right, holds the Tom Richards Trophy with Australia's replacement lock Matt Cockbain
MATTHEW IMPEY/SHUTTERSTOCK
Harrison had the final say in the lineout, though. 'I remember running in and saying, 'I'm gonna have a go at this', he says. 'You look at the still frame and it's not a great throw from Keith Wood. There's heaps of energy around Jonno and his two lifters. You can tell no one else is involved in the catch.
'Every Lion is getting ready for a maul. A bit of captain obvious, but then a huge amount of luck, right? It pings off left, goes to right, hits my knee — pinball wizard!
'I remember hitting the ground and that's when I became aware of the crowd again. I thought, 'Wow, this feels like the ball, it's not someone's head or my knee, it's the ball.' Then I hear the crowd get up. Andrew Walker pats me on the bum.'
And that was that. Wallabies 2-1. So can the 2025 crew emulate the heroes of 2001?
'You look at the history of Australia, one of our best exports is sport, sporting performance on the big stage,' Harrison says. 'Culturally, we're a frontier country that deals with a lot of adversity. We're either in flood, drought, fire, or you're getting chomped on by a shark. Pretty much everything that moves can kill you, if it bites you. Most of it culminates in courage.
'When you talk about Australia, that's what rises to the fore. So don't worry about form coming into a British & Irish Lions team series. It's all about the intensity of the moment.'