British and Irish Lions versus Wallabies at Suncorp Stadium; when is it and how to watch
Former Brisbane Bronco Ben Te'o who played for the British and Irish Lions in their epic drawn series against New Zealand in 2017, revealed a quirky move was the secret sauce to team bonding on that tour.
'We had a choirmaster who taught us four songs,'' Te'o said.
'One from each nation (Calon Lân from Wales, The Fields of Athenry from Ireland, Jerusalem from England and Highland Cathedral from Scotland.
'We would have choir practice in the afternoon. That was quite an interesting activity.
'I will never forget once we had learned some of the songs we ended up out at dinner and had the restaurant to ourselves. The red wine was flowing. We started singing.
'Those are the moments you never forget. We booked upstairs in an Irish pub and had a ripper of a night and had a couple of days off after that.
'From then on we were pretty bonded as a team.''
Asked to describe the different flavours of the four nations Te'o said …
The Scots: 'They are always the underdogs, Very passionate. I have witnessed that first hand at Murrayfield and lost to them. They have a lot of passion because they understand they don't have the depth of the other nations. They rip in.''
The English: 'A lot of the English guys who played rugby are from private schools. They are smart, well educated guys.
The Irish: 'They are funny guys. Great sense of humour. And amazingly skilful. Some of the skills they learn playing other sports such as Gaelic Football in their youth mean they can do a lot of special things.''
The Welsh: 'It's a rugby nation. Good fellas. Very talented. They like a drink.''
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

News.com.au
14 minutes ago
- News.com.au
Descendants of the only two rugby union players to represent both Wallabies and British Isles meet at Australian War Memorial
The families of the only two players to ever represent both the Wallabies and the British and Irish Lions have travelled around the globe to finally meet. The descendants of Major Blair Inskip Swannell and Lieutenant Thomas James Richards marked the occasion during the 2025 tour at the Australian War Memorial, more than a century after the players served at Gallipoli. Swannell was an English rugby forward who was invited to play with the British Isles on seven occasions during their 1899 Australian tour and once more on their 1904 Australian and New Zealand tour. He remained in Sydney following the tour and played once for his new country against the Kiwi's. Swannell died in 1915 while serving at the Landing at Anzac Cove on the first day in Gallipoli. Richards, born in NSW, played in the 1908 tour of the UK for the Wallabies before heading for South Africa. While there in 1910, the British Isles were touring after picking up multiple injuries, turned to Richards. He would go on to represent the British Isles 12 times. The families of the two this year were given the chance to meet and view items from the War Memorial collection, which included photographs of the duo and excerpts from Richard's diary, including one on Swannell. 'Poor B. I Swannell is dead several days ago. A week ago to-day, I believe, he had a shot through his head. I am really grieved as 'Swanny' with all his faults etc. was quite all right, though he is a character seldom met,' Richards wrote in 1915. 'The fact we know so much about Tom is because he was a prolific writer, he wrote about his thoughts and emotions which makes his diaries quite extraordinary,' his great-grandson Paul Menck said. Robert Swannell travelled from England for the opportunity to meet Menck and see the Memorial. 'I was determined to come to Australia for this Lions Tour, and I have always wanted to meet the Richards family and see the Australian War Memorial where Blair's death is honoured,' Robert Swannell said. The Player of the Match medal at the Australia and New Zealand invitational game was named in honour of Blair Swannell on 12 July. The tour's official matches kicked off on 19 July, where the visiting Lions beat the Wallabies 27-19. The visitors looked comfortable for much of the match, but the home team will be hoping to change their fortunes in the second test on 26 July at the MCG.


Perth Now
14 minutes ago
- Perth Now
Wallabies look to avoid slice of unwanted Lions history
Skipper Harry Wilson says he saw enough in the opening Test against the British and Irish Lions to suggest the desperate Wallabies can save the series and avoid a grim 59-year first. The Wallabies take on the Lions at the MCG on Saturday night in a boom-or-bust clash following a disappointing 27-19 opening defeat in Brisbane. The underdog Australians need victory to stay in the hunt for just a third series win since the first Lions tour in 1899. The hosts are also looking to escape becoming the second team since the 1966 Lions tour to have the series wrapped up in two games, with that Wallabies outfit losing both matches in a two-Test tour. In Australia's past two series, in 2001 and 2013, the Wallabies lost the first Test but levelled both in Melbourne. With more than 90,000 fans expected at the MCG, Wilson says the team is aware that history is at stake, while the tourists also want to make their mark as the "greatest Lions side of all time" with a 3-0 sweep. "There's no denying we have to win. We have to win the next two to win the series," the 25-year-old flanker said. "I'd say there's pressure on both teams - they want to wrap up the series and we want to keep the series alive. "So there's no doubting there's a lot on the line for both teams and that's something that really excites you. "Playing professional sport, there's a lot of pressure on and it's what you love about it." One statistic in the Wallabies' favour is that the last three times the Lions - who also tour to South Africa and New Zealand - have gone 1-0 up in a series, they've lost the second Test. Wilson believes his team have made progress since they squeezed home in their first Test of the year against Fiji, with some confidence-boosting signs in the second half at Suncorp Stadium. The Wallabies rallied from a 24-5 halftime deficit and, while they lost the match, made ground in the second 40 minutes for an eight-point loss. "We do feel like we're improving each week this year," Wilson said following Australia's captain's run on the famed cricket ground on Friday. "Fiji, we got away with that one, and then we didn't start too well in that first Test. "But in that second half, once we got a bit of possession, a bit of territory and started playing our sort of footy, we took a lot of confidence from that. "We saw some errors we really want to improve this week ... we didn't play the sort of footy that we wanted to play. We didn't fire as many shots as we would have liked." Out-muscled by the Lions in Brisbane, coach Joe Schmidt has bolstered the Wallabies by including heavyweights Will Skelton and Rob Valetini - their two most damaging forwards. The two were sidelined at the first Test with calf injuries. Hometown boy Valetini was the only try-scorer when the Wallabies last played at the MCG in 2023 in an otherwise forgettable 38-7 loss to New Zealand in 2024. Wilson says the Wallabies have also taken lessons from the aggression shown by First Nations and Pasifika team, who almost caused a boilover in their mid-week match against the Lions on Tuesday night. "A lot of us were there watching and just seeing the way Pasifika went after them, the line speed, the big hits in defence. "It was a great blueprint there about how to really try and physically dominate them. "They connected and went out there and did a performance that they should be so proud of."


West Australian
44 minutes ago
- West Australian
Brisbane coach adamant that former Lions star Joe Daniher will ‘never' come out of retirement to play in Melbourne
Lions coach Chris Fagan says the suggestion that former Brisbane star Joe Daniher will come out of retirement to play in Melbourne ranks among 'the great jokes of all time'. Ex-Essendon forward Daniher was only 30 when he announced that he was retiring after helping the Lions win last year's premiership. Fagan has previously said that if Daniher made the unlikely decision to play again, it would only be for Brisbane. However, the Melbourne Demons have approached Daniher about playing next season. 'I might've sent him a cheeky text message just to check in with big Joe … but he laughed it off pretty quick,' Demons coach Simon Goodwin told AFL 360. On Friday, the Daniher matter came up again when Fagan was asked about Carlton star Charlie Curnow being linked with a move to the Gold Coast Suns, whom the Lions meet in Saturday's QClash at People First Stadium. 'I sort of noticed it (the Curnow speculation) going on in the background, but I don't have any firm thoughts on it,' Fagan said. 'It's that time of the year where everything gets speculated on. How many times are people going to come up and say that Joey Daniher's going back to Melbourne? 'It's one of the great jokes of all time – it'll never happen.' Daniher's previous spot in Brisbane' forward line has been filled for 10 games this season by former Suns player Sam Day. However, Day won't take on his former club on Saturday, having been named among the emergencies for the second successive match after missing Brisbane's win over Carlton earlier this month for personal reasons. Fagan has instead again opted to select two ruckmen in Oscar McInerney and Darcy Fort. 'It's been good, but it's still just an experiment. It's just a week-to-week thing,' the Lions coach said. 'We are happy with what we've seen so far (in playing McInerney and Fort). They've both been able to contribute in the ruck, and they've both been able to contribute up forward in little ways.' However, there will be one change to Brisbane's forward line after Kai Lohmann injured his calf at training. Lohmann will be replaced by the versatile Zac Bailey, who returns after serving a one-game suspension for rough conduct. 'Zac Bailey can go and play forward. We got a bit of flexibility there, so it's good because you never know what's going to happen down the track. You've always got to be able to cope,' Fagan said. The Lions have made one other change to the 23 that beat the Bulldogs by 10 points last Friday, with Irishman Conor McKenna replacing the omitted Bruce Reville. The second-placed Lions can deal Gold Coast's hopes of playing finals football for the first time a blow with a win on Saturday. 'The truth is that the Gold Coast Suns have beaten some pretty good teams this year. The last time they played at their ground they beat (competition leaders) Collingwood,' Fagan said in anticipation of a tough encounter. 'They're a much better version of themselves than we've played against for a long time, so it's a big game.'