Lions CEO: It is 100 per cent our ambition to return to Australia
Calveley was speaking at the end of nine-game tour in which Andy Farrell's Lions completed a 2-1 series win over the Australians in front of record crowds throughout the five-week trip.
The Tests alone were played out in front of more than 220,000 supporters, including the largest number of travelling fans to leave Irish and British shores with the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground hosting a series-clinching victory eight days ago in front of a Lions Test record crowd of 90,307.
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The first and final Tests were both sold out with 52,000 in Brisbane's Suncorp Stadium and 80,013 at Sydney's Accor Stadium to see the Wallabies salvage some pride with a 22-12 victory on a stormy night that saw the second half interrupted by a 37-minute delay for lightning strikes in the area.
It all added up to a tour bringing in record profits for both the Lions and Rugby Australia with Calveley describing revenues set to be 'significantly higher than anything we've seen in the past'.
All of which is a compelling argument for Australia to remain in the Lions rotation every 12 years amid suggestions from some quarters that other countries such as France and Argentina would make for more worthy opponents.
Farrell repeated his assertion on Saturday that such talk was 'insulting' to Australian rugby and the following day the chief executive was unequivocal that the Lions would return in 2037.
'I would absolutely envisage returning to Australia,' Calveley said.
'Just to be very clear, I know there's been loads of speculation about whether that would be the case or not, but we've had a wonderful tour here, and it is 100 per cent our ambition to return, and we would want the next one to be bigger and better than this one.'
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RTÉ News
36 minutes ago
- RTÉ News
Australia's 'why' prevented Lions series whitewash
The Lions were outplayed in the final Test match of the series in extremely wet and almost unplayable conditions. Australia were impressive and fully deserved their 22-12 victory, but if you think that they were a controversial penalty away from winning the series, then you don't understand sport. As soon as the Lions overturned the Wallabies in dramatic fashion at the dying moments of the second Test, the whole psychology of the tour changed. Yes, the Lions aimed for a series whitewash and would love to have beaten Joe Schmidt's men with a clean sweep, but the difference between 'wanting to' and 'needing to' are very different in a sporting context. On paper, the British and Irish Lions were superior to Australia when it comes to technical and tactical ability. In the majority of positions across the pitch, you'd have chosen the Lions player over his direct opponent. You could argue for a handful of Australian players to make that Lions team. Will Skelton (below), Harry Wilson, Tom Wright, Nick Frost and flashes of Len Ikitau and Joseph-Aukuso Suaalii were probably the standout performers for the Aussies and not all of those would be a certainty if they were on the other side. It shows that psychology determines the outcome far more than technical or tactical ability. The best team on paper doesn't always win the game. The circumstances surrounding any event will change the dynamics of how the match unfolds. For a start, the Wallabies were talked down for a number of months. The rugby population in Australia was highly insulted by some of the narrative around their nation, and when you consider how the second Test ended for the team, there were highly motivating factors for them to get a final Test win against the Lions. They're going into the biggest contest of their season with the Rugby Championship looming and with the potential embarrassment of a whitewash on the cards they were bound to react. On the other side, the Lions came off the back of winning the series early and by the sounds of it, they celebrated well into Sunday afternoon. No matter who you are, alcohol hinders recovery and makes for a slow start to your week. It can be the difference between a fully prepared team and one that has left a question mark or two within the group. Andy Farrell (above) usually has his teams very well prepared, so I'm sure he would have planned the week precisely, but it's still a factor to consider. The Lions are also at the end of a very long season. It's a privilege to be on the tour and players have spoken so complimentary about how the tour has gone, how well they have bonded and the environment that was built. However, it's still a long season and their holidays were pending. A whitewash in a series is a luxury item. Yes, it would have created history, but it was a nice-to-have and not a must-have. It's very hard to bring a team's focus back if things start to slip slightly. I don't know exactly how they felt, sometimes players think they still want it, but upon reflection they realise that their 'why' wasn't strong enough. Australia had a stronger 'why' on Saturday. Despite the lightning strikes and torrential downpours, they played for their retiring scrum-half Nic White, who put everything on the line for his team-mates. Skelton clearly took something personally because he was involved in every scuffle. The home side not only managed the conditions better but turned up with greater intensity in defence. It wasn't technical, they just turned up for each other and got some vital turnovers. I know the argument will be that these are professionals and they get paid to be on tour, and to care about their careers. I'm sure they cared a lot about the game on Saturday. Yet, the more you get challenged with a confrontational Aussie side and uncontrollable issues like a lightning storm just after half-time, the more that doubt can creep in. Farrell was faced with a choice, to trust the group that had won the series, or to make some changes to freshen things up. For the most part he stuck with the old reliable. In hindsight, a good way of avoiding that complacency may have been to change a few of the 50/50 calls that he was faced with. And in one sense he did. James Lowe was dropped for Blair Kinghorn, James Ryan came in for Ollie Chessum and his centre partnership, Bundee Aki and Huw Jones, wasn't the one he would have chosen with a full deck. Tom Curry had an unbelievable series and Farrell will feel vindicated, he also didn't have a poor game on Saturday. However, that's an example of another position he might have changed. The England man is waiting on wrist surgery at the end of a long season of punishing his body. Considering how close the selection calls were, Farrell could have started Jac Morgan or Josh van rer Flier, with the other on the bench. With the forecasted rain and wet conditions, Owen Farrell should have been considered at inside-centre as well. It would have given the Lions another expert game-manager and an extra kicking option alongside Finn Russell. Owen Farrell played the second half, but the feeling of the game is different at that stage and the Lions were already up against it. If the Lions changed too many players and lacked cohesion, that would have been cited as the reason for losing. They changed a couple of players, but maybe a few more would have been the right balance. Regardless of a few bodies, it still goes back to Australia winning a few marginal moments, and sometimes a team will turn up in those moments because something in the back of their mind makes them want it a half a percent more than their opposite number. Dylan Pietsch had some iconic moments for Australia in defence. He smashed Tommy Freeman leading to a Ikitau jackal penalty. In better conditions, Pietsch wouldn't be able to gamble on Freeman not getting the pass away and maybe the England flyer would have passed or found an offload. Pietsch read it perfectly, setting up a momentum shift, frustrating the Lions. He was involved in a choke tackle on Aki in midfield alongside Fraeser McReight. It was another momentum stopper which lifted Australia. Ikitau forced a knock on from Aki on the Lions line which gave possession back to Australia, leading to the penalty to go 8-0 up. Another individual battle that Australia won. Ikitau showed up for Australia and maybe his 'why' was trying to make up for Hugo Keenan beating him in a 1-1 at the dying moments of the second Test. Frost came into his own, snaffling a handful of Lions lineouts and winning a breakdown penalty because he was there faster than the tourists. Tadhg Beirne was one of the exceptions to the rule. He has played an enormous amount of minutes this season, finishing nearly every game he has started. He was barking at Lions players for not working hard enough and won the Tom Richards medal for player of the series. The Lions obviously cared about each other, the travelling supporters and the history of the jersey. It just seemed that Australia went a step further, and their 'why' was too strong to whitewash them in a fascinating and competitive series.
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an hour ago
- Irish Times
Owen Doyle: Dan Sheehan should have got a red card and a longer ban for dangerous strike
'Feral' was one word a pundit used to describe what we were watching. The dictionary explains its meaning: 'of, or characteristic of, wild animals; ferocious; brutal'. It is, of course, a dreadful descriptor, but hard to think of a more telling word. The third Test was indeed all of those things, and also troubling to observe. Four failed brain injury assessments, including James Ryan being knocked senseless for several very worrying minutes. It was accidental, but it's another concussion for the stalwart secondrow. There was a very intemperate undercurrent throughout. Both teams wanted desperately to win, and at times nasty stuff surfaced. The leading Australian protagonists were Will Skelton, the biggest man on the pitch, and Nic White, perhaps the smallest. Both have made a career out of rattling their opponents' cage. The Lions responded in kind, particularly Tom Curry and Dan Sheehan : never a backward step. There was constant sledging, faux-grinning and taunting from the start. Owen Farrell's incensed verbal outburst aimed at Joseph Sualli was an awful look. READ MORE Is all of this really what rugby wants to be? The match was a travesty of the sport. It failed miserably to uphold the game's stated values. Respect for the opposition was nowhere in sight. How sad that was to see. The Lions' objective was to win all three Tests, but they played as if the party had started a week early. Perhaps it had. Sheehan, inexcusably, had a real go at the prone Tom Lynagh. It was an unworthy and disgraceful cheap shot. In marked contrast to Jac Morgan last week , the Lions' hooker entered the breakdown late, targeting his opponent with a very dangerous strike to the head. It was not picked up, a negative mark against the TMO, South Africa's Marius Jonker. Owen Farrell's tackling during the third Test between the Lions and Australia was at times questionable. Photograph:The TMO also called the referee's attention to a completely innocuous incident, which Nika Amashukeli took but a moment to dismiss. A typical Farrell shoulder hit also went unseen; it's been his trademark calling card for far too long. Jonker needed to be better. Until recently, Sheehan would have received a straight red card. Under the global trial, it should have gone to the bunker for upgrading (or not) to the correct colour. At times like this we often hear the excuse of what else could the offending player have done. Well, if that was the player's only option, he should have done nothing, and waited for play to develop. He would have been more useful elsewhere. I had the good fortune to share a pitch with Michael Lynagh, father of Tom, on several occasions. Enjoyable evenings too. He has always been the epitome of modest excellence. He must be horrified to see his son on the receiving end of some appalling hits, this time failing his brain injury assessment. Given the number of times Lynagh gets thumped illegally – at least twice in these three Tests – it's impossible not to think that the replacement red card is involved. Playing just an extra 10 minutes reduced to 14 players is a small price to pay if it gets rid of a key opponent. Sheehan was correctly cited, although he didn't think it was correct or that he had even committed an act of foul play. That viewpoint is as nonsensical as his dangerous action. His non-acceptance of the charge resulted in a lost week of mitigation, and, subject to him completing a coaching intervention course, he will serve a meagre three-match ban , instead of a paltry two. Imagine the furore if Finn Russell had been forced off in similar circumstances, and the perpetrator denied any wrongdoing. The uproar would have been totally justified; as is Australian anger on this occasion. The suspension is once again too light. How often is it necessary to repeat the words – sub-concussive head knocks, concussion, dementia, chronic traumatic encephalopathy – before those sitting at the high table decide that deterrent-level sentences are necessary. Referee Nika Amashukeli has a word with Australia's Will Skelton after the player clashed with James Ryan of the Lions during the third Test. Photograph:It would be good to hear from World Rugby . So far, chief executive Alan Gilpin has indicated their support for Andrea Piardi in the second Test, but hasn't told us whether Morgan's clear out was judged correctly. It would be ridiculous if World Rugby got involved publicly in every controversial decision, but on this one we could all learn a lot if the silence was broken. On a general point, there is a distinct difference in how breakdown side-entry is refereed on either side of the equator. Down south a sanction is as rare as a hen's tooth, while in this neck of the woods the clear and obvious ones are rightly meant to be sanctioned. We saw it across the three tests: Piardi and Amashukeli actually refereed the area, while New Zealander Ben O'Keeffe's approach was very laissez-faire. World Rugby needs to sort it out, it's an extremely unhealthy divide. Amashukeli was a very good choice for the final match of the tour. He is a strong operator, unflappable too. His calm assuredness was essential when dealing with the various flare-ups, and for giving necessary warnings, which he did even-handedly. In all the prevailing circumstances, including horrendous rain, and the stoppage for lightning, it's unlikely that anyone could have done better. In a match that came with a very high degree of difficulty, he can be quietly pleased with his performance. And what of those who were avidly watching this 'feral' match? There is a very serious, existential debate among parents, sometimes in the same household. The motion: 'Is rugby is a suitable sport for my kids?' This match will have spoken very emphatically for those against the motion. At the same time it will have done nothing for those in favour. Absolutely nothing.
Irish Independent
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League of Ireland players and Irish players who took part in professional soccer in the UK and EU have been invited to join a 'potentially billion-dollar' class action claim against Fifa and possibly other soccer associations.
