'I never dreamt of being a Lion because that's where the legends lived'

The 42

25-05-2025

20 YEARS AGO, Shane Byrne got a call from British and Irish Lions manager Bill Beaumont to tell him he would be part of the 2005 tour of New Zealand.
But before Beaumont could even get the good news out, Byrne had hung up.
Ireland hooker Byrne knew he was in the mix for the Lions squad but he had been inundated with prank calls in the days before. This is what friends are for.
'Everybody was acting the idiot,' says Byrne, who is heading to Australia this summer to captain the British and Irish Legends in their two games against the Classic Wallabies.
'All my friends have been calling pretending to be him. So I hung up, but he rang back immediately and told me in very stern terms, 'Do not hang up,' in this deep English accent.'
When he established that this was the real deal, that he would be one of Clive Woodward's 2005 Lions to take on the All Blacks, Byrne was understandably ecstatic.
15 Irish players experienced the same feelings earlier this month when Andy Farrell included them in his group to face the Wallabies this summer. Being named a Lion remains the highest of honours among elite rugby players.
'It was Ian McGeechan [an assistant coach in 2005] who said it to us, 'As of this point, you are a Lion and nobody can ever take that away from you for the rest of your life.'
'I can honestly say I never dreamt of being a Lion because that's where the legends lived. You dream about playing for Ireland.
'That was a fantastic moment and really put a smile on your face, but then like everything else, you're a professional rugby player and the professionalism kicks in and what's the ambition for a Lion? You have to play in the Tests.'
It proved to be an unsuccessful tour for the Lions as they were beaten 3-0 by a brilliant New Zealand team inspired by Dan Carter.
Woodward, who had led England to glory at the 2003 World Cup, brought a big 44-man squad to New Zealand. He seemed determined to repeat many of the things that had brought England success but as Byrne points out, there was no long-term build-up.
Byrne closes in on Doug Howlett. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
'A failed experiment' is Byrne's view of the whole tour now. Players having their own rooms, rather than sharing, meant that the usual levels of camaraderie didn't develop, while the midweek side ended up being like a different tour altogether.
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McGeechan was in charge of the 'dirt-trackers' and injected the classic Lions touring spirit into that group, while Woodward's front-liners had less fun.
'By default, that almost caused animosity within the squad,' says Byrne. 'Malcolm O'Kelly would be one of my mates and there was one stage of I would nearly say 10 days that I didn't see him. Never laid eyes on him. And we're on the same tour.'
And yet, at the same time, Woodward struggled to get cohesion into the Test team, which Byrne was part of.
'He said to everybody at the very start of the tour, 'I will commit to it that everybody will have as close to equal pitch time as possible so that everybody has the opportunity to get in the Test team.
'Now, because of injuries and the way games went, that was a mistake because the Test side never played together in any shape or form, and not even close to the Test side.
'And then he reverted back to picking a lot of his '03 side, which irked the Welsh who had just won the Grand Slam and then in the second Test he flipped over to the majority of them, which failed again.'
There was the infamous incident involving Brian O'Driscoll in the first Test, which was a tough outing for Byrne in a 21-3 defeat in Christchurch.
Days before that first Test, the Lions coaches made panicked changes to the lineout calls, fearing that the All Blacks had broken their code. It proved disastrous as the lineout fell apart and left the Lions without a platform.
Byrne, who was the starting hooker, still feels a share of the culpability.
'The lineout just completely malfunctioned because of the late change in the calls and things like that, but whatever the reason, that's my responsibility.
'I had to put my hand up straight after in the press. It just didn't work. So you go from the highest point of being a Lion to all of a sudden being in the absolute lowest low you could possibly have.'
Byrne played in all three Tests in 2005. Billy Stickland / INPHO Billy Stickland / INPHO / INPHO
The All Blacks blew the Lions away 48-18 in Wellington a week later, with Byrne coming off the bench, before wrapping the series up with a 38-19 victory in Auckland as Byrne returned to the Lions starting XV.
It wasn't all misery in New Zealand. Byrne enjoyed getting to know the likes of fellow front rows Graham Rowntree and Julian White, who he had battled against in Ireland's games against England.
And it's that side of the game that Byrne stresses as important. He believes Farrell will get things right in that regard this summer in Australia. Indeed, the Lions gathered in London last weekend and had a night out together to kick things off.
Byrne will be in Australia this summer too, partly because of his love for the sheer camaraderie that rugby involves.
He will be captaining the British and Irish Legends against the Classic Wallabies in two games in Melbourne on 24 July and Sydney on 31 July.
Byrne has been involved in every edition of these Legends games on the Lions tours since 2005. He featured in Australia in 2013 when around 15,000 people turned up for the game against the Classic Wallabies at the North Sydney Oval.
Byrne is part of a British and Irish Legends squad that also includes Dan Biggar, Leigh Halfpenny, Mike Tindall, Alex Cuthbert, and Shane Williams. The Irish representation is completed by Mike Ross, Tom Court, Mike McCarthy, Isaac Boss, Craig Gilroy, and Jamie Hagan.
The Classic Wallabies, meanwhile, have brought in big guns like George Smith, Matt Giteau, and Adam Ashley-Cooper.
The only differences to professional rugby are that everyone has to be at least 34, the scrums are uncontested, and there are rolling substitutions. Other than that, there are no holds barred.
'Everybody still knows how to put themselves around the place,' says 53-year-old Byrne.
'Maybe the legs might be slowing down a little bit, but the skill set is still there. You see some amazing games and the competitive edge is still there from players.
'When you've been going around touring and you know, not training quite as hard as the main team – maybe a few after-hours alcoholic beverages – it's amazing how you slip back into it so quickly when there's a big crowd watching. And you still have the same kind of bonding thing that goes on with the Lions.'
Byrne at the Ireland v England Legends game this year. Ben Brady / INPHO Ben Brady / INPHO / INPHO
As with the Ireland v England Legends games that take place every year, this summer's clashes in Australia will raise funds for charity.
The hope is that more than 50,000 people will get involved with this Legends Series in July either by going to the games in Melbourne and Sydney or through one of the events around it. The funds will go to The Atlas Foundation, an international children's charity, and the Australian Rugby Foundation, which supports grassroots rugby programmes.
Byrne promises that those who turn up for the matches won't be disappointed.
'The Classic Wallabies are putting a lot of attention into this. There's some big names being mentioned, so I think it's going to be pretty hotly contested.
'We wouldn't have it any other way. That's exactly why we love doing these things.'